David Byrne
David Byrne w/ Si Sé
September 21, 2001 @ Avalon
Eager to continue the crowd-pleasing party he had brought to The Paradise
a few months back, David Byrne came on stage five minutes early to
introduce his latest Luaka Bop signing Si Sé (Spanish for "Yes, I know").
Rooted in a rhythm section of chunky, bouncy bass and two busy
percussionists and led by a vocalist reminiscent of Sade and Basia, this
guitar-less ambient sextet took the building audience through a sweeping
set of songs of love and war. From a Carnivale rhythm break to a funky
Spanish clap-along to a drowsy Indian drone, to a sample and violin-cut
bit of street soul, the band wandered the planet in search of diverse
grooves.
When Mr. Byrne returned to the stage, the crowded hall subjected him to
the first of many long and humbly accepted ovations. Opening with a xylo-tar
and bass duet of "The Revolution," Byrne delivered a reworked
retrospective of old and new favorites, backed by a solid rhythm section
and, later, a string sextet. From a product placement plugging "Nothing
but Flowers" to an appropriately orchestral "Sax and Violins," Byrne was
subtle but firm in his political stances. "We’re all naked if you turn us
inside out," he observed in the creeping AIDS anthem "Butt Naked." Given
the circumstances surrounding the show, songs like "Life During Wartime"
and even "U.B. Jesus" (which includes the line "Jesus will kill you if you
don’t get along") took on extra weight. Weight was a minor element of the
show, however. Most of the time, Byrne slipped about the stage like Fred
Rodgers on Ritalin, mumbling intermezzo messages which tried to explain
the odd places from whence his almost too clever songs come. From the land
of quirky covers came a take on "I Want to Dance With Somebody" which was
arguably better than Ms. Houston’s version, even without the lyrical
acrobatics. From a performance art-y "Broken Things" to bilingual
selections from Rei Momo and an electric and vocally experimental "Once in
a Lifetime," Byrne gave it all and the crowd ate it up. It may not have
been Mudd Club or CBGB’s but it was obvious that, in Byrne’s own words,
"This Must be the Place."
- Matthew S. Robinson
c. 2001, M. S. Robinson, ARR
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