David Byrne: 29th May 2001
life goal #3 - check!
So I skipped my classes and went up to Portland to meet Sean and see David Byrne. I had forgotten that I had a dentist appointment when I heard about the concert, but that wasn't a problem. I didn't have any cavities, so I left the dentist's at 11 and headed up on I-5.
Got into Portland about 1:15, then found a good parking lot across from Hung Far Low, where I was scheduled to meet Sean at 1:30. About 1:50, he and Chad showed up. Hung Far Low was closed, so we went to House of Louie instead.
We wandered around Portland in Chad's car for a while. Went to several music stores, an arcade of vintage games on Hawthorn and Spartacus, which had a big clearance bin. I bought some incredibly cheap latex panties that I'd best just describe as "disturbing," a new Servotron album, and some Devo stickers.
Then it was an hour and change before the show started. Chad parked his car near mine, then went to go find a friendly scalper as Sean and I stood in the general admission line at the Roseland Theater. After a while, he joined us in the line, ill-gotten ticket in his hand.
They let us into the theater at 7, where we milled around and drank until 8, when the opening band came on. We made sure to stand in the very front, although they'd put up those sissy guard rails three feet from the stage. Nobody was stealing David Byrne's shoes tonight!
The opening band, Joe Henry, was pretty boring. The audience around me seemed to hate them, but they weren't even that interesting. Sort of like a very, very watered-down Elvis Costello, I guess. They played for almost an hour, which was entirely too long for an act that was standing between us and David Byrne. Joe Henry had a 1950s TV, tuned to static and facing the audience, on top of one of their monitors. I'm still not sure why - they never played anything on it or made reference to it.
Then the roadies came out and took away all the crappy band's stuff. They made a few adjustments, and out came David Byrne.
He's looking pretty good these days. Older, sure, but not too much.
The crowd was extremely enthusiastic, and he seemed pretty surprised and bemused by the reaction he was getting. A short girl in a Misfits T-shirt was right next to me by the railing, but only because I couldn't discreetly knife her. She spent the entire show pogoing at random intervals, then yelling "DAVID BYRNE I LOVE YOU!" at really inopportune moments. Then she'd do the devil horns hand gesture, then gyrate violently and wave her fists at face-height.
At what point did the "yay Satan" gesture become the "I like rock and roll, particularly yours" gesture? David Byrne is not the guy to make the Satan gesture at, I think. My sister says "You should only do that for bands who, you know, enjoy Satan. Like heavy metal bands." I'd have to agree. It's not that I'm anti-Satan; it just looks kinda sad.
The second or third time I saw Weird Al (at the Jackson County Fairgrounds, natch), some little trying-to-be-punk girls were pumping their little devil sign at Weird Al. That in itself is pathetic, but halfway through they made up some kind of new, super-duper devil sign where they put their two fists together and extended the pinky finger of each. I think that means, "I enjoy Satan, even though his horns are smaller in proportion to his head than you'd expect from the reports of other rock fans. Play 'Eat It!'"
I hate audiences these days. You listen to old concert albums and sure, they go nuts between songs, but there isn't any shrieking and hooting in the middle of songs. If you really love David Byrne, perhaps you should shut the hell up while the man's at work, you know?
And it's not like the songs were hooting-appropriate, either. I can tolerate morons yelling "woo!" after the occasional drug reference or place name, but the songs Byrne was playing were mostly sad, slow, moody songs.
Despite the audience, the show was great. At one point he messed up the words to a song - not badly; he just started singing the wrong version of the chorus - but he said, "oh, shit," chuckled and sort of wandered around the stage for a while. Then he came back to the microphone and said they were going to try to start up where they left off.
I blame the shrieking Misfits girl beside me. I don't really remember which song he muffed - I was too awestruck to keep track of exactly what he played - but I think it was "The Great Intoxication."
After a while, he brought out some strings. They were all hooked up to some weird headphone system, so Byrne spent a while making sure they could hear him.
(Earlier, he'd told us that someone was talking to him in his head, but sometimes he didn't listen to him. I assumed he was talking about the headphone system, but he could have just been telling us about his day-to-day life. I'm not sure what the headphone guy was telling him, other than maybe "You're doing great! Just continue not being Joe Henry!")
People kept yelling for "Psycho Killer," but he didn't play that. I bet he's sick of "Psycho Killer" by now. He did play a bunch of obscure songs from side projects - I recognized "Sax and Violins," but there was another one I didn't. He sang a very energetic version of "Buck Naked," and a couple of songs off of Rei Momo. The only standard Talking Heads songs he sang were "Nothing but Flowers," "Once in a Lifetime" and "And She Was." He also did "What a Day that Was." I might have just been really enjoying myself, but it seemed like he sang a lot of songs, more than I was expecting.
For the encore, they played either "Dream Police" or "Marching through the Wilderness," whichever one they hadn't played earlier. Then a Whitney Houston cover, "I Wanna Dance with Somebody." Then Byrne left the stage again, then came back to sing "The Accident." The audience was almost respectful for "The Accident" - I don't think they'd heard it before.
After the show, the crazy Misfits girl sat on a planter outside and, about every forty seconds, yelled "DAVID BYRNE IS A FUCKIN' GOD!" at people exiting the concert, bums and innocent pedestrians. She also waved devil signs and sometimes middle fingers at the world in general. Chad and I waited outside for Sean for a while and had the pleasure of listening to her until she finally wandered off, presumably homeward.
All in all, it was a great show. Well, except for the audience, and the opening band. At least I finally got to see David Byrne; it was worth getting back to Eugene at 4 AM and getting four hours of sleep. Other than the handful of insane people erratically shrieking, I think the audience reaction was just very enthusiastic. I hope that'll convince him to come back to Oregon the next time he tours.
...
I wonder if 10 PM is late enough to go to bed. Gosh, I hope so.