November 3, 1997

So here we go to the show. Not driving slow but fully on the go, we take the corner lost in a parking lot bigger than most towns in Rhode Island, going THERE'S ONE...oooh, someone got it. Run, run, run through lego animals, to find the newly designed gritty reference to a Louisiana shaky shack, we go inside we hit the roof, grab a seat and begin to absorb the waves.

Thursday night was filled with an abundance of surprises for me. Being a House of Blues virgin and a David Byrne fan seemed to be the right combo-nation of ingredients to the proverbial good time. If you want to see a show with great sound and a 'large but intimate' flavor, the House of Blues is right on time! They have done it right from the floor to the ceiling, from the rustic interior to the godlike acoustics.

Not usually of great interest to me is the warm-up band. Mostly some hard core wannabes try so hard to upstage the main act they end up looking like the flaccid shell of three decent bands who have been poorly resurrected. Enter Jim White, an amazingly unique talent who really took me quite by surprise. With combinations such as a banjo, an old garage sale looking organ and a very eclectic drummer, they managed a new sound that has to be heard. I would be doing an injustice to label such a band.

The crowd, tourists and locals alike then awoke as the man with the forever plan came on stage with a pink muppet fur suit on - David Byrne. It was not "same as it ever was" however. Byrne, no longer with the Talking Heads since the late eighties, has assembled a class act: a beautiful back up singer (at times more like duo-singer) with a voice like nothing short of a mythical siren, a powerful bass sound, an amazing synth player, and a drummer with the talents of Neil Pert and the Chemical Brothers. David Bryne was the crowd leader extraordinaire as he wove effortlessly through costume changes and songs ranging from his beginning work to his most recent album entitled Feelings.

Simply put, the greatest moment was during one of the many encores when David Byrne was decked out in a spandex suit with the human muscle structure silk screened on it and had mickey ears on his head! Naturally, the song was Psycho Killer. David spun the evening to a close leaving the fans chanting for another encore for over fifteen minutes. Truly a new wave, from the godfather of new wave.

Justice Mitchell Loves: Art & Photography, Mom & Dad, Eileen, Friends, Music, and Film. Hates: Dan Leeds and his army of satanic, homophobic, undead girl scouts. Other Articles I've Written