David Byrne takes Miller High Life Theatre to moon, visits Bobblehead Hall Of Fame

David Byrne has been kind to Milwaukee, the only ’80s rock legend that comes to mind who’s brought every one of his major tours this century to the Brew City. In 2018 he played The Riverside on his American Utopia tour, at the time a groundbreaking production, and fans who caught that show witnessed something fairly similar Sunday night at the Miller High Life Theatre, albeit with a very different bunch of songs. No cords, no amps, no drumkit, no mic stands; the frontman and his many bandmates were fully wireless and mobile throughout the nearly two-hour performance. Every visible surface of the stage and backdrop was a screen, like The Sphere on a tiny scale, and once again, Byrne and his team utilized technology to stunning, often moving effect.

There was no opening act other than a brief recorded message encouraging the crowd to keep phone-related activities to a minimum, and to dance. When the house lights went down a few minutes later, Byrne and a trio of musicians emerged onto what appeared to be the surface of the moon. As they performed a stripped-down rendition of Talking Heads’ “Heaven,” the Earth slowly began to rise on the moon’s horizon. Certainly less of a thrill than being on the actual Artemis II mission, but significantly more awe-inspiring than watching the video on your phone.

“There she is,” said Byrne after the song was finished. “As seen on TV, a few weeks ago. Our heaven, the only one we have.”

To everyone’s delight, following “Everybody Laughs,” Byrne revealed that he’d visited the National Bobblehead Hall Of Fame And Museum earlier in the day, and he had the photos to prove it; who knew there were that many Ruth Bader Ginsburg bobbleheads? He couldn’t have predicted how elevated Milwaukeeans’ moods would already be after a day of beautiful weather; we would’ve cheered for almost any celebrity caricature he might’ve chosen. Byrne’s intent, even more than most entertainers, has always included a hefty dose of levity, and although the show wasn’t overly politically charged, he knows his audience and vice-versa. RBG got an enthusiastic round of applause.

The setlist was actually very Heads-heavy, moreso than any of Byrne’s other solo performances in town, and he didn’t stick solely with his most predictable hits, although there were a requisite few. He revealed the origins of “And She Was” as being about a girl he knew in high school who was fond of LSD; by then the ensemble including Byrne had swelled to 13, everyone dressed head-to-toe in orange, including five vocalist/dancers who proved captivating enough in their own right to distract from the dazzling screens at times. “And She Was” got pretty much the whole crowd up and moving, and for the rest of the show most folks only sat down for the new material.

“Houses In Motion” was another early highlight, an arrangement that made the original LP version seem static. The band kicked into double-time towards the end of the song, Daniel Mintseris taking a wild solo on the keyboard he had strapped on like a peanut vendor at a ballpark; meanwhile the screens displayed dizzying sped-up dashboard cam footage, making for quite an audio-visual thrill ride. Then following “T Shirt,” a pretty hilarious standalone release from late last year, the all-but-forgotten latter-day Heads single “(Nothing But) Flowers” got a very warm response; the line “This was a discount store / Now it’s turned into a cornfield” in particular sent a roar through the crowd.

Next came a faithful rendition of “This Must Be The Place,” and the group appeared to be playing in the midst of a lush forest. Leave it to Byrne and his team to come up with a high-tech facsimile of the comfort and serenity of nature, as if the song wasn’t already bound to melt everyone’s hearts. Then it was time for the new-stuff section of the show. Byrne peppered this middle portion with stories, and a couple more well-known nuggets: “Like Humans Do,” a sort of pan-species anthem from his 2001 album Look Into The Eyeball, featured a backing video of (presumably?) the onstage band jiving around in full-head animal masks. “Civilization, in some ways, has kind of fucked us up, but…we’ll get over it,” said Byrne, in perhaps the only sign of forced optimism all night.

As far as the new stuff, last year’s collaborative album with Ghost Train Orchestra, Who Is The Sky? was a step up from American Utopia in terms of songwriting, and its material held the audience’s attention. “What Is The Reason For It?” showcased the versatile talent of bassist Kely Cristina Pinheiro; the High Life Theatre may not have provided the fullest impression of her tone, but it was adequate, and the mix overall was in almost strangely perfect balance considering how many people were onstage. “Moisturizing Thing” was an effective bit of satire; the quirky tale of an anti-aging lotion that makes you look like you’re a toddler fit very comfortably into the Byrne repertoire.

Pinheiro stole the show again on Heads classic “Slippery People,” which also featured a brief percussion breakdown followed by Byrne spewing a hilarious stream of rhythmic gibberish, then demanding of the audience, “Help me out now!” Everyone eagerly did their best to parrot back the nonsense they’d just heard. While Byrne doesn’t shy away from heavy subject matter, it’s his odd sense of humor that’s always made his work feel more welcoming than that of a lot of musician-activists out there. His distinctive mixture of singing, speaking, shouting and yelping that seemed so bizarre in the late ’70s has proved more iconic than anyone could’ve guessed, and his voice has lost very little of its power in the decades since.

Following “My Apartment Is My Friend,” Byrne returned to his old band’s catalog, ending the set with Heads heavy-hitters. “Air” brought the energy back up gradually, while “Psycho Killer” was bare-bones yet still intense, bolstered by crowd participation, and “Life During Wartime” was the climax of the night. Videos behind the band got increasingly violent and intense, mostly portraying protests and law enforcement clashes, but they made sure to integrate one sequence of someone comically stealing an ICE bike and making their getaway.

The set concluded with a celebratory “Once In A Lifetime.” At this point, chances of a full Talking Heads reunion seem as distant as ever, yet fans can get pretty close to whatever that might be like on this Who Is The Sky? tour. They may not get all the songs they crave, but they can still feel the anticipation building, waiting for their cathartic moment to shout out along with Byrne, “MY GOD! WHAT HAVE I DONE?” before that final chorus. And they can count on “Burning Down The House” for that final encore to send them home happy.