![]() In June 2020, it was announced Spike Lee had directed a filmed version of the Broadway performance American Utopia by David Byrne, with HBO distributing. "Everybody's Coming to My House: Detroit" (End Credits)." Road to Nowhere" (from Little Creatures)."One Fine Day" (from Everything That Happens Will Happen Today)." Hell You Talmbout" (by Janelle Monáe)." Burning Down the House" (from Speaking in Tongues)."Every Day Is a Miracle" (from American Utopia)."I Dance Like This" (from American Utopia)." Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)" (from Remain in Light)." Toe Jam" (from I Think We're Gonna Need a Bigger Boat by The Brighton Port Authority)."Glass, Concrete & Stone" (from Grown Backwards)." Once in a Lifetime" (from Remain in Light)."Everybody's Coming to My House" (from American Utopia)."I Should Watch TV" (from Love This Giant)."Slippery People" (from Speaking in Tongues)." This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)" (from Speaking in Tongues)."Don't Worry About the Government" (from Talking Heads: 77)."I Know Sometimes a Man Is Wrong" (from Rei Momo).Mauro Refosco – drums, musical director.Karl Mansfield – keyboards, musical director.David Byrne – lead vocals, occasional guitar.The film received critical acclaim.Īll provide percussion all except Byrne provide backing vocals. It had its world premiere at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival on September 10, 2020. Frequent collaborator Annie-B Parson served as choreographer. Byrne performed alongside eleven musicians, all of whom used wireless or portable equipment. The film features selections from that album, as well as songs from throughout Byrne's career. The film is a live recording of a Broadway performance of the show adapted from the touring show that supported the album of the same name. Just as Stop Making Sense was more than just another live album from just another rock band, American Utopia on Broadway does more than document Byrne's 2018-2019 tour, it stands as a grand and powerful statement of its own from an artist who is as relevant now as he was in his salad days.American Utopia is a 2020 American concert film directed and produced by Spike Lee, from a screenplay by David Byrne. And if American Utopia was thoughtful and whip smart, the Broadway show is thoughtful, whip smart, and fun - an entertainment that doesn't compromise its intellect for its unique brand of showmanship and vice versa. For the show, Byrne also filled out the program with a rich variety of songs from his days with Talking Heads and his solo career, and they enhance the effect of the American Utopia numbers, as well as reminding us that the LP's view of the State of the Union in the Trump era was ultimately one more chapter in a story he's been pondering for decades now. Where the surfaces of the studio album were often cool and dryly ironic, the sweat and fire of a live show is apparent throughout, and Byrne's ensemble is capable of cutting his brand of funk with confidence and élan. Listening to this performance without seeing it puts the material at a certain disadvantage, but this is a significantly more satisfying and pleasurable experience than the American Utopia album was. The tour eventually led to a run on Broadway, and American Utopia on Broadway documents how the show sounded to the patrons who saw it on the Great White Way. Byrne's 2018 album American Utopia fared well with critics, but what really caught the attention of his audience was the tour he mounted in support, in which he performed with a small army of dancers and musicians who were in constant, carefully choreographed movement that changed it from a concert into something truly spectacular. David Byrne may be the most cerebral rock musician of his generation, but unlike most of the artists who follow close behind him, he's someone who understands the physicality of performance and the notion of giving it up for an audience smart and arty as he may be, he understands the age-old concept of giving the audience a show, and he happens to be very good at it.
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