David Byrne, his session at the Tiny Desk

David Byrne, his session at the Tiny Desk

ByJohn

David Byrne was the protagonist of one of the Tiny Desk Sessions a few days ago.

Here’s how Robin Hilton tells it (video queued up)

David Byrne has a long history of performing elaborate live shows, often featuring a large cast of musicians, highly structured choreography and unusual instrumentation. So when we learned that he wanted to have more than a dozen performers at the Tiny Desk, playing everything from cello, saxophone and marimba to Brazilian timbau and zabumba drums (not to mention various guitars and keyboards) — we weren’t sure we could fit it all in.

It turns out, however, that his latest tour, for the album “Who Is The Sky?”, is very well suited to our space of approximately 3 x 3.5 meters. Although Byrne and his band normally occupy very large stages, the stage design of each show is almost completely bare, with no cables or amplifiers, and the performers wear or carry compact, customized instruments to facilitate movement, almost like in a marching band.

It’s a tight space, but Byrne and his band, in matching bright blue suits, huddle behind the desk to perform four songs, opening with the euphoric “Everybody Laughs”followed by “Don’t Be Like That”both from his new album. They also play two Talking Heads songs: “(Nothing But) Flowers”from the 1988 album “Naked,” and a rousing version of “Life During Wartime”from “Fear of Music” from 1979.

It was a bucket list performance for the Tiny Desk. Afterwards, as the rest of the band and crew dispersed, Byrne hopped on a rental bike for a solo ride around the District on a beautiful autumn afternoon.

Ladder

  • “Everybody Laughs”
  • “Don’t Be Like That”
  • “(Nothing But) Flowers”
  • “Life During Wartime”

Musicians

  • David Byrne: vocals, guitar
  • Mauro Refosco: percussion, musical director
  • Ray Suen: guitar, bass, violin, musical director
  • Kely Pinheiro: bass, cello
  • Daniel Mintseris: keyboards
  • Stephane San Juan: drums
  • Tim Keiper: percussion
  • Yuri Yamashita: percussion, marimba
  • Tendayi Kuumba: choirs
  • Sasha Rivero: choirs
  • Hannah Straney: choirs
  • Sean Donovan: choirs
  • Jordan Dobson: saxophone, backing vocals
John
John

With an untamed passion and deep, eclectic knowledge of music, John is the soul of RadioWise UK. Having worked in the music industry for over two decades, his vision was to create a platform that embodies the love and respect for music. John is known for his great attention to detail and insatiable thirst for discovering new talents and music genres.