David Byrne review – hope, humanity and dancing in a superbly paced and choreographed show

Brisbane Entertainment Centre
Solo songs and Talking Heads classics mingle in a spectacular performance that doesn’t pull any punches

Dressed from head to foot in iridescent orange, David Byrne and his 12-piece backing band look as if they’re about to burst into flames. On a vast, empty stage – uncluttered by amplifiers, microphones or any of the usual things that anchor a live performance – the former Talking Heads frontman is still full of twitchy energy.

Thankfully, there’s no spontaneous combustion. The template for tonight’s spectacle remains the legendary Stop Making Sense tour of 1984 – via American Utopia – where the show is built in increments. It starts slowly with Heaven, from Talking Heads’ 1979 album Fear of Music, a song that has lost none of its existential power.