Before the show, the tranquil sound of birds chirping fill the hall while the audience find their seats. This is a seated concert, which makes up for the bad acoustics during The Smashing Pumpkins concert at the same venue last month. Moments before the band enter the stage, Byrne asks us ”not to experience the show with a gadget in front of your face.”
A somewhat didactic attitude, but nevertheless a very refreshing comment towards the iPhone addicts.
The concert opens with ‘Who’ – also the opening track on David Byrne & St. Vincent’s critically acclaimed album ‘Love This Giant’. A beautiful song that not only tell us that the sound tonight is impeccable, but also showcases St. Vincent’s attributes in the duo’s work: her magnificent vocals and distorted guitar. Her tip-toe dancing back and forth on the stage adds to the charm of her appearance. An appearance that fuses perfectly with Byrne’s. He wears a microphone headset, which allows him to move around on stage. And move around he sure does! From metronome-like moving back-and-forth with his upper body to physical antics, reminiscent of a mime artist. It’s equally comical and elegantly, and a fun thing to behold.
As showcased on the album, the band consists of many brass players and they do an excellent job in highlighting the concert’s masterful showmanship. The musicians twist around in choreographic movements in symbiosis with Byrne and St. Vincent. And it only makes the atmosphere more vibrant and the audience love it. People loudly show their appreciation and some can’t constrain themselves and start a little dance gathering to the left of the stage.
The interaction between David Byrne and St. Vincent is mesmerizing; their voices blend into one cohesive force on ‘Like Humans Do’ and their moves reach another high when they start attacking a theremin during ‘Northern Lights’ and sending the instrument’s extra-terrestrial sounds into the ecstastic crowd, During their solo material the two protagonists show their relevance on today’s artrock scene. On ‘Strange Overtones’ Byrne plays a rhythm guitar so funky it would make Nile Rodgers envious and St. Vincent’s ‘Marrow’ directs all attention towards her intense presence and performance.
Tellingly one of the final songs is the Talking Heads classic ‘Burning Down the House’ which is exactly what happens. This is the moment where the entire hall erupts in standing ovation and everybody’s on their feet cheering. A great finale on this Thursday evening where David Byrne & St. Vincent conquered Copenhagen with a fantastic show, on the top of their form and musically superior!
