i left the house at noon on saturday & pulled into annapolis at 5:30. i made really good time, even despite two giant traffic jams on I-95. each one had us at a near standstill for 15 minutes or so. which wouldn't have been such a big deal if i weren't SWELTERING in my car. good lord, it was hot. maybe this will finally be the year i get the A/C fixed.
i was so hot, in fact, that i called the car talk guys while i was stopped in traffic. you have to leave a message about your car's problem and then if they like you they'll call you back when they're taping the show. so i left a message telling them how i keep putting off the A/C repair, thinking the car is going to die soon... it's a 1990, for god's sake, with 192,000 miles. BUT THE CAR WON'T DIE. so i'm starting to think that i should go ahead and get the A/C repaired, but there's some part of me that thinks that having operable A/C will actually cause the car to die sooner. a conundrum.
anyway, in my message i complained -loudly- that i was stuck in traffic and SWEATING MY ASS OFF, so maybe that will get their attention.
so when i finally arrive at the maryland hall i'm literally dripping with sweat. thankfully i was prepared and brought a change of clothes. i first picked up my tickets from the will call window and lingered as long as i could in the air conditioned office. (the building is actually the old annapolis high school, built ages ago without central air; the 'classroom' which was the box office actually had a couple of window units working overtime to keep that room cool.) i told the woman that i had just driven from north carolina in an un-air-conditioned car, and she was appropriately impressed.
the maryland hall has a nice cafe in the basement, so after i changed my clothes (and applied a new layer of deodorant) i went down and had a turkey, hummus & roasted red pepper sandwich and a (ice-cold) pear/apricot smoothie. dee-lish.
by the time i finished my meal people were starting to form a line outside the door. (the seating was general admission.) the hallway where the line was forming was not air conditioned, so i went and stood outside where there at least was a breeze. while i was out there i spotted two of the string players and chatted with them for a while. they told me stories of the mundane life of touring (dealing with laundry seems to be a big, bothersome issue). they seemed happy that i recognized them, and indulged my questions about the string arrangements in david's songs.
when the doors opened, i didn't rush right in... i figured there would be a nice selection of single seats available. and i was right. i found a seat about 8 rows back, right in the middle, and right in front of the row that was "reserved for david byrne." i didn't at the time think about how fortuitous this would be.
on my right was a slightly hippie-ish couple (bob & terri) who wanted talked about bela fleck and the bobs with me. (i indulged them, though all i know about those bands are their names.) they were very friendly and when i found out they hadn't seen david byrne since the talking heads were still together, i told them i'd seen him a lot and i knew they'd love the show. that clued them in that i was a big fan, but their hunches were confirmed when they saw my tattoo. i mentioned that i had driven all the way up from north carolina for the show, and they said, "oh! we heard about you!!" apparently the lady in the box office was telling everyone about me as she handed out the tickets.
as we waited for the opening act to start, a few people started to come sit in the "reserved" row behind us and i decided to strike up a conversation with an elderly couple there. it turns out that the woman (i think her name was sandy) used to teach with david byrne's mom... they're friends of the family from way back. sandy told me that her son used to play monopoly with david... she had nothing but kind words to say about him. she sounded so proud, you'd have thought david was her own son.
sandy also told me that david's parents were going to be there (they live near baltimore). and sure enough, 10 minutes into the opening act they arrived. let me tell you... david byrne looks exactly like his father. it's almost creepy. his mom is short and a little mannish, but in a totally adorable way. every once in a while during the show i'd turn around and look to see if they were clapping along or anything. they were. ;-)
so the opening act... her name was juana molina. she's from argentina, and david came out to introduce her. he had nothing but praise to heap on her, saying he had been given a copy of her album and instantly fell in love with her music. he called it "latin musicby way of iceland." it was amazing. everyone sat in perfect silence and really listened to her. we were all totally entranced; i even bought her cd after her set was over. her voice is breathy, and with her parter alejandro she makes acoustic/korg guitar/keyboard trancey soundscapes that are almost a stereolab-y. i listened to the CD on the drive home today and was SO glad i bought it. now i can't wait to get her 2nd CD.
after her 45-minute set (and a 15-minute break) david came out on stage and the house went wild. an immediate standing ovation. after we all sat back down again he thanked us for "being able to make it to the assembly". (the concert hall was the one-time auditorium of annapolis high school.) he also said there would be a quiz afterward. i was personally hoping for detention. ;-)
i wish i would have written down the set-list, but i totally lost my mind during the show. i didn't even remember to take pictures until it was almost too late. (i snapped two while he was singing "psycho killer", but they're not very good. oh well. i have others. :-)
what's interesting about this tour is that david has been booked into seated auditoriums (versus his last tour, which was all smoky rock clubs)... so people seem reluctant to get up and dance. it took about 30 minutes for a contingent of people to leave their seats and dance in the aisles. that was all the momentum that was needed... soon people were doing funny walking dances in the space between the first row of seats and the stage... it was almost like a conga line at one point. the vibe was very friendly, and it was great seeing people have such a fun time... whether they wanted to dance, or stay seated (like david's parents behind me).
my friend tony had given me a bootleg of a david byrne show from march in italy, which i listened to on the drive up to annapolis... i was really surprised how much the set list has changed since then. there were a number of new additions, which was a nice surprise! i wonder how much the set list will change before he comes to durham in september.
here are the songs i remember him singing, in their general order:
glass, concrete and stone (DB- grown backwards)
i zimbra (TH- fear of music)
ausencia (cesaria evora)
the man who loved beer (lambchop - from grown backwards)
why (DB- grown backwards)
UB jesus (DB- look into the eyeball)
the great intoxication (DB- look into the eyeball)
road to nowhere (TH- little creatures)
naive melody (this must be the place) (TH- speaking in tongues)
un di felice (opera!) (DB- grown backwards)
once in a lifetime (TH- fear of music)
like humans do (DB- look into the eyeball)
dialog box (DB- grown backwards)
tiny apocalypse (DB- grown backwards)
what a day that was (DB- catherine wheel)
psycho killer (TH- 77)
blind (kick ass!!!!) (TH- naked)
life during wartime (TH- fear of music)
heaven (solo acoustic!) (TH- fear of music)
desconosido soy (DB- look into the eyeball)
lazy (DB- grown backwards)
damn, that's a long list... i probably forgot something, too. i think he played for almost 2 hours, and every song was SUPERB. i've never heard his voice sound more strong, and he really, really belted out some of the high, hard stuff (like "un di felice" and the "ay i, i, i, i" in "psycho killer").
i am not even hesitating for an instant in saying this was the best david byrne show i've ever been to. (and i've been to a lot of 'em!) the venue was great, the vibe was great, the sound was better than another other DB show i've been to, i met some really nice people, the opening act was wonderful, and david seemed more full of life & energy than i've seen from him in a while. maybe it was because his parents were in the audience... (though his folks were at the show he did at the 9:30 club a couple of years ago, too, and this show beat that one hands-down).
after the show i immediately whipped out my cell phone and called my friend tony. (he's an even bigger david byrne fan than i am... but he had shoulder surgery on thursday, or else he would have driven up from charlotte for the show, too.) he was all doped up and in a good deal of pain, but he was still happy to hear my report on the concert. i then checked in with ray.
after that 2nd phone call was complete, i decided to go back into the hall to see if maybe david was hanging around anywhere. he wasn't... i'm guessing he was still with his family & friends. oh well... it's probably all for the best. i've gotten pretty good at talking to celebrities over the years, but david byrne still makes me weak in the knees. i've met him a half-dozen times (including an interview with him many years ago) but i still get tongue-tied, even though i'm sure he knows who i am by now. (he even invited me backstage once.)
so after i calmed down enough to drive, i made my way to poolesville to spend the night on my friend jen's couch. (she's a huge david byrne fan, too, but didn't drive to annapolis since she's going to see one of his shows at the birchmere in DC in a couple of weeks.) i gave her a quick summary of the show, but on the one-hour drive to her house i got pretty sleepy (long day!) so i crashed as soon as i could.
i woke up when the sun started beating in the window... at a painful 7:30am. the rest of the house was quiet, and rather than wait around for people to get up i decided to just slip out of the house. i knew that an early start would mean a COOLER CAR and less traffic, so i left a nice thank you note, packed up and left.
the first thing i did was fill up the car with gas... and look! direct evidence that mr. pinky was right in telling me not to top off when i fill up. (for some reason his comment and his helpful link are now gone from that old post... d'oh.)
anyway, i didn't drive straight home... i went to ikea first. i spent an hour and half in that freaking store. it's a time-sucker. i spent less than $100, though, and got a new light fixture for the kitchen, 8 new soup bowls, 6 new wine glasses, and a swank red carrying case for a hopefully-soon-to-be-purchased new laptop.
and then i drove home. i pulled in the driveway around 4pm and immediately took a shower to rinse 2 days' worth of car-sweat-scum off of me.
aside from the ridiculous heat in the car, i would do the whole trip over in an instant. the show was that phenomenal. i'm actually trying to figure out of i could reasonably get to any other concerts before he comes to durham in september...
Posted by xta at May 23, 2004 5:54 PM | TrackBack