I’m ashamed to say I haven’t been up to see a concert at Red Butte Garden since they built the bigger stage and made it all shiny and cool. Glad they finally got around to it. I’ve been a concert series regular for years, and while I love the intimate atmosphere including the traditional kill or be killed dash for the first spot of green you can find, the digs did smack of a glorified RV camp with a platform stage slapped on the side. But it being the summer solstice and all (and the fact that a very good friend dropped a reserved VIP ticket to David Byrne in my lap), I decided it was time to put an end to my hiatus.

Photo courtesy of Harry Scott

There is an elite if somewhat varied group of performers I want to see before I die (a kind of musical bucket list) and David Byrne has always been near the top. I got into The Talking Heads early in life and even followed the man with a raised eyebrow through the many musical reinventions that followed. To this day I like to think that the reason I wore oversized suits as a kid was in homage to David, and not because I couldn’t hold on any weight for a kid my height.

We got to the venue just a few minutes before the show was to start (the luxury of having reserved seats) and quickly learned that the concert had been pushed back an hour and a half because “David didn’t want to play with the sun in his face.” I looked quizzically at the black and purple storm clouds rushing by (and thankfully they did rush by without incident) and wondered if he was also demanding that the green M&Ms be removed from the bowl in his trailer. The delay did give my friend and me a chance to sit at one of the many tables set up at the back of the seating area (another welcome add-on from the renovation) and eat our picnic dinner as we people watched. Celebrity sightings: some news guy from Channel 2; various Sundance Institute riffraff; a renowned U vice president (for whom my respect has risen exponentially by his choice of entertainment value).

When David finally hit the stage, all was forgiven. The music was great, the band tight, the crowd engaged (my friend mentioned he hadn’t seen a Red Butte audience so animated and boisterous). David and company quickly slipped into that infectious nerdy funk that made him such a delightful oddity and flailed about. Two hours and three encores later, we left satisfied and happy. One critique – didn’t care for the mod stage dancers; I look at onstage non-musician choreography much like I do a magician’s assistant, usually employed to divert the audience’s attention from the actual showman and the rabbit up his sleeve. Still, David wearing a white tutu giving an awkward curtsy to the crowd at concert’s end somehow made sense of the whole thing. That after his constant admonitions over the years to STOP making sense.

Photo courtesy of Josh Clark

So back to the venue. Thumbs up. Great use of space, more seating, even a few kind souls running around taking orders for refreshments. One such person would specifically target the overly inebriated and kindly offer water.

Well done.