Byrne believes that “Heaven” is community, and he wants the audience to feel that, if just for a night.
David Byrne is standing on the moon looking at earth. Byrne has just finished singing a tender, string-driven version of Talking Heads’ “Heaven.” The massive video screen behind him at the Wang Theatre makes the earth look beautiful and delicate.
“There she is,” Byrne tells the packed house. “Our heaven.”
Over three nights at the Wang, Byrne and his backing ensemble of a dozen dancers and musicians carried the audience through the 73-year-old icon’s vision of the world: optimism with a dose of realism, buoyant pop music shot through with influences from the avant-garde and a score of genres from across the globe.
Like Byrne’s 2018-2019 “American Utopia” tour or Broadway show, the trek supporting new album “Who Is the Sky?” features a group unburdened by wires, amps, and pedals. The stage is clean with the guitarist, bassist, a handful of percussionists and the rest using wireless instruments and microphones so they can roam freely.
