Remain In Light

To be honest, I only really bought the tickets because I felt I ought to go. I didn't really have high expectations.

The gig was Jerry Harrison - guitar and keyboards in Talking Heads - and Adrian Belew, guitar player with King Crimson and Frank Zappa, as well as touring musician with David Bowie, Laurie Anderson, and Talking Heads amongst others. Crucially, he also played on some tracks on Talking Heads' 'Remain In Light'.

This year the pair of them have staged a tour called 'Remain In Light' although they don't play all the songs from the album - most but not all - and also some other Talking Heads tracks, plus one of Harrison's solo songs and one by King Crimson.

I wasn't convinced, to be honest, but didn't want to miss it. 

So, I bought tickets and this evening the Minx and I met up with Ian and proceeded to The Ritz. We arrived in time to catch the last couple of tracks by Cool Cool Cool, who were pretty impressive actually, in a big band of very good and tight musicians kind of way.

It was the Minx who noticed that their gear was not cleared off stage and, indeed, it turned out that they were backing Jerry Harrison and Adrian Belew. 

And, my God, what a great gig it turned out to be! I'm so glad we went. And, judging by the way the Ritz's sprung floor was moving, so were most of the other people there. 

The choice of songs was great*  and they were all performed so well. Everyone in the band seemed to be having a terrific time, not least Adrian Belew. I've never seen anyone like him: it was like he was mates with everyone in the crowd, grinning at everyone, which you can just see in my Blip, and there was no sense at all that he was different to anyone else there. I absolutely loved him. Also, cracking guitarist.

The arrangements were all fantastic and there wasn't any 'Stars In Their Eyes'-style "Tonight, Matthew, I'm going to be David Byrne" about the vocal performances. And yet they were all totally in keeping with the songs. 

A fantastic concert. With hindsight, I wouldn't have missed it for the world.

*
Psycho Killer
Crosseyed and Painless
Houses in Motion
I Zimbra
Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)
Cities
Rev It Up (Jerry Harrison song)
Slippery People
Thela Hun Ginjeet (King Crimson song)
Once in a Lifetime
Life During Wartime
Take Me to the River (Al Green cover)

Encore:
Drugs
The Great Curve