David Byrne // AFAs Live, Amsterdam, 2018 – Rhiannon Du Cann
For a Sunday, there was a buzz in the air. AFAs Live is a seated, rather formal venue but that didn’t stop us. Heads quickly started bobbing, and about three songs in a group congregated in the aisle. The poor steward politely asked them to take to their seats—to no avail. Eventually giving up on holding back the crowd, the steward resigned, removing the futile chair so that strangers could stampede to the front.
The chemistry between Byrne and his entourage was undeniable. They fed off each other, emitting a warmth we emulated: whooping, cheering and singing along throughout. Their uniform grey suits juxtaposed their conviviality as they jumped and danced barefoot and in sync, like jolly puppets around the stage. While David Byrne did not perform my Talking Heads all-time favourite, ‘Psycho Killer’, I still felt an overwhelming surge of sentimentality, the familiar classics reminding me of family car journeys and drunken karaoke in the kitchen. For the closing few numbers, I had my elbows propped on the stage, hands clapping in time with the beat—we were on the road to somewhere good.