BYRNE BABY, BYRNE (AMERICAN UTOPIA)

 

If you were to survey people about their choice for the greatest concert film of all time, the chances are that Talking Heads and Jonathan Demme's 'Stop Making Sense' would be battling it out with The Band and Martin Scorsese's 'The Last Waltz' for the top slot.

That is, of course, if you can get past all the One Direction fans lobbying for Morgan Spurlock's 'This is Us'.

But what is this?

David Byrne has teamed up with Spike Lee for a concert film as well?

'American Utopia' is very much a David Byrne creation.

It is cerebral, visually striking and musically ambitious.

But with a creative force like Spike Lee on board as director, he inevitably manages to put his stamp on the film version and the result is simply electric.

Forged during Donald Trump's emotionally draining Presidency, 'American Utopia' arose out of the Talking Heads frontman's tenth solo album in 2018.

The album was very much an attempt by the Scottish born, North American raised singer-songwriter to lift his fans' spirits at a time when the US was so divided politically and everything appeared grim.

Originally intended as a multimedia experience entitled 'Reasons to be Cheerful,' it mutated from a record to a globe trotting concert tour to a show at Boston's Colonial Theatre which preceded a Broadway theatre run from October 2019 to February 2020 which ended with the Coronavirus pandemic starting to rage.

The show, which comprised of Byrne and his band performing in their bare feet in grey suits and playing instruments using wireless technology, earned rave reviews.

With its barren stage dressed only in metal chains and clever use of lighting, it was quirkily choreographed by Annie B Parson and visually compelling.

Plans to revive the show on Broadway in September 2020 were, however, put on hold because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Byrne's show was nevertheless captured over three nights for HBO by 'Do The Right Thing' and 'Blackkklansman' screenwriter, actor and director Spike Lee.

And it is just what the doctor ordered.

Friends for many years - Lee is five years younger than 68-year-old Byrne - the Oscar winning filmmaker proves to be a great collaborator.

Lee jumped at the chance to capture 'American Utopia' on film after attending a matinee and evening performance of the show in Boston.

He went six more times when the show opened in the Hudson Theatre on Broadway as he tried to figure out how to capture its magic onscreen.

In a joint interview with Byrne for Esquire magazine last October, Lee recalled the initial thrill of seeing the show.

"The first time I saw the show and he's onstage by himself, I'm like: 'Is that a brain?'

"Maybe I was not the only person who said: 'Is that a brain he's holding in his hands?'

"... And so that grabbed me. I had never seen a stage like that. I was hooked." 

Filmed over three performances, Lee's film and Byrne's show is more than just a reworking of the Talking Heads frontman's solo album produced by Brian Eno.

And while it includes versions of classic Talking Heads tracks like 'Psycho Killer,' 'This Must Be The Place, 'Burning Down the House,' 'Once in a Lifetime' and 'Road to Nowhere,' it is also more than just a crowd pleaser.

In between songs, a surprisingly engaging Byrne breaks away from his usual enigmatic public persona to muse on connection through performance and in the age of social media, on brain power and the importance of registering to vote.

It is a deeply reflective, self-deprecating, humble performance and not that preachy.

When he launches into his dizzying catalogue of songs, it is an exhilarating affair - thanks not just to Byrne's visual flair or Parson's smart choreography but a band and backing singers who are so on top of their game, they just throw themselves enthusiastically into the staging of each song.

Lee's camera operators capture the action from above the stage, among the performers, through the chains and among the theatregoers.

Every moment exploiting light and movent is gracefully captured by cinematographer Ellen Kuras and edited with great precision by Adam Gough.

The highlight, however, turns out to be a very Spike Lee moment as Byrne covers a Janelle Monae track 'Hell You Talmbout' which namechecks a host of murdered African American women and men.

Going beyond the confines of the stage show, Lee puts images of the victims' faces to the names, who after the summer of 2020 inevitably include Breonna Taylor and George Floyd.

It is a sobering, yet stirring reminder of the issues the United States must confront and a brilliant fusion of two of the country's most respected artists.

'Hell You Talmbout' is not the only cover version.

The British electronic act, The Brighton Port Authority's 'Toe Jam' is also brilliantly performed.

But it is the Talking Heads classics that inevitably get the warmest reception, although an acapella treatment of Byrne's solo song 'One Fine Day' is well worth relishing.

A raucous rendition of 'Road to Nowhere' brings the show to a stirring climax.

But the show also serves as a reminder of how, alongside David Bowie and Peter Gabriel, Byrne has always been one of the most consistently intriguing and most theatrical performers in avant garde popular music.

Time will tell, of course, how 'American Utopia' will ultimately be judged in the concert movie genre.

But even as the credits roll, you suspect it may well be the first live music movie in 37 years to take a serious tilt at the crown that has been shared by Scorsese and Demme's great concert films.

That's how good it is.

('American Utopia' was made available on video on demand streaming services in the UK and Ireland on December 14, 2020 and on DVD on January 11, 2021)