David Byrne, Manchester Arena. 2nd November 2018

What a wonderful spectacle! This is my 207th gig (yes I count) and I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed anything quite like a David Byrne show. Staged in a curtained off box, with pinpoint lighting, careful choreography and not a single speaker, amp or wire in sight, this is pure theatre. With all that space on stage, the 12 strong band look so free, you begin to wonder why this isn’t the excepted norm for live music. Everyone is moving, thanks to having their instruments strapped to them, not just the guitars either, the keyboard and yes even the drums! Now I’m not going to pretend I’m a huge Talking Heads fan and I don’t know much of his solo stuff, but make no mistake, this isn’t just about the spectacle, the songs are here too and so are the hits, but even some of the stuff I didn’t know still sounded pretty powerful. The whole thing is infectious, making you want to don one of the bands matching grey suits, take off your shoes and socks and join them on the bespoke floor lit stage. Granted it’s not all brilliant, there are a few songs that fall a little flat and as is often the case, the Arenas sound system struggles to cope with the pretty varied musical styles thrown at it, but all in all you’ll be hard pressed to find anyone doing anything quite so innovative on this level as David Byrne.