Robbie sez, "I have no other reason for sharing the link to this video of Life During Wartime than I can't stop watching it. It's from the Talking Heads concert film for _Stop Making Sense_, directed by Jonathan Demme. The music and choreography are mindblowing. My mind is blown right now."

Mine too. This is the best concert movie I've ever seen, one of the greatest albums ever recorded, and the amazing thing is that the trajectory of the band and its components went up from there. I've been listening to the new Byrne/Eno for weeks on heavy rotation and going crazy over it.

I'm really hoping to get to the David Byrne show in London next month!

Stop Making Sense CD

Stop Making Sense DVD (Thanks, Robbie!)

Previously:

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I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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Anonymous

Ah you sad young hipsters missed the last bunch of original pop/rock back in the day. I saw this show in Forest Hills Queens back in the day. Actually saw TH at CBGBs along with Ramones and Richard Hell, Television, etc. Billyburg? Bullshit. Indie rock today? ‘s okay. But the real shit is long over.
monkey

great music, snappy lyrics, aerobically challenging choreography, politely thanking the audience and asking if anyone has any questions. Now that’s a show!
Takuan

good stuff, an obvious debt to Bowie too.
Anonymous

Caught the Greek Theater show, last Friday…it was awesome! Great band, great choreography…Byrne genuinely seems to enjoy performing. And, those Extra Action cheerleaders…woot!
Anonymous

I, too, just caught his current show and was not prepared for how great it turned out to be. He’s at the top of his game, performing the cream of the crop. Go see it if you can, Europeans!

Also, as my long-dormant love of Talking Heads is now fully rekindled, I stumbled upon their “Bonus Rarities and Outtakes” album on iTunes. Recommended for those who (like me) rendered themselves overly familiar the back catalog, as it provides fresh ears on old gems.
DelicateFlower

1. I love that everyone, not just the back-up singers, are participating in the choreography. I bet playing guitar while jigging ain’t easy.

2. I once read or heard an interview with Byrne about the time a famous Noh actor came to one of his performances, then afterwards proceeded to give him all these notes about his theater craft. Byrne said it was quite a brutal critique, but that all the directions and hints the actor gave him were totally right in terms of connecting with the audience. I wonder if that was before or after this.

3. My one-year-old immediately dropped his pots and pans he was playing with when I started playing this video, and wanted to watch the whole thing.
Anonymous

I was just listening to this CD on the way in to work the other day and commenting to someone at work how every song on this album is better than the studio version.

Except Burning Down the House. Can’t stand that live version.
Dan

This has long been my favorite concert DVD by a large margin. Highly recommended to anyone who has even a passing interest in the Talking Heads.

I agree with post #16. This Must be the Place is my favorite of the concert.
Practical Archivist

burned all my notebooks…what good are notebooks?
Old Bald Helen

Ah. Lovely. We were so naive then.
se166hn

I saw David Byrne play here in New Zealand as part of his recent tour. I having wanted to see and hear him perform since the seeing this concert film many years ago. Was not disappointed.
David is a true Renaissance man
Anonymous

just saw david byrne here in utah. this song live was amazing. the entire concert was incredibly choreographed and i must say was THE best concert i’ve ever been to. he has only gotten better.
Anonymous

when i was stationed just north of LA, a friend of mine showed me a newspaper with an ad for people to show up and watch a movie being made. no mention that it was the TH. a few months later we realized how unfortunate we were for not going. one of lifes sad sad stories. tsk tsk, shame on us.

jd – pt mugu, 1983-1988
eltiochusma

I admit all I know is “Burning Down the House” from the radio, so I approach this performance expecting to have my mind blown. After reading the several comments, I’m hungry for a spectacle of dynamic, genre-busting, ground-breaking music and choreography that has a great many commenters lovingly reliving their youth and anticipating future performances by this band.

This is what I hear: David Byrne singing/rapping muddled lyrics and a well-rehearsed band singing a simple pop song, with some solos in it. This is a mind blowing song and performance?

This is what a see: Head Jerks. Arm Sways. Leg Sways. Scarecrow Arms. Running In Place. Swimming in Place. Microphone Circling. Lying on Back. Running around and behind the Stage. Is this the mind blowing choreography?

I don’t want to compare this performance to anything else, but it kinda falls short of mind blowing. Can I be patiently shown how this performance advanced the art of composition and dance to such a degree that so many rave about it many years after it was produced?

If someone had described this as “fun” I would certainly have agreed and moved on.
igpajo

Like #4 I have awesome memories of going to see this several times in the theater as a midnight movie. On the big screen it was just like being there. Definitely one of the best concert films ever.
Kid Geezer

I saw Stop Making Sense when it was first run. It’s been awhile, but I don’t recall that I was a TH fan when I went (probably for Demme), but I sure was when I walked out. And that album holds up 110%. What I really liked, and remains unique to concert films, was the total focus on the performance and the complete lack of audience shots, which only distracts and detracts.
zipr

Great clip and film. When first released, the CD of Stop Making Sense was much different than the audio of the movie — different music mix and lacking many songs. Because of that, I taped the audio of the movie onto cassette. I used to listen to that thing over and over. I think that the current version (Special New Edition) of the audio CD fixes this — if you have the old version, it’s worth checking out.
Anonymous

I was lucky enough to see three shows on this tour (and two other Heads shows earlier). Was too young to catch them at CBGB’s in the 70′s though.
I may still have the concert shirt from the Central Park show!

/Ed
franko

what a coincidence: if you happen to be in reno, nv on july 17th, they are showing this movie outside, on a big screen, in a park downtown as part of the annual month-long arts festival. i can’t wait! http://renoisartown.com/
Anonymous

Try Peter Gabriel’s “Talk to Me” with Bill Bruford and Tony Levin. Saw PG in the phone booth come up through the stage floor at the Tacoma Dome during this tour, and it was an unforgettable performance. Great acoustics, too! The Tacoma Dome is the worlds largest wooden-domed arena.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytRuMVAvc08
Anonymous

#59: I believe Tina’s bass was a Fender “Mustang” bass–short scale/body. A roommate had one–very, very nice little axe. I think purists would decry it’s lack of “balls” at the lowest registers…
Robin Slick

Very cool!

And for fans of Adrian Belew, you might want to have a listen to his latest: http://tinyurl.com/nlb8gv

I may be prejudiced, but he’s amazing.
RobbieQTelfer

i didn’t get my website added for link-back when i suggested this darnit – and the post is so popular!

for those interested – i write this fictional blog called professorisland.com. enjoy!
Anonymous

Yes, an excellent concert film. But as live albums go, the recently re-released “The Name of This Band is Talking Heads” leaves this in the dust. Pretty much all the same songs, plus more early stuff, performed better in almost every case. Buy it.
Anonymous

I saw David Byrne at the Riviera Chicago three days after 9/11. He and the band drove all night from New York to make the show on time, and gave an totally energetic performance. Great concert, and even though some idiot shouted out for him to play ‘psycho killer’, he played ‘the accident’ instead. Totally amazing.

The house where we used to live
Described by witnesses
TV crews arrive on the scene
& the anchorman they break down and weep
Living proof that things are not what they seem
It takes all these wild and wonderful things -
To set me free
Halloween Jack

That is my favorite concert film. Cory, I had a crush on Weymouth too!
Gilgongo

If you’re a musician (of pretty much any type), I can highly recommend playing this for fun. I was in a band once and we used to sound check with it. It’s one of the few songs you can play really messy, get wrong chords on and stuff – and it still rocks. Something about the arrangement or the progression is in my opinion magical.
Mikey

I saw David Byrne at Bonnaroo last month and it was definitely one of the highlights of the weekend. Like a previous commenter said, his voice still sounds awesome, and possibly better than it did back in the Talking Heads days. It’s a great show, if he comes anywhere near your house you need to be there.
dfornika

I have nothing intelligent to add.

BUT

This was fucking phenomenal.
andremount

I saw Byrne in Santa Barbara recently. The music and choreography were as good (if not better!). One of the best shows I’ve been to in years!

I want to be David Byrne.
Anonymous

OH.

Robert Longo.
SteveKiwi

He was in Dallas two weeks ago. I had no idea. I wouldn’t say my life was complete if I’d been there, but it certainly would have had a big gap filled in. Never saw Talking Heads live, but they were one of my favorite bands in high school. Now I’m going to have to spend a bunch of cash catching up on him.
jenjen

I saw this film with a date who HATED it and insisted on leaving. I could tell right then it wasn’t going to work out.
talmage

I saw Talking Heads twice on that tour. What a year!

Does anybody else notice the change in audio quality when you switch from standard quality video to high quality video? The audio sounds much worse with the HQ video.
MrsBug

Tina must have been in great shape to be able to dance and keep playing that bass so well. My husband’s basses are *heavy* dogs, although her’s looks like it might be a semi-hollow body??? I dunno, but I’m impressed! :)
jconway

oh man this brings back memories.

Here in Milwaukee this movie would play every week, late night, opposite Rocky Horror at the Oriental Theatre and they would let us dance in the aisles. (until I broke thru the orchestra pit. Well, OK, lots of people broke thru the orchestra pit floor/ceiling thing. Eventually they wouldn’t let us dance there. It has since been remodeled.)

During this exact scene we would run laps – out of the theater, thru the lobby, then back into the theater thru the other door, down the aisle to the front of the theater and around.

wait! — is that a nostalgia tear? I think it is.

j
Nora Rocket

Every dance move I hav, I learned from David Byrne. This is, indeed, the greatest concert film ever made.

“So, David, why a *big* suit?”
Anonymous

Original four-piece band, same tune, 1979:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NedwmkhHpKI
goldmineguttd

I saw David Byrne June 1st in Shelburne, VT. it was fantastic. He did a live rendition of the angry preacher in Help Me Somebody, from My Life in the Bush of Ghosts.

The set list was limited to his work with Brian Eno- so several Eno-produced TH albums were fair game. Amazing, amazing show. It might show up on a Youtube search…
Anonymous

His latest tour is mindblowingly good. And he only gets better when he brings the Extra Action Marching Band.
goldmineguttd

And I’m just noticing that Byrne just a released an EP of live tracks from the tour!
http://everythingthathappens.com

Everything That Happens Will Happen On This Tour
David Byrne On Tour
Songs of David Byrne And Brian Eno

4 live tracks from the 2008/2009 tour: Strange Overtones, Help Me Somebody, One Fine Day, and I Feel My Stuff
High-quality 320kbps MP3s with no DRM
11-page digital booklet with lyrics (including David’s handwritten notes) and live photos
Anonymous

I just saw them at Red Rocks in Colorado a little over a week ago. I felt so lucky to be able to be there. One of my favorite artists, especially live.

I also love to watch Stop Making Sense and try and nail down some of Tina’s bass lines. Such a fun thing to do.
fulkdj

Thanks for posting this; I’ve been looking for a copy of the movie for years.

One of my fondest memories of the eighties was having a friend call up and ask if I wanted to go see this new group performing at The Pantages Theater on Hollywood Blvd. I’d never heard of them, but as soon as Byrne hit the stage, strolling out by himself with an acoustic guitar, playing ‘Psycho Killer’, I went wild. We managed to get tickets for all three shows, and when the movie came out, we were there opening night, and every night for a month.

Thanks again.
David
Doofus

Rome ’75!
J France

Ah – from their best album, without doubt. Possibly one their best songs, too.

Nothing intelligent to add, either (@#1), just awesome… absolute awesome.

There are a few things to wish to be older for, and being able to see TH as they rose to their high point is one of them.
Phikus

Saw the T-heads twice during this tour. It was every bit as awesome as the movie. (Props to my man Bernie Worrell on the ‘boards!) Saw Byrne last August at the start of touring for the recent Byrne / Eno album and I was blown away! Not only did they play most of my all-time faves from Remain In Light, but also several from the first Eno / Byrne album. The choreography was fantastic as well. Very cleverly planned and executed. Glad to see Byrne in such fine form these days.
Doofus

I meant to say Rome ’80
Pete B

One of the greatest evenings of my life was seeing the Talking Heads at Red Rocks in 1983. Incredible concert, fantastic crowd (everybody was dancing), perfect evening, word class venue. Ah, to be young again.
nosehat

“Thank you! Does anybody have any questions?”

Thanks for posting this, one of my all time favorite concert videos. It’s hard to believe we’re hearing his original vocal track with all that jumping around.

I saw David Byrne June 1st in Shelburne, VT. it was fantastic. He did a live rendition of the angry preacher in Help Me Somebody, from My Life in the Bush of Ghosts.

Wow, that’s something I have to see! I remember getting MLitBoG when it first came out and absolutely loving it–liking it a lot more than most Talking Heads tracks actually. My friends through I was weird.
jwz

When “Stop Making Sense” came out, I too thought that it was the best concert film ever made.

And then later that year, Laurie Anderson’s concert film “Home of the Brave” was released, and I stood corrected.

E.g.,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cr51qrkZHEg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VT77BzpMoEM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY7uTO_GuDg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3l9wwp_srg
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=4143BCB283064667
Anonymous

ahh, Love talking heads!!
artbot

Just saw DB perform here in Seattle last week and it was a transcendent experience. I thought it would be more of a sit-down show, with all the old folks like myself strolling down memory lane. Nothing could have been further from that. Byrne owned the room and the energy level never dropped. He looked like he was genuinely having a great time up there and laughed and chatted between songs. It’s great when someone loves their job and is so good at it.

His voice sounded magnificent and he made every song feel absolutely epic. I was surprised that Byrne, for the most part, was the only guitar on stage. I have to say I’m not a huge fan of his reliance on keyboards, and I miss his guitar sidemen of the past like Adrian Belew, but he did an admirable job.

As for SMS, it’s a great film, to be sure, but I, too, prefer the Rome ’80 concert. It’s all on youtube, and the camera work is atrocious, but the quality of the songs and their performance is beyond exquisite.

My fave is Crosseyed & Painless:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6g8lFmsCXhg
RobbieQTelfer

hey, thanks for posting my link!

i watched the whole concert last night with friends projected on the wall of their living room. i think the most important thing i took away from it was how the presentation is a complete experience – it’s a concert, but it’s also theatre, and it is not just song after song with banter about the town they’re in between. each choice is managed and part of the whole “stop making sense” aesthetic, while still feeling free, open and coming from a genuine, natural place.

perhaps i’m trying too hard to make sense. i’ll just leave it at “my mind is blown right now.”
artbot

Oh, and I was thrilled when he did one my all time favorite, and semi-obscure songs: My Big Hands Fall Through the Cracks, from The Catherine Wheel. I hadn’t listened to that song in years and it took me a while to realize what song it was. It was so odd and unexpected to hear it live.
bdubdrum

I always really enjoyed Stop Making Sense. Jonathan Demme captures an amazing stage production that slowly creeps up you.

David Byrne begins the concert on an otherwise empty stage singing Psycho Killer using only a boombox as his accompaniment. Between each song additional band members appear and the set builds both physically and musically as you realize the amazing sensory onslaught being slowly constructed. The energy level never falters and the band is so very tight.

I strongly recommend watching this concert DVD like you would a conventional movie. Lights dimmed, sound up and no distractions.

Oh, and I really like their Little Creatures album as well.
Unanimous Cowherd

The Stop Making Sense DVD is our household cure after a bad day. Pop in the disk, crank the speakers to 11, and dance. Bye bye bad day.

First time I saw this film was years ago at a midnight show at the Uptown Theater in Minneapolis. Dancing in the aisles was encouraged.
Anonymous

I saw a show from this tour (in 1983) at Forest Hillls, NY. It was, without a doubt, the best live performance I’ve ever seen.
Anonymous

Always good.

My favorite (also my ringtone for years now) is ‘This must be the place’ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGa52pQ-z4E

So beautiful. Wait for the lamp dance in the end!

And yeah Laurie Anderson is always amazing to.
jackie31337

artbot @12 He looked like he was genuinely having a great time up there and laughed and chatted between songs. It’s great when someone loves their job and is so good at it.

That’s pretty much what I was going to say about this video: he looks like he’s really enjoying himself, and doing whatever he feels like, almost as if the audience wasn’t there at all. Which, oddly, makes him really compelling to watch.
Timothy Hutton

That was probably the best concert I ever attended, if i recall correctly, Mr. Byrne spent a long time re-thinking the way concerts were presented, had a special suit (or two) made, and the guest band members were amazing (Bernie Worrell!)
Anonymous

It was a great concert I saw them do it twice on that tour.
A ticket stub ….

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bsmif/3613438530/in/set-72157619446277857/
Ernunnos

I prefer the dance with the lamp at the end of “This Must Be the Place”, but it’s all good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQWbaT5uHDE
Anonymous

This has always been my favorite concert movie. The thing is, I shared it with some younger people, like early 20′s, and not only did they not “get it” at all, but they thought it was stupid and ridiculous. It’s sad, really.
BDiamond

I remember seeing this movie first-run in Dallas. The showing I attended featured Byrne *in-person*, taking questions after the movie. Of course, I don’t remember a thing he said, it being so long ago, but it was a thrill to see the man himself.

The movie remains my absolute favorite concert film. I, too, had a crush on Tina Weymuth, and bought a Tom Tom Club CD because of it. Sigh, memories.
Anonymous

Aw, jeez. Thanks for making me feel ANCIENT by posting about ‘Stop Making Sense’ as if it were some rare archeological find…

I saw the show from the fifth row at the Greek Theater at Berkeley on a Friday, then a Sunday, what I believe were the final two shows of the tour before filming in LA. (the Saturday show was a daytime dance-athon with King Sunny Adae and His African Beats… Ahhh–good old days…)

Anyways, both shows were incredibly amazing, transformative–this is still my favorite concert/film of all time.

Oddly, when the movie came out, I almost missed it: wound up going to the final showing at the old Northpoint theater in SF. Sat in the fifth row for that as well. Was pretty blown away and stayed in the seats for awhile to watch credits. Happened to glance back and noticed that there were like, 20 other people I/we knew, who wound up there at the same show.

I was so much younger then, I’m older than that now…
philoponia

Suburban Legends: http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=vZV23zOMzmY
have to be the best (self) choreographed band, IMO.
Karen M

I went to see Stop Making Sense at a midnight show ages ago. Still my most favorite concert movie. Plenty have come close, but none so far are better IMNSHO.
Anonymous

do you get to ask questions at the end of the concert?
elsmiley

Nora, you musn’t dance like David in a public space. People will think you have lost it.
Cory Doctorow

@16: That video just reminded me of the gigantic bass-player crush I had on Tina Weymouth for about 15 years. She’s fantastic.
RobbieQTelfer

#74 – i think expecting to have your mind blown was probably the beginning of the issue.

i don’t think the energy of this performance comes from its ability to “advance the art of composition and dance” – those seem like pretty hollow goals that would ruin any project one set out to do with that intent. in fact, i think that’s where the energy comes from: talking heads version of art comes from a place that, to us, is a more honest representation of the spirit than so much “high art” (and it’s not for everyone, intentionally so, it would seem).

take, for instance, this interview DB conducted with himself about the film wherein he plays several different (inane) interviewers.

my favorite Q&A from it is at the end:

“‘i don’t think you have a very good voice, but you’re a singer – how do you do that?’

‘the better the singer’s voice, the harder it is to believe what they’re saying, so i use my faults to an advantage.’”

there are layers of irony to weed through, but i think that regardless if his statement is TRUE, it’s where he’s coming from, and that’s what people attach to so strongly here. he’s trying to organize life in a way that is more honest to the conflicting and contradicting mass of experience and ethics we call our identities/humanity. when you’re trying to be honest, it doesn’t have to be true. stop making sense. etc, etc…

that’s the best i can do this morning.
creesto

David’s music and performances make me sad: sad that I have not done such things as he to please so many people from all over this planet. My life’s accomplishments are wane and dull by comparison. Thank you all, TH, for the joy you have given this skinny white boy, even after 30 years.
Anonymous

Lately I’ve grown too fond of saying that 95% of everything is crap. Well, here’s a thread where that 5% awesomeness lurks. I feel like I’d be fast friends with at least half of you, based on our shared love of Talking Heads. Along with Radiohead, there isn’t a group that is more cherished by the glasses-wearing, techno-savvy liberals I know. Not that David Byrne fails to unite under all stripes. When my girlfriend’s 69 year old mother loves it as much as we do, what more can you say? Always afraid the cops’ll be coming on the nights we Stop Making Sense.

Byrne’s two more recent concerts on Netflix are tops, and the song Naive Melody is so clearly about Enlightenment. If you want to be a digital do-gooder, I would HIGHLY recommend someone create a Mauro Refosco page on Wikipedia. I assume he’s on the current tour. What more does a man need to accomplish for a Wiki? And where the hell is Steve Scales?! Anyway, if you haven’t seen the Austin City Limits (2001) and Union Chapel (2004) shows, you need to pop ‘em in the queue! Thanks for making the Net seem relevant today, folks.

“Beer, in the pews!”

“Yeah, uh, you ARE allowed to dance in here, it’s okay.” (Check out the guy on Road to Nowhere dancing in the back @1:25:23, he’s glorious!)

*HEAD ‘EM UP & MOVE ‘EM OUT!*
Ugly Canuck

The blu-ray is now available for pre-order from the large river :

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002FE5XVK/ref=nosim/?tag=dvdverdict3-20

Ah, memories!
richsamuels

I can’t wait until october…stop making sense is coming to blu-ray! I really hope they do a decent job with the conversion and sound.
Nylund

I think Mr. Byrne did more exercising in those 5 minutes than I’ve done all month.

And, I always smile whenever I see Jerry Harrison. Dude was in the Modern Lovers with Jonathon Richman and Talking Heads!

Life During Wartime video from Stop Making Sense

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