The Minneapolis of Purple Rain is all boxy buildings, conservatively dressed pedestrians, and shopping centers, and generally a world away from the hypnotic excess of First Avenue*. Morris Day might have sucked all the character out his surroundings here.Īs a result, it’s almost shocking how normal the world outside of First Avenue is. I dare you to find another music film (or really any blockbuster film) of the era with a background cast as racially diverse and sexually fluid (there is a palpable and unchallenged queerness in the crowd at First Avenue) as that in Purple Rain. Rockers and pop fans might have gravitated towards a song like “Computer Blue” for different reasons than funk fans, but all three can find something equally alluring in Prince’s genre-bending, gender-bending music and persona. As the outpouring of tributes from all walks of people in the wake of Prince’s much-too-early death attests, Prince’s music was made for all. In a lesser film, this jumble of looks and cultures might reek of a casting director and costuming department clawing desperately at landing on something resembling “youth culture”, but in Purple Rain it feels deliberate and natural. Hip-hop attire shares a space with jazz-age-attired Morris Day and The Time and The Kid’s “Darling Nikki” costuming, which can most handily be described as a Soul Calibur character’s alternate costume. Vamping new romantics are packed in with brooding punks and hair metallers. There’s something alien and exotic in the First Avenue dress code, though it draws from familiar music subcultures.
Like the song being laid down by Prince and The Revolution, the crowd is electric, wild, and notably diverse. They come at the viewer in rapid succession, but they leave an impression: teased hair, androgynous dress, makeup, piercings, and a whole lot of very different looking people. After all the joy, the audience was purposefully left with a powerful, meaningful discomfort.Watch the opening scene set to “Let’s Go Crazy” and pay special attention to the crowd shots. That was the final song for the show and Merrill Garbus (of Tune-Yards, the opener) joining him to close out the terrific night. The piece sears the memory black people who died because of violent, racist actions through incantation of names of the lives lost, including Emmett Till, Trayvon Martin, and Walter Scott. Before the final song, Byrne noted that he asked Janelle Monáe if he could cover her protest jam “Hell You Talmbout” and (sadly) permission to “update as time goes by”.
#Utopia band 1984 full
The full setlist is below as well as someone’s bootleg video of the show.Īnd the show even managed to spiritually connect to one of my other favorite shows of the year. Standout songs included Talking Heads classics like “Once in a Lifetime” (members of the audience were heard appreciative in their recognition), “Toe Jam” from his collaboration with Fatboy Slim, and “I Dance Like This” from the American Utopia album. At King’s, Byrne did speak about the importance of voting and also explained that yes, the instruments were truly wireless - very impressive given how flawless everything seemed.
But there is a lot of feeling even without much being spoken to connect the songs in an arc. Should Byrne add narration or a narrative structure, the show might be more comparable to Bruce Springsteen’s Broadway run or Patti Smith’s recent intimate shows taped for Audible. You don’t need a deep familiarity with Byrne’s work (Talking Heads, solo or other collabs) to see how much fun the band has performing like a marching band, with entirely wireless instruments in a carefully choreographed production. And that brought more of the focus onto him, the musicians and their actions. (WFUV has archived audio from a different stop of the tour that is available for streaming here.)īyrne could have imagined extravagant possibilities to bring his songs on the road (see his Contemporary Color project) but he instead kept it simple and seamless. I managed to attend his show at King’s Theatre in Brooklyn and the quickly registered it as one of my favorite tours of the year. And you realize he’s not expressing trepidation or fear, only excitement.”īyrne should take on that project - the shows will sell out.
“I’ve never done anything like that before,” he says, his eyes widening. Byrne is clearly intrigued: he would need to create a narrative arc, to connect the songs, but that doesn’t feel impossible. But this past weekend, in an interview Byrne did with The Guardian, it was noted in the final paragraphs that “there has been interest from the West End and Broadway in turning the American Utopia show into something more permanent. David Byrne‘s American Utopia tour has gone overseas so the buzz around the tour has somewhat died down in the United States.
0 kommentar(er)
