Last night the wife and I went to see David Byrne perform at the newly renovated Count Basie Theater in Red Bank, NJ. Mr. Byrne is touring in support of his latest collaboration with Brian Eno, “Everything That Happens Will Happen Today”.

The tour entitled, “The Songs of Davd Byrne and Brian Eno” is just that. The setlist consisted of an even mix of songs off their latest collaboration as well as earlier Talking Heads songs in which Brian Eno was a producer and collaborator. Songs such as “Once in a Lifetime”, “Houses in Motion”, “Heaven”, and “Life During Wartime”.

The performance consisted of not only David and his band, but also dance numbers during certain songs. The dancers added a visual element to the songs that was welcoming and not overly distracting. If they were present throughout all the songs, it would have probably been too much. But a nice balance was achieved in how the dancers were utilized in select songs and not in others.

Musically David and the band were top notch. I’ve seen him perform solo twice previously and this was the best I’ve seen him. He appeared to be having a great time and the crowd was giving off an overwhelming positive energy. The first standing ovation came after the fifth song, “Houses in Motion”, and were frequent after that.