Salient. Newspaper of the Victoria University Students' Association. Vol 42 No. 13. June 11 1979
Concert Review;
Concert Review;
Last Tuesday night's concert in the Town Hall was opened by some unknown by the name of Gary (or was it Eric) Henderson who spoke more than he sang. With Reel to Real drummer and bassist he cruised through a short set of light country/folk music
Then on came music's latest sound — Talking Heads. They opened up with The Big Country. Martina Weymouth's bass thundered across with driving rhythm while Jerry Harrison on slide guitar played with a genius for all to absorb.
The rhythm provided by husband and wife Weymouth and Frantz was astounding. Throughout the concert Weymouth's throbbing bass and Chris Frantz's fine driving work on drums had everyone in the stalls bouncing while those in the balcony looked on in amazement.
Warning Sign followed. David Byrne, lead vocals, songwriter and lead guitar, said little between songs, but gave everything he had in them. The originality and variation in his vocals just have to be heard to be believed. He is even more expressive and takes further liberties than on the two studio albums.
Two songs from Talking Heads '77 followed — Love goes To A Building on Fire and The Book I Read - and the momentum was climbing from fast to faster.
A few tracks from the forthcoming album Fear of Music were played and these displayed the same quality and style found on 77 and their last album More Songs About Buildings And Food. Harrison gave the Eno-like touch with his brilliant display on keyboards. During the concert he played on both guitar and keyboards soundly.
The excellent Found A Job led up to the climax of the show in Psycho Killer. Again Weymouth's driving bass and Frantz's drums were amazing. Byrne and Harrison on guitar were playing with power and agility. The energy being poured out over the audience left all stunned. At one stage Martina Weymouth left the stage and grabbed another bass, and finally settled for a guitar. But still the pace never slackened.
Suddenly they were gone, but they soon returned and Take Me To The River reverberated through the hall.
Three encores in all (which , for $10 a ticket I suppose was a necessity), completed a great concert. David Byrne's amazing vocals, Martina Weymouth's excellent bass, Chris Frantz's find drumming and ex-Modern Lover Jerry Harrison's guitar, keyboards and backing vocals removed all doubt in my mind at least, as to their credibility in a live performance.
Nigel Parry.