THE GUITARIST FOR DAVID BYRNE’S AMERICAN UTOPIA TAKES US BEHIND THE SCENES
By Jim Beaugez
DAVID BYRNE’S HUGELY successful, 26-country American Utopia world tour broke a lot of rules on the way to earning a Broadway residency and ultimately a Spike Lee-directed film. For starters, the stage was entirely clean despite being a fully live performance. Plus, half of the 12-piece band were drummers playing marching-band style, each covering a different part of the rhythm.
But guitarist Angie Swan had her own hurdles to clear during the show’s four-year run, which reached its finale in April. The highly choreographed performances of songs from throughout Byrne’s career, including the Talking Heads classic “Burning Down the House,” required a recalibration of how she played her instrument.
“I’ve learned to practice the way I’m going to perform,” Swan says. “Standing up and playing feels different than sitting down, and in most gig settings you’re going to be standing up anyway, so you might as well practice that way. And being able to move around and treat your whole body as a metronome — your guitar is your instrument, but at the same time, your body is the instrument, as well.”
Removing amplifiers and pedalboards from the stage also led to marked changes in the way Swan, who previously played with CeeLo Green and others, performed the 22-song set. Instead of having her 1964 Fender Twin onstage, she only heard it in m
