Theater News

After Here Lies Love, Talking Heads' David Byrne Turns to High School Color Guards for Inspiration

”Contemporary Color” will blend music and this phenomenon of Americana.

David Byrne's Contemporary Color will come to the Barclays Center June 27-28.
David Byrne's Contemporary Color will come to the Barclays Center from June 27-28.
(© David Gordon)

A host of noted musicians will take part in Contemporary Color, a performance event created by Talking Heads icon and Here Lies Love scribe David Byrne, from June 27-28 at the Barclays Center. A coproduction of Brooklyn Academy of Music and Barclays Center, the piece is a cocommission of BAM and Toronto's Luminato Festival.

Inspired by high school color guards, the work will feature 10 color guard teams, each comprising 20-40 people, from across the United States and Canada who will perform at the Barclays Center and Toronto's Air Canada Center along with an array of musical talent. Contemporary Color is the artistic culmination of Byrne’s interest in color guard as a piece of Americana and a competitive art form, which he first discovered in 2008 when he lent a composition to a high school performance team.

Musicians joining Byrne include Nelly Furtado, How to Dress Well, Devonté Hynes, Kelis, Nico Muhly and Ira Glass, St. Vincent, and tUnE-yArDs. The show will also feature the "biggest glitter cannon show of your life."

This engagement marks the first production partnership of BAM and Barclays Center, which are located just two blocks from each other in the BAM Cultural District of Brooklyn. "Contemporary Color is a perfect example of the kind of artistic partnership that has emerged out of the Brooklyn cultural district, enabling us to deliver extraordinary programming to our audiences in a way that would not have been possible even several years ago," BAM Executive Producer Joseph V. Melillo said in a statement.

For tickets and more information, click here.