Archives for December 14th, 2004

The Lent Festival in Maribor was almost David Byrne’s last show.

David Byrne has a blog. If you don’t know him or are too young to remember, Byrne was the leader and founding member of the legendary New Wave band Talking Heads.

He was at Maribor’s Lent Festival this summer and blogged about the experience. (Scroll down to his entry for July 7 to read it.) Apparently, he didn’t have such a great time, thanks in part to the moribund VIP section. He writes:

"Last nights show in Maribor was sadly drenched. The city has it’s yearly arts festival, of which this is a part, and they’d built a nice floating stage on the river next to a medieval tower. It promised to be a lovely evening, but a huge thunderstorm pummeled the area and though it let up, attendance was spotty- that, and the fact that the festival sponsors and VIPs were given the entire area in front of the stage (the plebeians were in the bleachers). These VIPs were, of course, bored and completely unresponsive. I wiggled my butt, spazzed out, danced and jumped but nothing was going to move them."

After the show, Byrne made the mistake of using a Slovenian road while there were Slovenian drivers on it. It was a near-fatal mistake that almost cost him, and everyone else on his tour bus, their lives. He writes:

"Last night was - driving through the rainy hills of Slovenia after the show in Maribor a truck began to overtake the bus on curve. It was a two lane highway and sure enough here comes an oncoming 18 wheeler."

Byrne’s tour bus lost a mirror and got dented but otherwise escaped unharmed. He later admits it could have been a "real serious mess."

You can read all about his Slovenian experience here.