Jerry Harrison and Adrian Belew: Remain in Light

"Jerry Harrison and Adrian Belew: Remain in Light" is a series of live performances by Jerry Harrison and Adrian Belew that began in 2022, mostly based on the 1980 Remain in Light Tour by Talking Heads, which featured an expanded lineup with Belew on guitar.

Background and Development

Adrian Belew and Jerry Harrison have remained collaborators since Belew contributed guitar to the 1980 Talking Heads album Remain in Light, and joined the band's expanded lineup for the 1980-1981 tour. When meeting up, the two would often find themselves talking about their Live in Rome performance and expressed interest in trying to do something like that again. Jerry has said that, "We regularly talked about how fantastic the Talking Heads tour was that we did in 1980 and also the YouTube video that documents playing in Rome in 1980 [...] We wanted to use it as a blueprint for a tour."

Harrison had previously worked with the band Turkuaz, having met the group in 2016. Later that year on November 11, Harrison would perform the song "Take Me to the River" with the group at The Fillmore in San Fransisco, California. The following year, Harrison would produce the song "On the Run" with the band. There were talks about a possible album produced by Harrison for Turkuaz, although the project fell through.

Harrison nevertheless still had a good feeling about the band. According to Harrison, Turkuaz was chosen because "They’ve got the kinks worked out for me. It’s like they know who wanted the top bunk and who likes the lower bunk on the bus. A tour with brand new people takes some time to work out and sometimes there are incompatibilities. With Turkuaz, I realized we could just walk in and begin.” While Harrison encouraged the band to study Live in Rome, he also stressed that the the band should do the show "their own way."

The project purposefully started out by playing music festivals, as Jerry put it, "we knew that we would provide something that was very interesting for fans of a festival, but it was a little hard to gauge exactly what our draw would be." The success of the festival shows lead to a more extensive touring production. The band would first perform at Peach Fest in Scranton, Pennsylvania in 2021, going on in the middle of the night following a set by Oysterhead.

Show Details

Choreography

During various points in the show, the band would engage in a number of choreographic moves, especially by vocalistsShira Elias and Sammi Garett. Like much of the choreography on the Speaking in Tongues Tour, many movements began as improvisational moments during shows, that would later be repeated if the band felt they fit the vibes of the songs being performed.

Gear

During shows, Harrison would usually play two keyboards, a Nord Stage 3 and a Prophet 5. The keyboards were stacked right on top of each other, Harrison explained that “because I’m singing, it’s important to not have one of those gigantic racks of keyboards, so I have a custom stand to make it as svelte as possible.”

Personnel

Belew and Harrison are joined on stage by a backing band who were originally members of the group Turkuaz. After Turkuaz broke up, former members later created Cool Cool Cool, who continue to act as the backing band. Taylor Shell, who did not continue on with Cool Cool Cool, was replaced by Julie Slick, who had previously performed with Belew.

In early 2024, Josh Schwartz announced that he would be stepping back from both Cool Cool Cool and the backing band in order to tour less and focus more on his JOSCH solo project. During subsequent shows, Schwartz would join the band on stage as a special guest and perform the song "Give it Away." He would also continue to perform on Saxophone and bakcing vocals as part of the backing band for the tour.

Other Talking Heads Members

In an interview in 2024, Harrison had mention the possibility of including Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth as part of the project, but "they didn't want to." Additionally, Harrison discussed inviting Alex Weir, who couldn't join for health reasons, and Dolette McDonald, who couldn't join for logistical reason. He regretted not inviting Nona Hendryx. Percussionist Steve Scales would join the band for their show in Asheville, North Carolina.

Current Tour Personnel

Source: liveforlivemusic.com

• Jerry Harrison (Lead Vocals, Keyboard, Guitar)
• Adrian Belew (Lead Vocals, Guitar)
• Craig Brodhead (Guitar, Keyboard)
• Chris Brouwers (Trumpet, Keyboard)
• Mikey Carubba (Drums)
• Shira Elias (Vocals)
• Yahuba Garcia-Torres (Percussion)
• Sammi Garett (Vocals)
• Greg Sanderson (Saxophone)
• Julie Slick (Bass)
• Josh Schwartz (Saxophone)

Former Tour Personnel

• Dave Brandwein (Guitar, Vocals)
• Taylor Shell (Bass)

Setlist

The setlist for shows on the tour stays the same from show to show. Occasional changes were made during the certain shows, especially when the act was opening Colonel Les Claypool's Fearless Flying Frog Brigade in 2023. At certain shows the songs Rev It Up, The Great Curve, Once in a Lifetime, Slippery People, Thela Hun Ginjeet, Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On), Cities, and Drugs were omitted.