Talking Heads recall playing early shows at a pizza parlour

Talking Heads have recalled some of the earlier shows in their career including a performance at a pizza parlour and a chain restaurant called Beefsteak Charlie’s.

• READ MORE: Talking Heads: every album ranked in order of greatness

The band marked their second public reunion while appearing as guests on the Late Show With Stephen Colbert. The rock veterans – comprised of drummer Chris Franz, frontman David Byrne, guitarist Jerry Harrison and bassist Tina Weymouth – made their first public appearance together in over 20 years earlier this month. They first reunited for a Q&A at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 11.

While discussing the release of their debut album, ‘Talking Heads: 77’, Franz shared how though they were pleased by the critical reception they got, they were still playing to “50 people, maybe 100 people at most of the cities we went to.”

Franz explained how they would play odd spaces empty shopping malls and pizza parlours. Here, Byrne jumped in and recalled a show they played at a pizza place where their opening act was a fire eater.

“Do you remember the show in Pittsburg? Yeah, we played at a pizza parlour and the opening act was a fire eater. We did two sets and so did he but during our first set, he got drunk! We were just like ‘Oh no, oh no, this is not good’,” recalled Byrne.

He continued: “I also remember we played a Beefsteak Charlie’s in Yonkers. It’s not there anymore,” with Weymouth adding: “The worst part about it was Jerry and I were dressed in the same outfits as the waiters.”

The band made their appearance on the late night show in celebration of the 40th anniversary of Talking Heads’ legendary concert film, Stop Making Sense (1984).

Elsewhere in the interview, Colbert asked the icons if a Talking Heads reunion concert may be happening in the future. He even added that they could borrow the show’s house band’s instruments and have a go at a song.

“You got to admit it would be legendary if you got up there right now and played a song. It would be epic,” he said, to which Weymouth responded: “You’ll be still waiting,” referencing the band’s 1980 track ‘Crosseyed and Painless’.

Earlier this month, Franz hinted that there could be a further potential reunion incoming.

He suggested that a potential reunion could be on the way after sharing a new picture of Byrne with Weymouth. He captioned the image, “a picture is worth a billion words.” You can check out the full post here.

The teaser came after Weymouth said recently that the band are “just savouring the moment” in a new interview with Pitchfork, where the band discussed the potential of a full band reunion.

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