David Byrne has announced a series of shows which blend the visual stylings of color guard teams with music made by St. Vincent, tUnE-yarDs, and more.

Talking Head’s David Byrne has created an art project called Contemporary Color, which combines the visual stylings of US color guard teams, and the music of esteemed musicians such as St. Vincent, How To Dress Well, and David Byrne himself.

The project, as he stated in a press release, began when a high school color guard team requested to use music Byrne wrote for a musical called The Forest. He gave them permission, and asked to see the end performance.

In his own words,

“What I was viewing is more properly referred to in that world as winterguard…still employing flags, rifles and sabers–but their routines are less about formation than about themes, emotion, concepts and visual spectacle. Over recent decades, the teams have evolved into something strange and wonderful; they’ve created a vibrant, innovative and original vernacular artform that is wildly popular across the whole North American continent, but is all but unknown in many of the big urban centers–like New York, where I live. Contemporary Color aims to remedy that situation…I was stunned at what I was seeing, and being a musician I naturally wondered to myself, “What if these performances had live music? Really great live music! Wouldn’t that be amazing? And wouldn’t that lift it to another level?” (Besides being fun for the musicians too!). The competitions these teams engage in already fill arenas with their fans and supporters, so I thought to myself, “Let’s take it from there!””

From there, Byrne went on to recruit musicians Nelly Furtado, How to Dress Well, Devonté Hynes, Kelis, Nico Muhly + Ira Glass, St. Vincent, and tUnE-yArDs, to blend music with the visual effects of the color guard teams.

For two weekends this summer, June 22nd and 23rd, and June 27th and 28th, Contemporary Color will be performing at the Air Canada Center in Toronto, and at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY.

Tickets are available below.

Contemporary Color Summer 2015 Dates
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Jun 22. Air Canada Center – Toronto, Canada
Jun 23. Air Canada Center – Toronto, Canada
Jun 27. Barclays Center – Brooklyn, NY
June 28. Barclays Center – Brooklyn, NY