Big Suit – Talking Heads Tribute Band
January 31, 2020
20 Monroe Live, Grand Rapids, Michigan

“Big Suit” is a Talking Heads tribute band based out of Chicago, Illinois. The group was booked to play 20 Monroe Live in downtown Grand Rapids on January 25, 2020. I was able to get a couple complementary tickets, so my wife and I went to check them out – note: my wife is the bigger Talking Heads fan.

“Big Suit” is led by guitarist Steve Kikoen. I have read the idea is the capture the energy from the Talking Heads concert film “Stop Making Sense”. Jason Krause does a great job in the “David Byrne” role, working to recreate the quirky moves as well as the vocals. Jason hardly stops moving the entire evening. Backing vocalists Jennifer Hall & Jessica Hornsten have some choreography worked out for each song, and they are kept busy all night. The band is built around a group of at least 9 musicians who help fill out the Talking Heads sound very well.

The band performed two sets of music, and did a nice job of spreading the hits across the evening. “Burning Down The House” and “(Nothing but) Flowers” were early in the evening, while “Once In a Lifetime” and “Psycho Killer” were in the second set. What I also enjoyed was the inclusion of later era tracks such as “And She Was” and “Stay Up Late”. During the first set, Jason wore a “standard size” suit, and let the music and dancing engage the audience. Jason does a good job recreating the vocals, and the backing vocals very much helped fill out the sound. During a portion of the first set, Jason and the backing vocal girls came out into the crowd to get everyone dancing. The problem came when Jason ran back on stage and explained how he tore his pants and had to use duct tape to temporarily fix them. For the second set, he had changed to a new pair of pants, and all was well as wearing the “Big Suit” jacket. The costume looks fine for the idea, but is not quite what David Byrne had in the 1980s. But, don’t be fooled – this is NOT just a 4 or 5 piece band doing their best at a tribute – this is a full act working to nail the tribute sound and energy completely. The band sounded great and they did a fantastic job of recreating the music.

The only downside to the evening was the “extended” jams and guitar solos. In some cases, it sounded like the band had wondered too far off and wasn’t quite sure how to get back. Steve is obviously a great guitarist, and likes to extend things out a bit – could be to help give Jason a bit of a break – but most times Jason and the girls kept dancing anyway. One surprise during the second set was the inclusion of the hit “Genius of Love” from Tom Tom Club (which included Talking Heads alum Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz). Guitarist Steve mentioned he is part of other tribute acts in the Chicago area, including a Steely Dan tribute, Santana tribute, and a Prog Rock tribute. During the second set, the band mentioned a connection between Talking Heads and David Bowie, before playing a version of Bowie’s “Let’s Dance”. It worked out fine, but not great. They closed out their set with a version of “Psycho Killer”, which Steve apparently thought it would be interesting to shoe-horn “Oye Coma Va” (from Santana) into the middle. Sure, it was probably fun for the band to switch gears like this, but I’m not sure the audience enjoyed it as much – an odd pairing to say the least.

Overall, we had a good time, and I would recommend catching the group, if the opportunity comes to your town.