David Byrne, Wolverhampton Civic Hall

And he does a mean chicken shuffle, too

If you don't go to see David Byrne for his music – though I strongly recommend that you do – then you should go to witness his dancing. The one-time "Psycho Killer'' is a sight to behold. During "Lazy'', he enacts what can only be described as a chicken dance, shuffling about with his knees locked together, his elbows poking outwards and his chest all puffed up; later on he attempts a Michael Jackson moonwalk with equally dubious results. Then there's his synchronised pogoing with his bass-player, the latter loose-limbed and cool, Byrne still as a plank. You can practically hear the sigh of relief from the crowd as he finally reaches for his guitar and gets back to the job in hand.

Of course, Byrne's career has been shaped by social discomfort. Early Talking Heads performances revealed a man locked in constant battle with his body while his songs were often populated by misfits and nerds. Not a lot has changed since then. Byrne is still struggling to control those long limbs, while recent compositions such as "Everyone's in Love With You'' on his latest album Look into the Eyeball, still hint at an individual on the outside looking in.

Yet he has charisma by the bucket load. Looking more like a county sheriff than a rock legend in a matching brown shirt and trousers, Byrne seems content to play the goofball. His conversation has a way of going off on a tangent; introducing his Austin-based string section he launches into a prolonged debate as to the flatness of the land in Texas. He knows he's rambling but he doesn't seem to care.

While Byrne's freaky dancing alone provides more than enough entertainment, the music still wins out. Tonight's set is littered with old Talking Head numbers including "And She Was'', "Once in a Lifetime'' and, during a second encore, a raucous version of "Road to Nowhere''.

But even next to these classics, the tracks from Look into the Eyeball stand up well, in particular "Broken Things'', "Like Humans Do'', "The Revolution'' and the elegant Gershwin- inspired "The Accident''.

"Lazy'', the song which recently propelled Byrne and his collaborators X-Press 2 to the top end of the charts, is beautifully augmented by violins, a cello and some Brazilian percussion. With an entirely straight face, Byrne also performs a cheeky cover of Whitney Houston's "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)''. It's almost as if it was written for him.

The cheering and whistling is almost constant throughout the gig. Such ceaseless adulation seems to take even Byrne by surprise; for minutes at a time he stands wide-eyed and open-mouthed.

David Byrne may dance like a goon, but he's still damn cool.

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