Seven years before Jonathan Demme directed Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter in 1991’s “The Silence of the Lambs,” the director paired with an equally unusual performer and created a concert movie – no, a concert experience – unlike any other.

David Byrne’s sneakers, tucked beneath grey cotton pants, fill the opening frame as the Talking Heads frontman walks on-stage. Guitar in one hand and boom box in the other, Byrne kneels at the stage’s edge and sets down the boombox. As his foot begins to tap, the boombox’s unexpected metronomic percussion begins, quickly followed by bug-eyed Byrne’s solo acoustic rendition of “Psycho Killer.”

With each song a new member of the band is added, the black-clad stage crewmen hardly noticeable in the frantic, coked-out, ravey, disco-rock mayhem that becomes the performance, finally filling the stage with a slew of freaked-out backup musicians gnawing at their gums, dripping with sweat and running laps around the stage.

Such was the Talking Heads experience of the 1980s. In 2012, that experience is mighty difficult to come by, outside of a “Stop Making Sense” DVD. Luckily for those who would seek it, there is a chance to recapture the Talking Heads experience tonight, or at least something approximating the Talking Heads experience.

Tonight, a different band comes to Northampton’s Iron Horse Theatre. The band, “Start Making Sense,” pays tribute to the since disbanded Talking Heads, and if their Iron Horse performance in Northampton at the end of last semester is any indication of tonight’s performance, it shall be wild.

Jonathan Braun and the rest of the seven-piece tributary heads take the stage shortly after the Iron Horse’s doors open at 10 p.m. tonight.

Also on the bill is The Great White Caps. If the name raises concerns, don’t worry, these guys are flame retardant.

Tickets are $15 at the door, $12.50 in advance.

Brian Canova can be reached at [email protected] or followed on Twitter @BrianCanova. Garth Brody can be reached at [email protected].