This tour is mostly a celebration of David Byrne’s Talking Heads past and his current album ‘Who Is The Sky?’ (for which the tour is named), the airing of new song ‘T Shirt’, and a cover of a song by the mutually admired Hayley Williams’ band Paramore.
It has been more than seven years since Byrne’s last appearance in Adelaide, on the American Utopia tour in 2018, and this expansive show as a whole addresses the COVID-related world standstill and the impact of changes the world has subsequently gone through.
Byrne has crafted a show that cannot be faulted; from the introductory and intimately arranged chamber pop of ‘Heaven’ (performed on the surface of the moon overlooking the Earth no less) to the ground-swelling encore finale ‘Burning Down The House’ (performed in front of a glowing red-orange hellscape).
For this opening piece (24 January), he is accompanied by some of the core band members we much later learn (via the closing credit roll) to be Ray Suen on violin, Kely Cristina Pinheiro on a portable electric cello, and Daniel Mintseris on keys.
Although we assume the rest of the troupe will arrive incrementally song by song similar to the ‘American Utopia’ shows, they all join in for the second song ‘Everybody Laughs’, and from there on there is no let up for close to the next two hours.
David Byrne (Melbourne concert on 22 January, 2026) – image © Danielle Annetts
These live collaborators numbering 12 when fully assembled are constantly in motion throughout the dynamic show, an untethered parading band inhabiting the stage. Not knowing their names until later in the show, the audience gets to know the performers and their personalities over the course of the show, each given the opportunity to shine centre-stage at one point or another.
Without discounting the performances of the troupe as a whole, the work of band leaders Suen (mostly on guitar and violin) and Mauro Refosco (on percussion) should be acknowledged.
Special mentions must be made of contributions by dancer vocalist Hannah Straney and Cristina Pinheiro for her bass work throughout the show, and especially during the urgent call-and-response mutant funk of ‘Houses In Motion’ seemingly perfectly designed to allow for individual soloist performances.
For the tour, the set list has remained static save for exchanging ‘Moisturizing Thing’ and ‘I Met The Buddha At A Downtown Party’ on alternating nights and the uniform of orange or blue, respectively, and on this night we are treated to the latter (i.e. ‘Buddha’ and blue).
David Byrne (Melbourne concert on 22 January, 2026) – image © Danielle Annetts
The positively anthemic ‘T Shirt’, appropriately accompanied by mostly amusing visuals of t-shirt slogans is just one example of the overwhelming feeling of joy conveyed throughout the show.
Taking on new meanings in the wake of the climate change movement is ‘(Nothing But) Flowers’ (at times sounding like something from Paul Simon’s ‘Graceland’), which has been described as the most uplifting post-apocalyptic song you will ever hear and is fittingly paired with ‘This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)’, the opening lyric of the latter complementing that of the former.
‘What Is The Reason For It?’ is sung with dancer Tendayi Kuumba subbing for Paramore’s Hayley Williams’ contribution on the record, and several songs later following on from ‘My Apartment Is My Friend’, a potential paean to the solitude brought on by the pandemic, there is a cover of Paramore’s ‘Hard Times’.
‘Psycho Killer’ (finally back in the set after an extended absence) is announced as having an arrangement by the late musical polymath Arthur Russell and has a choral quality given the number of vocalists onstage.
David Byrne (Melbourne concert on 22 January, 2026) – image © Danielle Annetts
A pounding, rousing rendition of ‘Life During Wartime’ (one of several historic songs that have undergone recontextualisation in current times since being released origuinaklly) is paired to concurrent video footage of a bike rider evading potentially wrongfully deployed law enforcement evokes a massive cheer among the audience.
‘Once In A Lifetime’ brings everyone to their feet before we are treated to the sole song performed from ‘American Utopia’ in the encore, a gospel house performance of ‘Everybody’s Coming To My House’ preceding the closing salvo of ‘Burning Down The House’ before the troupe depart, leaving the stage bare again.
Above this physical blank slate, an image of Earth from space reappears, and Byrne collaborator Brian Eno’s instrumental ‘An Ending (Ascent)’ appropriately soundtracks the more than satisfied audience’s departure from the venue.
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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source scenestr.com.au ’
