Talking Heads\u2019 leader continues to push the performance envelope with spectacular hometown show.<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n@Rich Fury\/MSG Entertainment<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/p>\nDavid Byrne<\/h2>\n
<\/span><\/p>\nRadio City Music Hall, New York, Tuesday, September 30, 2025<\/h3>\n
<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cLove and kindness,\u201d announces David Byrne, midway through the first of four appearances at New York\u2019s Radio City Music Hall, \u201care the most punk thing you can do right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\nIt\u2019s a summation not just of his current tour\u2019s theme, but also of the evolution of Byrne\u2019s career. Introduced to the world as an uptight, paranoid nerd, as the world has gotten more brutal, he has become an avuncular guru, a relentless optimist, from the heavy dose of whimsy on his new album,\u00a0Who Is the Sky?<\/em>\u00a0to his nonprofit newsletter Reasons To Be Cheerful to the spirit of the new shows.<\/p>\n<\/span><\/p>\nFifty years after moving to New York City and starting Talking Heads, fifty blocks uptown from CBGB, 73-year-old Byrne\u2014recently engaged and maybe recently married\u2014remains a quintessential New Yorker. But while he was once known as a rock intellectual, an avant-garde populist (which he spoofs on a new song called, simply, The Avant-Garde), Byrne\u2019s intentions have shifted, committing to calm and creativity at this most volatile moment\u2014and on this night, reinforces yet again that he has long been one of our greatest live performers.<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\nFor this writer, the jury is still out on\u00a0Who Is the Sky?<\/em>, which sounds great but can feel a little goofy. But over the years, we\u2019ve often seen new Byrne music come more fully alive when he brings it to the stage. Tonight, Everybody Laughs and What Is the Reason for It? from the album hold their own in a set filled with beloved Talking Heads bangers (though going back-to-back with newbies I Met The Buddha At A Downtown Party and My Apartment Is My Friend feels like a bit much).<\/p>\n<\/span><\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/images.bauerhosting.com\/marketing\/sites\/16\/2025\/10\/David-Byrne-group-crop-2.jpg?auto=format&w=1440&q=80\"\/)
<\/div>\n<\/p>\nThe staging of the 13 musicians, singers, and dancers builds on the breakthrough of the American Utopia tour and Broadway show, which untethered the players from fixed positions and allowed them to roam the stage. Where \u2026Utopia relied entirely on lighting, though, this time there are massive, high-def projections, as the band \u201cfloats up above the Earth\u201d in And She Was, or we witness the \u201cdiscount store turn into a cornfield\u201d in Nothing But Flowers.<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\nThe work of choreographer Steven Hoggett is quietly remarkable. The constant movement is loose-limbed, child-like; it feels made up, until you remember that with that many people on a stage, if everyone doesn\u2019t know exactly where the others are, disaster is imminent. At unexpected moments, little dance parties or drum circles break out, and there\u2019s lots of light touches and hands on shoulders\u2014a constant sense of connection.<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\nThe bulk of the material, of course, comes from the Talking Heads catalog, but the generous spirit of latter-day Byrne shapes its treatment, too. More tender songs like Heaven or the divine This Must Be The Place (Na\u00efve Melody) easily fit with his positive outlook, while more intense songs are given gentler treatments; the apocalyptic gospel of Slippery People is a lighter celebration of the groove.<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\nEven the most celebrated Heads songs, drenched in fear and tension, take on new meanings. Byrne is playing Psycho Killer for the first time in almost twenty years, in a band arrangement by the late composer Arthur Russell, but it feels less interior, more like a character study, with a hint of empathy.<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\nOnce In A Lifetime will never miss, but its terror\u2014\u201cMy God, what have I done?\u201d\u2014is replaced with a sense of wonder. Right at the moment you start to think that\u00a0Fear Of Music\u2019s<\/em>\u00a0Life During Wartime has gone too soft, though, Byrne smacks us in the face with a barrage of news footage from immigration rallies, police conflicts, and battle zones, and the all-too-real-in-2025 lyrics snap into focus.<\/p>\n<\/span><\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/images.bauerhosting.com\/marketing\/sites\/16\/2025\/10\/David-Byrne-Hero-Crop-1.jpg?auto=format&w=1440&q=80\"\/)
<\/div>\n<\/p>\nThis progression was the \u201cstory\u201d of Stop Making Sense, right? Byrne began that show in 1983 as an anxious loner, who over the course of the evening finds and builds a community around him until the exultant release of the final songs. Writ large, this has become the narrative\u2013and focus\u2013of Byrne\u2019s expansive career.<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cNo matter how messed up, confusing, cynical this world is,\u201d he says to open the encore, \u201cas people we love being together.\u201d That leads into a glorious version of\u00a0American Utopia\u2019s<\/em>\u00a0Everybody\u2019s Coming To My House, with a vocal arrangement borrowed from an adaptation by a gospel choir. Byrne closes it all out with his greatest pure celebration, Burning Down The House. Not a note needed to change on that one\u2014a final statement, a joyful noise.<\/p>\n<\/span><\/p>\nDavid Byrne, Radio City Music Hall, Tuesday, September 30, 2025, Setlist:<\/h3>\n
<\/span><\/p>\nHeaven<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\nEverybody Laughs<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\nAnd She Was<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\nStrange Overtones<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\nHouses In Motion<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\nT-Shirt<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\n(Nothing But) Flowers<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\nThis Must Be The Place (Na\u00efve Melody)<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\nWhat Is The Reason For It?<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\nLike Humans Do<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\nDon\u2019t Be Like That<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\nIndependence Day<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\nSlippery People<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\nI Met The Buddha At A Downtown Party<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\nMy Apartment Is Me Friends<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\nHard Times<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\nPsycho Killer<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\nLife During Wartime<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\nOnce In A Lifetime<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\nEncore:<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/span><\/p>\nEverybody\u2019s Coming To My House<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\nBurning Down The House<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\nPhotos: Rich Fury\/MSG Entertainment<\/em><\/p>\n<\/span><\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.mojo4music.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Talking Heads\u2019 leader continues to push the performance envelope with spectacular hometown show. @Rich Fury\/MSG Entertainment David Byrne Radio City Music Hall, New York, Tuesday, September 30, 2025 \u201cLove and kindness,\u201d announces David Byrne, midway through the first of four appearances at New York\u2019s Radio City Music Hall, \u201care the most punk thing you can […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2062472,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2062471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/David-Byrne-Live-In-New-York-Review-A-joyous-celebration.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2062471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2062471"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2062471\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2062473,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2062471\/revisions\/2062473"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2062472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2062471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2062471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2062471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
@Rich Fury\/MSG Entertainment<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
David Byrne<\/h2>\n
<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cLove and kindness,\u201d announces David Byrne, midway through the first of four appearances at New York\u2019s Radio City Music Hall, \u201care the most punk thing you can do right now.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s a summation not just of his current tour\u2019s theme, but also of the evolution of Byrne\u2019s career. Introduced to the world as an uptight, paranoid nerd, as the world has gotten more brutal, he has become an avuncular guru, a relentless optimist, from the heavy dose of whimsy on his new album,\u00a0Who Is the Sky?<\/em>\u00a0to his nonprofit newsletter Reasons To Be Cheerful to the spirit of the new shows.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Fifty years after moving to New York City and starting Talking Heads, fifty blocks uptown from CBGB, 73-year-old Byrne\u2014recently engaged and maybe recently married\u2014remains a quintessential New Yorker. But while he was once known as a rock intellectual, an avant-garde populist (which he spoofs on a new song called, simply, The Avant-Garde), Byrne\u2019s intentions have shifted, committing to calm and creativity at this most volatile moment\u2014and on this night, reinforces yet again that he has long been one of our greatest live performers.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n For this writer, the jury is still out on\u00a0Who Is the Sky?<\/em>, which sounds great but can feel a little goofy. But over the years, we\u2019ve often seen new Byrne music come more fully alive when he brings it to the stage. Tonight, Everybody Laughs and What Is the Reason for It? from the album hold their own in a set filled with beloved Talking Heads bangers (though going back-to-back with newbies I Met The Buddha At A Downtown Party and My Apartment Is My Friend feels like a bit much).<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The staging of the 13 musicians, singers, and dancers builds on the breakthrough of the American Utopia tour and Broadway show, which untethered the players from fixed positions and allowed them to roam the stage. Where \u2026Utopia relied entirely on lighting, though, this time there are massive, high-def projections, as the band \u201cfloats up above the Earth\u201d in And She Was, or we witness the \u201cdiscount store turn into a cornfield\u201d in Nothing But Flowers.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n The work of choreographer Steven Hoggett is quietly remarkable. The constant movement is loose-limbed, child-like; it feels made up, until you remember that with that many people on a stage, if everyone doesn\u2019t know exactly where the others are, disaster is imminent. At unexpected moments, little dance parties or drum circles break out, and there\u2019s lots of light touches and hands on shoulders\u2014a constant sense of connection.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n The bulk of the material, of course, comes from the Talking Heads catalog, but the generous spirit of latter-day Byrne shapes its treatment, too. More tender songs like Heaven or the divine This Must Be The Place (Na\u00efve Melody) easily fit with his positive outlook, while more intense songs are given gentler treatments; the apocalyptic gospel of Slippery People is a lighter celebration of the groove.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Even the most celebrated Heads songs, drenched in fear and tension, take on new meanings. Byrne is playing Psycho Killer for the first time in almost twenty years, in a band arrangement by the late composer Arthur Russell, but it feels less interior, more like a character study, with a hint of empathy.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Once In A Lifetime will never miss, but its terror\u2014\u201cMy God, what have I done?\u201d\u2014is replaced with a sense of wonder. Right at the moment you start to think that\u00a0Fear Of Music\u2019s<\/em>\u00a0Life During Wartime has gone too soft, though, Byrne smacks us in the face with a barrage of news footage from immigration rallies, police conflicts, and battle zones, and the all-too-real-in-2025 lyrics snap into focus.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n This progression was the \u201cstory\u201d of Stop Making Sense, right? Byrne began that show in 1983 as an anxious loner, who over the course of the evening finds and builds a community around him until the exultant release of the final songs. Writ large, this has become the narrative\u2013and focus\u2013of Byrne\u2019s expansive career.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cNo matter how messed up, confusing, cynical this world is,\u201d he says to open the encore, \u201cas people we love being together.\u201d That leads into a glorious version of\u00a0American Utopia\u2019s<\/em>\u00a0Everybody\u2019s Coming To My House, with a vocal arrangement borrowed from an adaptation by a gospel choir. Byrne closes it all out with his greatest pure celebration, Burning Down The House. Not a note needed to change on that one\u2014a final statement, a joyful noise.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Heaven<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Everybody Laughs<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n And She Was<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Strange Overtones<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Houses In Motion<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n T-Shirt<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n (Nothing But) Flowers<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n This Must Be The Place (Na\u00efve Melody)<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n What Is The Reason For It?<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Like Humans Do<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Don\u2019t Be Like That<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Independence Day<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Slippery People<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n I Met The Buddha At A Downtown Party<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n My Apartment Is Me Friends<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Hard Times<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Psycho Killer<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Life During Wartime<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Once In A Lifetime<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Encore:<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Everybody\u2019s Coming To My House<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Burning Down The House<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Photos: Rich Fury\/MSG Entertainment<\/em><\/p>\n <\/span><\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.mojo4music.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Talking Heads\u2019 leader continues to push the performance envelope with spectacular hometown show. @Rich Fury\/MSG Entertainment David Byrne Radio City Music Hall, New York, Tuesday, September 30, 2025 \u201cLove and kindness,\u201d announces David Byrne, midway through the first of four appearances at New York\u2019s Radio City Music Hall, \u201care the most punk thing you can […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2062472,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2062471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/David-Byrne-Live-In-New-York-Review-A-joyous-celebration.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2062471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2062471"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2062471\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2062473,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2062471\/revisions\/2062473"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2062472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2062471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2062471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2062471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Radio City Music Hall, New York, Tuesday, September 30, 2025<\/h3>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\nDavid Byrne, Radio City Music Hall, Tuesday, September 30, 2025, Setlist:<\/h3>\n