Former Talking Heads frontman and generally ineffably cool musical genius David Byrne is gearing up to make his debut at The Met Philadelphia, where he will be performing next Thursday (10/16), Friday (10/17), and Saturday (10/18) as part of his An Evening With David Byrne – Who Is the Sky? Tour, an international jaunt that kicked off last month and has Byrne celebrating his recently released full-length with Ghost Train Orchestra, in addition to much of his back catalogue. While tickets are extremely limited for each night, they are still technically available, and we would highly recommend coming out to at least one of the performances. Here are Three Reasons why…
1. HE’S HEAVILY ENDORSED BY CRITERION
Hopefully at least a few of you have realized that our “Three Reasons” pieces are an homage the Criterion Collection’s “Three Reasons” series… Last month, the Criterion Collection announced the December 16th release of David Byrne’s American Utopia, Spike Lee’s 2020 documentary of the Broadway adaptation of Byrne’s American Utopia tour. Prior to the announcement, David made a trip to the Criterion Closet, where he picked up the Jacques Tati box set, discussed Neil Young scoring his favorite Jarmusch, and reminded Criterion collectors of his first entry in the collection, 1986 feature film directorial debut True Stories. In addition to his own titles, Byrne also provided the titular song for Todd Solondz’s first Criterion release (which you can expect to hear at all three nights) and can be found on the soundtracks of The Last Emperor, Risky Business, Something Wild, Until the End of the World, and Basquiat.
2. THE NEW ALBUM IS HIS BEST IN AS LONG AS WE CAN REMEMBER
Not that any of his 21st Century work has been scoff-worthy… in fact, like Morrissey, Jarvis Cocker, and Nick Cave (who have all played The Met this year), David Byrne’s particular brand of musical legend seems to become more potent with age… but Who Is the Sky?, released last month via Matador, just might be his best of the century yet. The LP features arrangements by New York chamber ensemble Ghost Train Orchestra; includes contributions from Paramore’s Hayley Williams, St. Vincent, and The Smile’s Tom Skinner; and boasts production courtesy of Grammy-winning pop producer Kid Harpoon (Harry Styles, Maggie Rogers, Florence + the Machine); a collection of collaborators that Byrne has said seem to fit his latest sounds just right.
“At my age, at least for me, there’s a ‘don’t give a shit about what people think’ attitude that kicks in… I can step outside my comfort zone with the knowledge that I kind of know who I am by now and sort of know what I’m doing. That said, every new set of songs, every song even, is a new adventure. There’s always a bit of, ‘how do I work this?’ I’ve found that not every collaboration works, but often when they do, it’s because I’m able to clearly impart what it is I’m trying to do. They hopefully get that, and as a result, we’re now joined together heading to the same unknown place.”
3. NEW OLDIES IN THE SETLIST
In addition to the songs of Who Is the Sky? and a healthy dose of classics from both Talking Heads and David’s solo output, these 2025 dates have featured a number of fan favorites returning to setlists for the first time in quite a while, including Talking Heads’ “Houses in Motion” (for the first time since 2009) and “Psycho Killer” (for the first time since 2006), along with track one of Byrne’s 1989 solo debut (Rei Momo), “Independence Day,” which hasn’t made its way into a setlist since 1992! The tour has also featured the first-ever live appearances of David’s take on Paramore’s very new wave-inspired 2017 single “Hard Times.”
*Get your tickets here.
