Review by David Byrne – In Life During War, This Show Will Restore Your Faith in Humanity | David Byrne

‘A“And when things fell apart / Nobody paid much attention,” David Byrne sings with a gentle shake of his head during the hymn to (Nothing But) Flowers, the talking heads that pay tribute to human complacency and self-interest. This line dates back to 1988. In 2026, he will rip your hand off just by looking at you. But Byrne isn’t overselling it. His latest scene is not a rebuke, but a reminder of how happy it is, what joy it is to move.

Surrounded by a large group wearing matching blue suits — dancers singing, percussionists dancing, and guitarists who also play violin — he continues his career-long obsession with blurring the line between live show and theatrical piece of art. At the back of the stage, a series of huge concave screens are a constant source of amazement. Along with Strange Overtones, the sun sets in a cityscape rendered in deep focus, details emerging in the distance, while the wandering Byrne, cast in blue against the saturated orange of Once in a Lifetime, delivers a thrilling punk jolt amidst a meticulously plotted whole.

With a setlist built around fluid bass and polyrhythms, from Talking Heads’ Slippery People to What Is the Reason for It?, and brass from his latest LP Who Is the Sky?, there’s a sense of perpetual motion as bodies move from one side of the stage to the other. Bern is among them, as demanding to achieve his goals as anyone else, and this spirit of equality is essential in delivering his message of collective resolve.

Throughout the gruesome life during war, footage of ICE raids seeps into the arena, while the isolation of the pandemic is a recurring theme, particularly when the screens recreate his home in My Apartment Is My Friend. Byrne’s response is noise, laughter and community. It’s beautiful to see the audience being pulled from their seats – slowly at first, then all at once – to the guitar plucks of “This Must Be the Place” (a naïve tune), their voices turning something soft and tender into a collective shout. “Love and kindness are a form of resistance,” Byrne says at one point. I was hoping so.