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With his exhilarating melodies, groovy rhythms, distinctive voice, innovative live shows and spirited dance moves, David Byrne has been a cultural force for decades. On April 16, he and his spectacular band offered the audience at Stanford University’s Frost Amphitheater an evening of audio-visual entertainment, co-presented by Stanford Live and Goldenvoice.
Byrne rose to prominence as the leader of the art-rock band Talking Heads in the 1970s and ’80s, and that group’s “Stop Making Sense” set the high-water mark for stagecraft and concert films.
Over the course of his long and interesting career, the polymath and bicycling advocate has continued to work on all kinds of projects, including founding the nonprofit online magazine “Reasons to be Cheerful,” which offers “stories of hope, rooted in evidence.” That effort is connected to his 2018 album “American Utopia,” which went on to become a Broadway show and Spike Lee film.
Recently, he’s popped up in collaborations with the likes of Olivia Rodrigo and released his latest album “Who Is The Sky?” in September 2025 (his trip up to Stanford came between performances at Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival the preceding and following Saturdays).
While Byrne has been to Stanford before (he’s even designed artistic bike racks for the campus), he noted it was, to his recollection, his first time playing at the amphitheater.
Part of what made the “American Utopia” tour so dazzling was the way Byrne and company were able to move about the stage freely, unburdened by wires, microphones, amplifiers and other equipment. The “Who Is The Sky?” tour continues in that welcome style, with its 14 instrumentalists and singer/dancers all mobile, clad in matching outfits and engaging in choreography throughout. Byrne, who turns 74 next month, remains spry, graceful and funky.
This tour is also notable for its use of immersive visuals. Each song comes with unique projections (including, at the end of the Talking Heads classic “Life During Wartime,” footage of ICE action and protests).
In addition to multiple songs from the new album, such as “Everybody Laughs,” “When We Are Singing” and “What is the Reason for It?”, the setlist at the April 16 show was populated heavily by Talking Heads songs, including “Once in a Lifetime,” “(Nothing But) Flowers” and “And She Was,” among many others.
Other selections from the post-Talking Heads canon included “Strange Overtones” from the 2008 album “Everything That Happens Will Happen Today,” by Byrne and longtime collaborator Brian Eno, and “Like Humans Do” from 2001’s “Look Into the Eyeball.”
Lyrical references to houses and homes loomed large in the setlist, from the “home is where I want to be” opening line of “This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody),” encore closer “Burning Down the House” and the deeper cut “Houses in Motion” to “Everybody’s Coming to My House” and “My Apartment Is My Friend” from the new album. In the latter’s case, the imagery was also made visual, with a panorama-esque shot of Byrne’s own New York City abode displayed during the song, which was inspired, he explained, by his gratitude for his apartment as a comfortable and safe solo haven during the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the opening number, “Heaven,” from the Talking Heads album “Fear of Music,” an image of Earth as seen from space rose behind the musicians, who played from what appeared to be a lunar landscape.
“That’s our heaven,” Byrne said of our home planet. “The only one we have.”
I first became a David Byrne fan in my youth, listening to my parents’ Talking Heads albums. It was especially sweet, then, to bring to the concert my own daughter, representing the newest in our family’s three generations of listeners. Same as it ever was.
Next up at Frost Amphitheater is Dabin’s Stay in Bloom festival May 1-2 and Blackfest 2026 on May 3; 351 Lasuen St., Stanford; live.stanford.edu.
I was very glad to see this article in the Mountain View Voice. It was a fantastic concert! Gotta love David Byrne. I am a big Talking Heads fan and have been from the very beginning since the 1970s when I heard Love Is Like A Building On Fire. I had been waiting for this concert for a long time. However, I don’t care for the Frost Amphitheater’s lumpy grass. I only have one negative comment from otherwise awesome experience. Although I can walk, I am disabled. I noticed that so many people are not watching where they are going. In my opinion, this happened with the advent of cell phones. People were not looking at their cell phones, rather they were not looking where they were going. I experienced quite a few collisions. That includes the middle-aged man who walked up to my face and stood in front of me, insisting that I walk around him. I told him that I could not. His middle-aged friends made some very nasty comments to me. As a former New Yorker, it is my experience that people and crowds want to avoid each other, especially if they are in a hurry. Nevertheless, I met some absolutely wonderful people at that show! From the chemical engineer who sat next to me, to the couple from Salt Lake City looking for a ride to their hotel in Palo Alto. I was delighted to meet them and take them where they needed to go. Those people made me very happy and made up for all the ignorant people I encountered. I just wish that people would watch where they are going! I don’t think it would’ve made any difference if I had brought a cane. Besides that awful majority, I met some wonderful people and the music was incredible.