{"id":417108,"date":"2026-01-18T09:35:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T09:35:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/417108\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T09:35:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T09:35:11","slug":"david-byrne-burns-down-the-house-in-brisbane-to-kick-off-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/417108\/","title":{"rendered":"David Byrne Burns Down the House in Brisbane to Kick off Tour"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>David Byrne<\/p>\n<p>Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Brisbane<\/p>\n<p>Saturday, January 17th<\/p>\n<p>David Byrne has been pushing the boundaries of live performance for half a century. Tonight is no exception. Returning to Australasia for the first time since 2018, Byrne\u2019s Who Is the Sky? tour begins with birdsong filling the Entertainment Centre. There\u2019s no mixtape prior, just the gentle insistence of nature. Then a familiar voice comes through the P.A., and it\u2019s Byrne himself delivering some light housekeeping rules with an added encouragement to dance. The voice is so calming, the man could host a guided meditation series.<\/p>\n<p>The stage itself reflects the theatrical nature of what\u2019s to follow. We\u2019re looking inside a giant box and the landscape is lunar. Byrne emerges in an orange jumpsuit and performs Talking Heads\u2019 near-minimalist masterpiece \u201cHeaven\u201d. As images of Earth bloom across the rear screens, Byrne gently underlines the point: this fragile blue planet is the real heaven \u2014 and preserving it is a collective responsibility.<\/p>\n<p>Also clad in matching orange jumpsuits, Byrne is joined by up to twelve singers and instrumentalists. An evolution of 2018\u2019s American Utopia tour, the ensemble remains untethered from amplifiers and guitar leads, free to roam the stage and fully inhabit Steven Hoggett\u2019s precise, kinetic choreography.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s a subtle political undercurrent to the show that steadily gathers force as the night unfolds. Byrne still bears the scars of the pandemic, but characteristically he\u2019s transformed them into art. The idea of people truly connecting recurs throughout the night. And \u2014 taking a cue from filmmaker John Cameron Mitchell \u2014 he refers to \u201ckindness and love as a form of resistance\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>        Love Music?<\/p>\n<p class=\"observer-desc mb-2\">\n            Get your daily dose of everything happening in Australian\/New Zealand music and globally.        <\/p>\n<p>        <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/spinner.gif\" width=\"30\" height=\"30\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/david-byrne-brisbane-jan-2026-pic-ash-sekulich-02.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"850\" height=\"1278\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/david-byrne-brisbane-jan-2026-pic-ash-sekulich-02.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-89884\" alt=\"David Byrne\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Byrne\u2019s setlist merges lyrical themes that collapse the distance between the mundane and the surreal. Moisturiser, his apartment, feeling horny and the accidental poetry of T-shirt slogans all come into play.<\/p>\n<p>The show is a mix of newer material and Talking Heads\u2019 classics. \u201cEverybody Laughs\u201d and his collaboration with Brian Eno, \u201cStrange Overtones, are early highlights from his solo catalogue.<\/p>\n<p>And \u201cShe Was\u201d, complete with a retelling of how the song came to be, is wonderful, as are \u201c(Nothing But) Flowers\u201d and the song that really gets the house on its feet and moving, \u201cThis Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>As band members come and go from the stage, the hi-def visuals move from cornfields to the big city and beyond. For \u201cMy Apartment Is My Friend\u201d, the black drop is literally Byrne\u2019s abode.<\/p>\n<p>Mid-show highlights include \u201cLike Humans Do\u201d, \u201cIndependence Day\u201d and the primal groove of Talking Heads\u2019 \u201cSlippery People\u201d. There\u2019s a beautiful reinvention of Paramore\u2019s \u201cHard Times\u201d before the late Arthur Russell\u2019s arrangement of \u201cPsycho Killer\u201d. It\u2019s the first time the song has appeared in a Byrne set in almost twenty years, and the interpretation \u2014 with its machine-like pulse \u2014 is transcendent.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/david-byrne-brisbane-jan-2026-pic-ash-sekulich.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"798\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/david-byrne-brisbane-jan-2026-pic-ash-sekulich.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-89886\" alt=\"David Byrne\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The show\u2019s politics are laid bare as the big screens give way to imagery reflecting the turbulence currently dominating the USA \u2014 and the world \u2014 before Byrne launches into a mighty \u201cLife During Wartime\u201d. The momentum continues as he slips into full Southern minister mode for \u201cOnce in a Lifetime\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>After the crescendo, Byrne brings everything back down to a moment of intimacy as he guides the ensemble through \u201cEverybody\u2019s Coming to My House\u201d. Moments later, he and the group re-enter the stratosphere with \u201cBurning Down the House\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>You won\u2019t find a more ambitious production that can play to an audience this big and make it work. Despite the size of the venue, Byrne pulls off the magic trick of somehow transforming a heart-tapping art installation of epic proportion into something that, by the end, feels like your lounge room.<\/p>\n<p>At the heart of the night, joy triumphs over cynicism. Bravo, Mr Byrne.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"David Byrne Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Brisbane Saturday, January 17th David Byrne has been pushing the boundaries of live&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":133372,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[49,48,33113,175114,175115,175116,175117,75,341],"class_list":{"0":"post-417108","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-david-byrne","11":"tag-david-byrne-australia","12":"tag-david-byrne-brisbane","13":"tag-david-byrne-review","14":"tag-david-byrne-tour","15":"tag-entertainment","16":"tag-music"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=417108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417108\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/133372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=417108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=417108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=417108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}