{"id":566318,"date":"2026-07-24T17:46:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T17:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/566318\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T17:46:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T17:46:09","slug":"phill-jupitus-says-david-byrne-effectively-shat-on-a-minority-for-excluding-disabled-people-and-fans-who-cant-stand-at-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/566318\/","title":{"rendered":"Phill Jupitus says “David Byrne effectively shat on a minority” for excluding disabled people and fans who can’t stand at show"},"content":{"rendered":"

Phill Jupitus has accused David Byrne<\/a> of excluding disabled people at his recent show in Scotland, saying he \u201ceffectively shat on a minority\u201d.<\/p>\n

The actor, poet and retired stand-up comedian \u2013 known for being a captain on BBC Two\u2019s Never Mind The Buzzcocks<\/a> \u2013 went to see the former Talking Heads<\/a> frontman at the Edinburgh Playhouse earlier this week.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:\u00a0The NME Big Read \u2013 David Byrne: \u201cI have a little bit of hope. Not every day, but some days\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Byrne played three headline concerts at the 3,059-capacity seated venue as part of his current UK and European tour<\/a> on Monday (June 20), Tuesday (21) and Wednesday (22). The trio of dates came ahead of his bill-topping slot at Latitude 2026<\/a> tonight (Friday July 24).<\/p>\n

Taking to Instagram, Jupitus recalled his experience of attending the third and final gig of the run. He quoted Byrne, writing: \u201cYou can dance if you like but please be respectful of the people around you.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, he added that \u201crespect is in fairly short supply, especially at \u00a3135 a ticket\u201d. Jupitus went on to share some details about the performance, along with some photos of the obscured view from his seat.<\/p>\n

He later told his followers that he is unable to stand for long periods due to a leg condition.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a sad fact that there are people at rock gigs who can\u2019t stand. So when they see someone they love is touring they get seats,\u201d he shared. \u201cThen at the show the \u2018artist\u2019 says \u2018You can dance if you want, but do respect the people around you\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cDavid Byrne effectively shat on a minority last night. Like he gives a toss anyway. He might as well have said \u2018Hey disabled people in the stalls, suck it!\u2019 He needs to make up his mind whether he\u2019s doing a theatre show or a rock show.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jupitus went on to say that the \u201cthe two songs I saw before everyone in the stalls stood up were amazing\u201d, but added: \u201cThereafter I might as well have been listening to his albums at home with the same sense of disappointment at not seeing him, but \u00a3270 quid in my pocket.\u201d<\/p>\n

He then called on Byrne to \u201cplay fucking Barrowlands or the Hydro [arena]\u201d in Glasgow next time he tours in Scotland. \u201cI\u2019d rather have given \u00a3270 to a band who needed the money,\u201d he reasoned.<\/p>\n

In a follow-up video, Jupitus elaborated on his thoughts, and remembered seeing Byrne at the OVO Hydro on his \u2018American Utopia\u2019 tour<\/a> in 2018. \u201cAn absolutely fantastic gig,\u201d he told viewers.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, last night in Edinburgh at the Playhouse, everyone was sort of sat there waiting for the gig to start at eight o\u2019clock. And just before curtain up, they played an announcement \u2013 which was David Byrne himself \u2013 saying: \u2018Be present and be in the moment\u2019. He wanted people not to film, and I thought that was kind of cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Jupitus, Byrne told fans that the theatre said they could dance if they were \u201crespectful\u201d of others. He then explained that people got up from their seats by the third song: \u201cBasically, everyone in front of me got up and started dancing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t stand for very long, I\u2019ve got a leg thing, and my Mrs can\u2019t stand either. So we saw two songs, and then we spent the rest of the gig looking at the back of people\u2019s heads.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jupitus highlighted the issues with Byrne asking fans to dance at his current theatre show, saying that it is a \u201cvery tightly choreographed, incredibly visually precise and beautiful show\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere\u2019s an idea, David Byrne: why don\u2019t you say, \u2018It\u2019s a show that\u2019s been designed for everybody to see what\u2019s happening on stage because it\u2019s so complicated and convoluted\u2019 [\u2026] It\u2019s just absolutely incredible \u2013 if you can see it,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

He tagged promoter Live Nation UK, the venue and Byrne himself in the post. NME has reached out to representatives of all three for comment.<\/p>\n

Gordon Millar, Theatre Director for the Edinburgh Playhouse, has responded to Phil\u2019s observations,<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve heard Phil\u2019s experience, frustration and disappointment,\u201d he told NME. \u201cWe recognise that at gigs, of all sorts, people may want to dance and that this has a negative impact for some.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe take our responsibilities under the Equality Act very seriously and always consider whether adjustments can be made where audience members with access needs may be placed at a disadvantage. We have explored whether asking audiences to remain seated could be a reasonable adjustment. Unfortunately, this is very difficult to enforce en mass at live concerts, without causing safety concerns.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are grateful to Phil for raising this as it points to a model we\u2019re exploring to allocate a portion of seats as seated only, that don\u2019t have seats in front of them, for those for whom this would be beneficial.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DavidDavid Byrne performs in 2026. CREDIT: Rune Hellestad \u2013 Corbis\/Corbis via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Byrne recently took the show to Mad Cool 2026<\/a>, with NME describing it as a \u201cbonanza of a set\u201d from \u201cthe art-pop eccentric and his troupe\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs he and his backing musicians moved in formation across the stage, video screens depicted a variety of colourful environs \u2013 waves, a misty forest \u2013 before the Talking Heads track \u2018Life During Wartime\u2019 was accompanied by images of brutal ICE raids,\u201d our review added.<\/p>\n

\u201cElsewhere in the show, the videos were emblazoned with the words: \u2018CONGRATULATIONS HUMANITY YOU\u2019VE MADE IT.\u2019 Time marches on, but you can always rely on David Byrne to make sense of the madness. Same as it ever was.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, David Byrne has announced an intimate UK book tour for later this year<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Phill Jupitus has accused David Byrne of excluding disabled people at his recent show in Scotland, saying he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":566319,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[321,93,61,636,60],"class_list":["post-566318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-indie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=566318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566318\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/566319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=566318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=566318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=566318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}