{"id":446625,"date":"2026-08-28T23:48:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T23:48:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/446625\/"},"modified":"2026-08-28T23:48:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T23:48:15","slug":"same-as-it-never-was-david-byrnes-bar-raising-san-diego-concert-eclipsed-his-own-heady-standards-san-diego-union-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/446625\/","title":{"rendered":"Same as it never was: David Byrne\u2019s bar-raising San Diego concert eclipsed his own heady standards \u2013 San Diego Union-Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"

Same as it never was?\n<\/p>\n

Not even a near-full lunar eclipse could overshadow David Byrne\u2019s stellar concert Thursday night at San Diego State University\u2019s Cal Coast Credit Union Amphitheater, which fittingly opened with the 1979 song \u201cHeaven\u201d and included \u201cAir\u201d and \u201cOnce in a Lifetime\u201d (which includes the famous lyric:\u00a0 \u201csame as it ever was\u201d).<\/p>\n

In an entirely serendipitous coincidence \u2014 at least on a night when what became a blood moon was clearly visible \u2014 the title of Byrne\u2019s latest album and his soon-to-conclude 2025-26 tour is \u201cWho Is The Sky?\u201d<\/p>\n

Who, or what, indeed?<\/p>\n

David Byrne nixes TikTok debut, unveils We Are Not Divided website and Spike Lee-directed \u2018American Utopia\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

Appearing in front of a loudly enthusiastic, sold-out crowd of 4,280 people, the proudly idiosyncratic Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee and his 12-piece ensemble of musicians and singing dancers repeatedly lit up the night during their 19-song, two-encore performance. The group\u2019s music director, UC San Diego alum Ray Suen, was an impressive quintuple-threat on guitar, violin, accordion, bass and backing vocals.<\/p>\n

Once in a lifetime: Ray Suen, now on tour with David Byrne, launched his music career in San Diego<\/a><\/p>\n

Ten of the selections performed were from the Talking Heads\u2019 songbook, including \u201cBurning Down The House,\u201d which brought the concert to a galvanizing conclusion. Ten other selections came from Byrne\u2019s solo catalog, including \u201cEverybody Laughs,\u201d \u201cWhen We Are Singing\u201d and three other songs from his 2025 album \u201cWho Is The World?\u201d One number, \u201cStrange Overtones,\u201d was from his 2008 duo album with Brian Eno, \u201cEverything That Happens Will Happen Today.\u201d<\/p>\n

The music sizzled throughout. So did the temperature, which was almost 80 degrees at showtime and only slightly less steamy when it ended.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the hottest it\u2019s been at any place on this tour,\u201d former San Diegan Suen said, in a brief post-show conversation.<\/p>\n

Thursday\u2019s concert took place nearly 48 years after Byrne made his SDSU debut in September 1978 at the now-defunct Backdoor club with his then-3-year-old band, Talking Heads.<\/p>\n

With Byrne at the helm, the Heads\u2019 game-changing 1984 concert film, \u201cStop Making Sense,\u201d irrevocably expanded and redefined the parameters of live performance in rock. Byrne raised the bar even higher with his 2018 \u201cAmerican Utopia\u201d tour, which included two eye-popping, jaw-dropping San Diego Civic Theatre concerts.<\/p>\n

David Byrne performs transcendent San Diego concert before heading to his Coachella performance<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

That tour, vividly captured in Spike Lee\u2019s subsequent \u201cAmerican Utopia\u201d documentary film, dispensed with nearly every conventional concert concept. There were no wires, cables, amplifiers, drum sets, monitor speakers, audio gear, stage risers or any fixed equipment.<\/p>\n

\"SanDavid Byrne, left, is shown Thursday night at SDSU with UCSD alum Ray Suen, his music director. (K.C. Alfred \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n

Handheld microphones were replaced by wireless headsets. The role of a drummer was filled by six roving percussionists, whose instruments were mounted on metal harnesses. Ditto the band\u2019s lone keyboard. The musicians were in constant motion and each song had intricate changing choreography that required meticulous precision. Each barefoot band member wore identical outfits. Hundreds of large silver metal-mesh strands were used in place of a curtain. There were no video screens on the bare-by-design stage.<\/p>\n

For the \u201cWho Is The Sky?\u201d tour, Byrne has upped the ante again, while retaining the headsets, metal harness-mounted instruments and nonstop choreography, which looked somewhat less demanding. He\u2019s added a saxophonist and four dancing background singers, reduced the number of drummers from six to four, and added matching orange shoes to each musician and dancers\u2019 identical orange stage outfits.<\/p>\n

Far more dramatic are the changes made to the stage and the production itself. The wire mesh curtain has been replaced by five curved LED screen walls. They showed a series of stunning visuals for each song, complementing the music without overwhelming it.<\/p>\n

When Byrne sang his pandemic-inspired \u201cMy Apartment Is My Friend,\u201d footage of his New York apartment provided the backdrop. During the perpetually ominous 1979 Talking Heads\u2019 classic, \u201cLife During Wartime,\u201d chilling footage was shown of ICE agents chasing a young man on a bicycle and police violently reacting to protestors. Prior to the lilting song \u201cAnd She Was,\u201d the LED screens showed photos Byrne shot during his pre-concert visit to the San Diego Model Railroad Museum in Balboa Park.<\/p>\n

Byrne was clearly charmed by his visit and his voice danced with delight as he commented on the six museum employees whose photos he had taken.<\/p>\n

\u201cOkay, so much for San Diego. Now we\u2019ll talk about me!\u201d Byrne quipped.<\/p>\n

\"SanThe striking visual backdrops at David Byrne\u2019s Thursday night San Diego concert enhanced the songs but did not detract from them (K.C. Alfred \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n

During the song \u201cIndependence Day,\u201d the screen identified each band member by name. Whenever any of them moved from one part of the stage to another, which was often, their names would move with them on the screen. It was a very effective way of introducing the musicians \u2014 at least by their first names \u2014 to the audience.<\/p>\n

For the concert\u2019s 10th selection, \u201cLike Humans Do,\u201d the screen showed film of each of the band members performing the same song while wearing faux animal heads. The image of the live band, performing unmasked on the stage, with the film of them performing \u201cLike Humans Do\u201d with the animals masks was striking.<\/p>\n

One of the LED screens constituted the floor of the stage that the musicians and dancers glided and marched on. A dozen infrared cameras mounted above the stage on the LED screens captured nearly every angle of the performance.<\/p>\n

And what a performance it was!<\/p>\n

Byrne, 74, may not move like Jagger (not that he ever did). But he was in near-constant motion throughout the 112-minute show and sang in a strong, steady voice despite the atypical evening heat. His band and singing dancers brought exemplary skill, pinpoint precision and fresh verve to each number, new and old. The arrangements of familiar songs were given new twists and most of the crowd was on its feet, dancing, for much of the show.<\/p>\n

Highlights abounded, from the propulsive grooves of \u201cThis Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)\u201d and \u201cSlippery People\u201d \u2014 during which Byrne vocally emulated the sound of a DJ scratching a vinyl record \u2014 to the brooding yet musically upbeat \u201cPsycho Killer\u201d and such engaging new songs as \u201cI Met The Buddha at a Downtown Party\u201d and \u201cT-Shirt,\u201d which earned cheers when the LED screen displayed the words \u201cMAKE AMERICA GAY AGAIN\u201d and even bigger cheers for a fast food-inspired logo with two buns bookending the words \u201cNO KINGS.\u201d<\/p>\n

Byrne did not mention President Trump by name and did not show any images of him. But he made a pointed allusion in his spoken introduction to the song \u201cWhen We Are Singing\u201d as the LED screens showed photos of isolated Italians who comforted each other by singing from the balconies of their apartment buildings during the 2020 pandemic shutdown. After noting that they were very good singers, Byrne noted that they sang with extra commitment on \u201cLiberation Day\u201d to celebrate \u201ctheir freedom from fascism\u201d In Italy at the conclusion of World War II.<\/p>\n

\u201cLove and kindness are our purest form of resistance,\u201d Byrne told the audience, which cheered again. Same as it ever was.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Same as it never was? Not even a near-full lunar eclipse could overshadow David Byrne\u2019s stellar concert Thursday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":446626,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[7,181,6682,74,84,76,75,420,1696],"class_list":["post-446625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-california","tag-latest-headlines","tag-music-and-concerts","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-county","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-things-to-do","tag-top-stories-sdut"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=446625"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446625\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/446626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=446625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=446625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=446625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}