It’s only the third week of January, but David Byrne’s dazzling performance at Auckland’s Spark Arena Wednesday night will go down as one of the concert highlights of the year.
The legendary frontman for the Talking Heads made a triumphant return to Tāmaki Makaurau with his Who Is The Sky? tour, filling the arena with a constantly moving dynamic 12-piece backing band, a life-affirming blast of treasured pop songs and giving us all a much-needed blast of optimism.
If between wars, attacks and political chaos 2026 has perhaps already seemed like a bit of a bummer, David Byrne was here to make us feel the love again.
Byrne was once the patron saint of anxiety in the ‘70s and ‘80s, with Talking Heads’ twitchy earworms like “Psycho Killer” and “Burning Down The House” capturing the vibe of a generation. These days, the vibe’s all about hope and doing the best you can with what life gives you.
An energetic two-hour romp, the show was packed with Talking Heads favourites as well as plenty from Byrne’s loose and cheerful new album Who Is The Sky?, and even a few rarities and a cover of Paramore’s “Hard Times” that surprisingly drew one of the biggest cheers of the night.
From a beautifully moving take on the Heads’ “Heaven” that opened up the show to underrated gems like his 2001 track “Like Humans Do,” it was a survey of an eclectic yet consistent musical career that’s now lasted more than 50 years.
His American Utopia tour which visited NZ in 2018 was a stunner – if you haven’t seen the concert film by Spike Lee, rush out and do so immediately – reinventing the stage as a swirling kaleidoscope of dance, performance art and endlessly spinning sound. The Who Is The Sky? tour carries on that energy, with the band constantly swirling around the stage dancing, forming drum lines, even occasionally lifting each other up or Byrne himself as they all continued singing and playing.
A vivid screen lit up the stage with abstract designs and sharp photographic backgrounds ranging from the Moon to Byrne’s own New York apartment. For “T Shirt,” the screens played a variety of fun slogans, including “Auckland kicks ass!” Perhaps the most cathartic moment of the night was when the screen filled up with fiery confrontational images of ICE protests and violence unfolding in America right now during the Talking Heads’ “Life During Wartime,” the screens splintering into smaller and smaller images.
Video screens during concerts are expected now, but the clever deployment of them made them feel like more than just a gimmick, like when Byrne’s apartment began spinning around the dancers, or a witty moment when Byrne’s huge shadow behind him seemed to take on a life of its own.
The newer songs like the endearingly silly “I Met The Buddha At A Downtown Party” or “My Apartment Is My Friend” may not have gotten the crowd up and dancing as much as the familiar hits, but Byrne and company performed them all with an upbeat charm.
The Talking Heads highlights kept coming – a colourful romp through “And She Was,” which Byrne introduced as a take on an old friend’s blissful acid trip, or a throbbing “Slippery People” with the four drummers pounding their way across the stage.
White-haired Byrne is now 73 years old – unbelievably, as he looks 20 years younger – but he’s still full of that contagious energy of nearly 50 years ago, tempered by a wonderfully zen perspective on life and an elder statesman’s authority. He’s still playful and witty, but he’s also been around the block a few times by now. He talked about how Covid lockdowns inspired some of his newer works, and how it reminded him of the importance of human connection, a huge theme in this tour.
The Talking Heads were always hard to pin down – they were part of the CBGB’s sound but they weren’t precisely punk, they had a lot of funk, and Byrne’s long been interested in world music. Maybe that’s what Byrne’s sound really is when it comes down to it – music for the world.
At one point, Byrne referred to the growing and cheerfully contrarian notion that love and kindness might be the real punk rock in this age of outrage – and why not? His songs have always married that nervous paranoia with a keen eye for the little moments that bring us joy.
The near-capacity crowd at Spark Arena was a mix of grey-haired fans and sparkling youth, a testament to the sturdy timelessness of Byrne’s songs. Talking Heads have never stopped being cool. They’ve also famously never reunited, so Wednesday’s show was as close as we’ll ever get.
The encore turned the night into a literal house party, with a gospel-inspired revamp of the excellent American Utopia track “Everybody’s Coming To My House,” followed by – what else? – a barn-burning closing take on “Burning Down The House.”
“Hold tight, we’re in for nasty weather,” Byrne famously sings in that song, but you know what? On a damp and steamy January night in Auckland, with David Byrne and his 12 mates along for the ride, it somehow felt like everything might just work out after all, as for a few hours, music made the world go round once more.
This review also published over at RNZ with many terrific photos that aren’t by me!
Nik Dirga 