David Byrne @ SEC Armadillo, Glasgow, 7 Mar
David Byrne lets us all get a little weird with it as he brings his Who Is The Sky? tour to Glasgow
Nostalgia is a powerful drug. As we descend further into right-wing authoritarianism, people yearn to be thrown back in time when things were ‘better’ – we’ve had Friends reunions, an Oasis tour, more Busted and McFly mashups than one can shake a stick at, all in an attempt to claw some warm fuzzy feelings back from the brink. A lot of the time, this yearning for what has been can feel hackneyed and almost embarrassing, artists returning to what made them famous for nothing more than a pay check. Thank goodness the same cannot be said for David Byrne, who proves again and again that he is not someone harking back to a golden past but someone who created and creates art that he wants to share, because that’s what being human is, sharing.
This thread of humanity weaves its way through the entirety of Byrne’s packed Glasgow show, the second night of the first batch of Scottish dates for his Who Is the Sky? tour. It is beautifully fitting that he opens with Heaven, accompanied by gorgeous, soaring strings. Byrne stands among his musicians, everyone on stage dressed head-to-toe in neon orange, a touching democracy between them – through the night they will cross the stage, switching places, dancing, each getting a chance in the spotlight to show us what they can do. Each is named, each is having an implausible amount of fun.
Accompanying each song are visuals on the screens behind them – rolling green fields during And She Was, footage from ICE protests, a projection of our fragile blue planet. Byrne stops performing to talk to us at several points, sharing some pictures he took around Glasgow – a furry convention, an ice cream van, the building in Dumbarton where he was born. It’s a sweet acknowledgement that this is a homecoming gig of sorts, one the crowd is happy to cheer for. Songs old and new sit alongside each other, all part of the eclectic David Byrne tapestry; no one blinks an eye at his songs about moisturiser, loving his apartment, or the wonderfully tongue-in-cheek T-Shirt, a collaboration with Brian Eno that pokes fun at our propensity for virtue signalling.
Talking Heads tunes get raucous reception, of course, with dancing in the aisles. Life During Wartime feels especially poignant for our current day, accompanied as it is by a powerful montage of the brave Americans who are currently protesting fascism. During several Talking Heads songs, the crowd let themselves go in the best way – this has always been Byrne’s superpower, giving you permission to get a little weird with it. If there is a message to take from this show let that be it: be a little weird, be human, love each other. “Love and kindness are the most punk thing you can do right now,” he tells us in the middle of the show. Too right.
David Byrne's Who Is The Sky? tour continues throughout 2026, including Edinburgh Playhouse, 20-22 Jul