By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: *****

WHEN? Friday 10 July, festival runs through 11 July 2026

Former Talking Heads frontman Byrne is 1 of the headliners at Latitude Festival in a fortnight and this is simply 1 of the best gigs we’ve ever seen.

• Read on for reasons including how Byrne revels in taking part in the complex choreographed dance routines that enhance each song

I’ve never been either a Byrne or Talking Heads fan but my companion persuades me to attend this show after we watch Spike Lee’s 2020 concert film of Byrne’s American Utopia.

Byrne’s 2025 Who Is The Sky? tour started last year in the US and Canada and is now reaching Europe and puts the idea front and centre that love and kindness are the new punk.

Byrne is mentioned on track Danceteria on Madonna’s current UK number 1 album Confessions II and this tour uses 13 musicians, singers, and dancers – some from the American Utopia Tour – to present a theatrical show with musicians not plugged into their instruments blending filmed projections with Byrne’s unique storytelling.

We’ve been listening to this greatest hits setlist for a while before this gig and the story behind the brilliant psychedelic 1985 UK top 20 hit And She Was immediately brings it to life for us.

But Byrne’s show is asking us to take a look at our world rather than to seek chemical escape from it and to find the joy in nature, animals and the ability of people to change their minds.

It’s a message which chimes with this city and this festival in particular where organisers have been giving away free sombreros to visitors to beat the sun and where cash is replaced by a digital system incentivising the recycling of both food containers and cups.

The above clip gives a sense of how Byrne is part of the ensemble, singing, occasionally playing his guitar but how the 74-year-old is almost always onstage throughout this 90-minute show often taking part in the complex choreographed dance routines that enhance each song.

This is predominantly a joyous not a heavy-handed show and yet late brief footage of US Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) arrests importantly show what Byrne is against.

The Talking Heads hits come late to underscore the popularity of Byrne’s work and the punk Psycho Killer, thoughtful Once In A Lifetime and floorfiller Burnin’ Down The House prove a rousing conclusion.

A thank you to my companion who persuaded me to take this trip for 1 of the best gigs I’ve ever seen on a return to our festival we last saw acts including Suede, Billy Bragg and Rufus Wainwright in 2013 here. It’s now far better organised than we remember it, is just a 25-minute Metro ride from the central Placa Catalunya and goes much later into the night than UK equivalents if that appeals.

We’re not just here for the headliners and Ezra Collective pay tribute to the London youth club that gave them the confidence to hone their unique mix of afrobeat, calypso, reggae, hip hop, soul and jazz which goes down particularly well here because of the love for Catalan ska and provides a chilled support to David Byrne.

• Main pictures via Facebook courtesy David Byrne and Cruilla Tickets
• Have you seen a David Byrne show before and what did you think of this? Let us know what you thought in the comments below
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