David Byrne – Talking Heads bandleader, solo artist, visual artist and author – will bring his American Utopia World Tour to Australia and New Zealand in November 2018. Tickets go on sale Monday 18 June via Frontier Touring, here.
The New York City-based artist will perform songs from his acclaimed new album American Utopia as well as classics from his solo career and his days with Talking Heads. A 12-piece band will join Byrne on stage for an Annie-B Parson choreographed concert that he has called “the most ambitious show I’ve done since the shows that were filmed for Stop Making Sense.” Annie-B Parson also choreographed the St. Vincent and David Byrne collaboration tour around Love This Giant.
With his sets including a wealth of Talking Heads’ tracks such as "Once In A Lifetime", "Burning Down The House", "This Must Be The Place", (more on the recent 35th Anniversary of Speaking In Tongues here), plus Byrne’s latest stunning new solo work, his collaboration with St Vincent and more, these shows will be unmissable.
His first solo album in 14 years (following 2004’s Grown Backwards); American Utopia was released in March 2018. The first track from the album, "Everybody's Coming To My House" was co-written with Brian Eno and contributions from TTY, Happa, Isaiah Barr Leader of the Onyx Collective, Daniel Lopatin (Oneohtrix Point Never), Mercury Prize winner Sampha, and others feature throughout the release.
“I’ve made a record that just has my name on it but is also the result of the contributions of many other people,” says Byrne. “I suspect that like me it is asking what are we like, what do we want, and what are we looking for.”
Tickets are on sale Monday 18 June, here.
Full Touring Band Line-Up:
David Byrne – Vocals
Chris Giarmo – Backing Vocals
Tendayi Kuumba – Backing Vocals
Karl Mansfield – Keyboard
Angie Swan – Guitar
Bobby Wooten – Bass
Mauro Refosco – Tamborim Tree, shaker
Davi Viera – Bongos
Gustavo Di Dalva – Conga
Tim Keiper - Bells / Metalwork
Aaron Johnston – Bass Drum / Snare / Hi-Hat
Daniel Freedman – Bass / Snare / Hi-Hat
Tour dates:
Tuesday 13 November - TSB Bank Arena | Wellington, NZ
Thursday 15 November - Horncastle Arena | Christchurch, NZ
Saturday 17 November - Spark Arena | Auckland, NZ
Tuesday 20 November - ICC Sydney Theatre | Sydney, NSW
Wednesday 21 November - Convention Centre | Gold Coast, QLD
Saturday 24 November - Margaret Court Arena | Melbourne, VIC
Sunday 25 November - AEC Arena | Adelaide, SA
