Music fans are no doubt excited at the prospect of the legendary David Byrne returning to the live stage for a series of concert dates, but now according to Consequence of Sound, Byrne will be bringing a highly ambitious stage setup to the tour. For someone who has been so innovative and creative in the music world for over forty years, this comes as great news to those who have been clamoring for Byrne to return to more of his solo work, as in recent years he has focused more on collaborating with other artists.

In a statement posted by Brooklyn Vegan, Byrne elaborated on the tour and claimed that the live set up would be “the most ambitious show I’ve done since the shows that were filmed for Stop Making Sense.” The concert film Stop Making Sense featured the Talking Heads at the height of their powers and featured a host of innovative stage techniques and lighting, so the prospect of Byrne reaching similar heights with this new tour is incredibly exciting for fans.

Byrne has been experimenting with different configurations in recent months, but it appears that he has settled on making the performers as mobile as possible, stating that “With everyone mobile, I realized the stage could be completely clear. If we could have the monitors in our ears, the amps off-stage and the lights up high, then we had the possibility of a completely empty space.”

This all comes on the unveiling of a new David Byrne record, American Utopia which is set to drop on March 9th through Nonesuch Records. This marks the first original full-length recording from Byrne since his fantastic collaboration with St. Vincent, Love This Giant, was released in 2012.

You can read Byrne’s full post below.

”

Some months ago I went to Clair Bothers in Manheim, PA to test out tech for some new live shows. I had an idea that everyone in the band might be mobile… so there would be no risers, drum platform or any of that stuff. I’d experienced a taste of this on the tour I did with St. Vincent, where all the brass players were mobile.

With everyone mobile, I realized the stage could be completely clear. If we could have the monitors in our ears, the amps off-stage and the lights up high, then we had the possibility of a completely empty space.

The problem was that there are always a lot of people and gear around the periphery of a music show—amps, monitor mixers, stage hands looking bored, road cases, etc., which would be completely distracting—how to hide that stuff? A curtain or drape obviously, but as I might be doing outdoor venues then there arose the issue of wind and drapes or curtains. A relatively light wind can play havoc with cloth, and if you try and anchor it, you end up having made yourself a very large sail—big enough to pull down the entire rig.

In Vegas and some other places, lightweight chains have been used instead of curtains… so we looked at a sample. It seemed promising, so we tested it at scale, to see if it took light (it seemed possible that the light might go right through) and to make sure it didn’t interfere with the wireless transmissions—or the whole mobile idea would be impossible.

It worked. It takes color beautifully.

Not only does it take color, one can cast shadows on the chain.

The band and I will be testing all of this in front of a live audience during a small number of shows in the beginning of March. We’ll be doing some new songs… and many others that will, I assume, be familiar. I’m excited. This is the most ambitious show I’ve done since the shows that were filmed for Stop Making Sense, so fingers crossed.”

UDPATE (1/16): Byrne has announced an extensive world tour in support of American Utopia.

UPDATE (3/6): In response to overwhelming demand, Byrne has added two new dates in Queens and Brooklyn.

Updated tour dates are listed below:

David Byrne – 2018 Tour Dates
3/3 Red Bank, NJ Count Basie Theatre SOLD OUT
3/4 Wilkes-Barre, PA F.M. Kirby Center for the Performing Arts SOLD OUT
3/6 Buffalo, NY Center For The Arts SOLD OUT
3/7 Hershey, PA Hershey Theatre SOLD OUT
3/9 Waterbury, Ct Palace Theater SOLD OUT
3/10 Kingston, NY Ulster Performing Arts Center SOLD OUT
3/16 Santiago, CHI Lollapalooza (Chile)
3/18 Buenos Aires, ARG Lollapalooza (Argentina)
3/19 Teatro Gran Rex Buenos Aires (Argentina)
3/20 Teatro de Verano Montevideo (Uruguay)
3/24 Sao Paulo, BRA Lollapalooza (Brazil)
4/3 Mexico City MX Metropolitan Theater
4/5 Monterrey MX Auditorio Pabellón M
4/7 Guadalajara, MEX Corona Capital Guadalajara
4/14 Indio, CA Coachella
4/15 Tucson, AZ Centennial Hall SOLD OUT
4/17 San Diego, CA San Diego Civic Theater SOLD OUT
4/18 Las Vegas, NV Smith Center for the Arts
4/19 Mesa, AZ Mesa Arts Center-Ikeda Theater SOLD OUT
4/21 Indio, CA Coachella
4/24 Dallas, TX Winspear Opera House SOLD OUT
4/25 Oklahoma City, OK The Criterion
4/27 San Antonio, TX Tobin Center for the Performing Arts
4/28 Houston, TX White Oak Music Hall Outside Lawn
5/4 – 5/6 Atlanta, GA Shaky Knees
5/6 Nashville, TN Ryman Auditorium SOLD OUT
5/8 Asheville, NC Thomas Wolfe Civic Auditorium SOLD OUT
5/9 Charlotte, NC Ovens Auditorium SOLD OUT
5/10 Durham PAC Durham, NC SOLD OUT
5/12 Washington, DC The Anthem SOLD OUT
5/13 Pittsburgh, PA Benedum Center for the Arts SOLD OUT
5/15 Milwaukee, WI Riverside Theater SOLD OUT
5/16 Madison, WI Orpheum Theater SOLD OUT
5/17 Minneapolis, MN Orpheum Theater SOLD OUT
5/18 Minneapolis, MN Orpheum Theater
5/19 Saskatoon, SASK TCU Place
5/20 Edmonton, ALB Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium
5/21 Calgary, ALB Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium
5/23 Vancouver, BC Queen Elizabeth Theater SOLD OUT
5/24 Seattle, WA Paramount Theater SOLD OUT
5/27 Portland, OR Keller Audiorium SOLD OUT
5/28 Eugene, OR Hult Center SOLD OUT
5/30 Salt Lake City, UT Capitol Theatre SOLD OUT
6/2 Chicago, IL Auditorium Theater SOLD OUT
6/5 Des Moines, IA Des Moines Civic Center
6/7 Kansas City, MO Kauffman Center for the Arts SOLD OUT
6/8 St. Louis, MO Peabody Opera House SOLD OUT
6/9 Indianapolis, IN Farmers Bureau Lawn Amphitheater
6/14 Oxford, England New Theatre SOLD OUT
6/15 Glasgow, Scotland Glasgow Royal Concert Hall SOLD OUT
6/17 Birmingham, England Birmingham Symphony Hall SOLD OUT
6/18 Manchester, England Manchester Apollo SOLD OUT
6/19 London, England Eventim Apollo SOLD OUT
6/22-23 Prague, Czech Republic Metronome Festival
6/25 Zagreb, Croatia INmusic Festival
6/26 Wien, Austria Museumsquartier
6/30 – 7/1 Ewijk, Netherlands Down The Rabbit Hole
7/5 – 7/8 Werchter, Belgium Rock Werchter
7/6 Roskilde, Denmark Roskilde Festival
7/5 Gdynia, Poland Open’er Festival
7/11 Oeiras, Portugal Cool Jazz Festival
7/13 Bilbao, Spain Bilbao BBK Live Festival
7/13-14 Barcelona, Spain Cruilla Barcelona
7/17 Zürich, Switzerland Theater 11
7/19 Ravenna, Italy Ravenna Festival
7/20 Perugia, Italy Umbria Jazz Festival
7/21 Trieste, Italy Piazza UNita
7/27 Camden, NJ XPoNential Music Festival
7/31 Boston, MA Blue Hills Bank Pavilion SOLD OUT
8/1 Boston, MA Blue Hills Bank Pavilion
8/3 Toronto, ONT Sony Center for the Performing Arts SOLD OUT
8/4 Toronto, ONT Sony Center for the Performing Arts
8/5 Canandaigua, NY Marvin Sands Performing Arts Center
8/8 Grand Rapids, MI Devos Performance Hall SOLD OUT
8/10 Detroit, MI Fox Theater
8/11 Huber Heightes, OH Rose Music Center
8/12 Cincinnati, OH PNC Pavilion at Riverbend
8/16 Oakland, CA Fox Theater SOLD OUT
8/17 Oakland, CA Fox Theater SOLD OUT
8/18 San Jose, CA City National Civic Auditorium
8/21 Sacramento, CA Community Theater SOLD OUT
8/22 San Francisco, CA Bill Graham Civic Center
8/24 Santa Barbara, CA Santa Barbara Bowl SOLD OUT
8/27 Morrison, CO Red Rocks Amphitheater SOLD OUT
8/28 Morrison, CO Red Rocks Amphitheater SOLD OUT
9/15 Queens, NY Forest Hills Stadium
9/17 Brooklyn, NY Kings Theatre