David Byrne – Orpheum Theater – Minneapolis MN – November 4th 2025

By Todd Johnson 3 weeks ago

Hennepin Arts present David Byrne 

Review and photos by Todd Johnson

David Byrne returned to the Orpheum on November 4th for a performance that felt less like a traditional concert and more like a guided tour through the labyrinth of his creative mind. At 73, Byrne continues to carry himself with a kind of ageless curiosity — one foot in art school, the other in a dance club.

Staging & Atmosphere

The stage was almost bare at first glance: grey curtains, a few standing LED light columns, and a wide open floor. But in typical Byrne fashion, the minimalism only set the stage for movement — an entire choreography-driven production featuring a mobile band who played everything wireless, turning the performance into something closer to moving sculpture.

Soft blue and white lights gave the opening a dream-like quality, as if the show were taking place inside Byrne’s mind at 3 a.m.

Setlist & Musical Highlights

Byrne balanced reinterpretations of Talking Heads classics with newer experimental pieces. While the exact setlist wasn’t published, a few highlights stood out:

• “Heaven” (Opening)

He began with Heaven, sung in a near-whisper, the band standing still behind him. A quietly devastating start — and exactly right.

• “Everybody’s Coming to My House”

The arrangement leaned more communal and celebratory than previous tours, with call-and-response harmonies that made the Orpheum feel unexpectedly intimate.

• New 2025 Material

Byrne previewed several new songs, including one spoken-word-leaning piece reflecting on urban loneliness. Byrne half-sang, half-narrated, pacing slowly while the band orbited him in tight circles — a simple visual motif that worked beautifully.

• “Once in a Lifetime”

One of the evening’s emotional peaks. Byrne delivered it with a mellowed-out, almost meditative approach, letting the audience do much of the singing. Instead of nostalgia, it felt strangely present — a reflection on aging, memory, and reinvention.

• “Burning Down the House” (Encore)

Still an ecstatic explosion. The choreography became angular, playful, almost chaotic. Byrne grinned the whole way through.

Themes & Tone

Much of the show centered on connection — or the struggle to maintain it — in an increasingly mediated world. Byrne spoke several times between songs about:

  • “the small rituals that keep us human,”

  • “learning to be lost,” and

  • the “places that become part of us even after we leave.”

It wasn’t heavy-handed. It felt like Byrne doing what he does best:
finding tenderness inside absurdity.

Performance & Presence

Byrne has always blended awkwardness and grace, but here he leaned into softness more than detachment. He joked, told short anecdotes, and seemed genuinely delighted by the crowd’s energy. His voice has gained warmth with age — less sharp, more lived-in — which suits his newer material especially well.

Audience Reaction

A mix of longtime fans, art-school types, and curious younger concertgoers. The crowd stood almost immediately after the opening third of the show and stayed that way. The biggest eruptions came during:

  • Life During Wartime

  • This Must Be the Place

  • Burning Down the House

You could feel the room collectively buzzing when Byrne broke into his signature stiff-limbed dance during Once in a Lifetime.

A mesmerizing, gently strange, emotionally rich performance.
Byrne didn’t rely on nostalgia — he reinvented his classics with humility and curiosity, while giving the new material a theatrical frame all its own.

For many in the room, it was the kind of show that reminds you how rare artists like Byrne really are:
still experimenting, still searching, still inviting the rest of us to wonder with him.