David Byrne

David Byrne plays Edinburgh on 22 July 2026 at the Edinburgh Playhouse, Edinburgh. Scottish-born and US-raised, he first came to prominence with Talking Heads in the downtown New York new wave scene. Since the early 90s he has followed a solo route where art-rock meets Afro-Latin grooves, funk, electronics and more intimate writing. Albums such as My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (with Brian Eno), Rei Momo, Grown Backwards and American Utopia trace that path, alongside collaborations with Eno and St. Vincent.

On stage, Byrne treats his catalogue as a living toolkit: taut rhythm guitars, flexible percussion, brass and voices arranged with a sense of space and movement. In recent years he has pushed toward mobile, choreography-aware setups that keep the sound lean and the pulse upfront, blurring the line between concert and performance piece. The night brings together material from his solo years and the Talking Heads era, shaped by the curiosity and clarity that run through his work across music, film and theatre.