CHICAGO- On October 31st, 2025, David Byrne took the stage for one of his four performances at The Auditorium Theatre. I was lucky enough to be in attendance. Byrne is most famous for his work in the iconic rock band, The Talking Heads. With hits such as “Psycho Killer” and “Burning Down the House,” the audience was in for a stellar performance. And sure enough, we were not let down.
Byrne performed in Chicago for four nights, with his final performance being November 1st. Something was special about this performance in particular: it was on Halloween. As my friend and I waited in line, we observed audience members were all dressed up for the holiday. My friend and I are big David Byrne/The Talking Heads fans, so we decided to pay homage and dress up as David Byrne himself and the lamp that he used to dance with on stage.
Among the crowd, we received at least three “I was your age when that album (Stop Making Sense) came out” as well as a lot of compliments. It made me smile knowing that I was surrounded by people just as excited as me. Finally, we got to our seats. The first thing I noticed was that we were the youngest people within eyeshot, then a kind woman told me I had amazing energy, and then the show started– all in that order.
The lights went down, music swelled, and audience members were immediately enthralled. Opening with The Talking Heads’ hit “Heaven,” a crowd of people close to double my age all joined in harmony as they listened to the man wail. And they wailed along.
The visual effects really stood out. Both the floor and the walls were screens. There were flashes of fields, mixed with a montage of New York City life, and even an apartment tour led by Byrne himself. Keeping all the visuals absolutely hypnotizing, audience members were treated to a display of activism when a variety of slogans popped up. While some of them were funny, such as “Merry drunk, I’m Christmas,” others referred to today’s political climate. Cheers erupted from the audience every time.
Something that really stuck out was the inclusion of the band and performers on stage. Instead of having a pit or off-stage performers, they joined Byrne and his dancers in moving along with them. Despite the constant movement, they never skipped a beat.
When the concert began ending, he performed a cover of Paramore’s “Hard Time.” While the older crowd wasn’t too into it, I had no shame dancing in the aisles. He then followed that up with “Psycho Killer.” Everyone suddenly stood up and celebrated the spooky holiday with a spooky song to match it. The performance ended, but we were greeted with an encore of “Everybody’s Coming to my House” and “Burning Down the House,” a great way to end a great concert. When the lights came up, the audience was left smiling from ear to ear.
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Photo Credit: @taylortookthese