David Byrne: the setlist from the Milan concert. How the first of two live nights at the Arcimboldi went

At the Teatro degli Arcimboldi, David Byrne turns the first Milan date of the tour into a compact, immersive piece of stagecraft. More than a concert, it's a collective construction in which music, dance and visuals converge in a single continuous flow.

At its heart is “Who Is The Sky?“, his recent album, run through with wry irony and reflective lightness. Around Byrne, musicians and performers move with no fixed hierarchy, like a contemporary marching band that turns the stage into a mobile, almost cinematic space. The digital backdrops alternate natural landscapes with disorienting slogans, steering clear of anything didactic in favour of allusion.

The opening with “Heaven” sets a suspended tone, immediately picked up again by more dynamic songs. When the Talking Heads classics arrive — “This Must Be The Place”, “Life During Wartime”, “Once In A Lifetime” — the audience's response is immediate. The performance looks to the spirit of “Stop Making Sense” in its staging and rhythmic precision, without indulging in nostalgia.

Among the surprises is a reworking of Paramore's “Hard Times”, bent into an oblique, personal funk, in dialogue with Hayley Williams's presence on the album. Byrne alternates irony and reflection on the need for community, relying on a controlled vulnerability that gives coherence to both word and gesture.

In the finale, "Burning Down The House" and "Psycho Killer" reaffirm the staying power of a repertoire that's still taut and relevant. At 73, Byrne doesn't stage a self-celebration, but an idea of active community: a dancing utopia that, even in Milan, takes on the value of a concrete gesture in the present.

Here's the setlist from David Byrne's first Milan show, at the Teatro degli Arcimboldi.

• Heaven
• Everybody Laughs
• And She Was
• Strange Overtones
• Houses In Motion
• T Shirt
• Nothing But Flowers
• This Must Be The Place
• What Is The Reason For It?
• Like Humans Do
• Don’t Be Like That
• Independence Day
• Slippery People
• Moisturizing Thing
• My Apartment Is My Friend
• Hard Times
• Psycho Killer
• Life During Wartime
• Once In A Lifetime
• Everybody's Coming To My House
• Burning Down The House

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