By Maddox Lowe

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:: A dance with David sets Maddox’s heart alight

:: December 4, 2025

:: “Showing love and kindness is the most Punk Rock thing you can do these days.”

David Byrne may, in fact, be the best performer in the world. I had the pleasure of seeing him at the Altria in Richmond a month ago and have been vibrating ever since. And I know I’m not the only one. After David Byrned down the house, the tension and energy in that theater were palpable. When my cohost and I let the surprisingly elderly crowd sweep us out onto the chilly Richmond streets, lights were brighter, people quieter, and my heart sang so loudly that I almost missed our Uber rolling up. But how did David set my soul aflame? How did he touch hearts, move hips, and captivate the minds of such a diverse range of people for nearly three hours, and why can’t I stop thinking about it? I’ll share some of the tricks I caught, and we can evaluate from there. 

1. David Byrne is a visual beast

Okay, we know that the guy from Stop Making Sense and True Stories knows how to put on a show, but I wasn’t prepared for just how vibrant and stimulating he and his band were. They wore matching blue jumpsuits, and every member of the band played a portable version of their instrument, so every song was choreographed in extreme detail. The background of the stage consisted of floor-to-ceiling screens, and each song had its own dynamic scene. The graphics selected didn’t feel like an afterthought either; each one added meaning to the song, or at least dabbled in political commentary. Beyond entertaining, it was plain technologically impressive. At one point, the names of every band member tracked their movements on the screen as the band moved around the stage. Very cool, David!

2. Relating to the audience

The art of stage yap is an understudied yet nonetheless important discipline, and David Byrne seems to be an expert. He opened the performance by putting a picture of Belle Isle up on the screen, taken from a spot I had been standing at a few weeks prior. He told us about his day and how he was getting to know the city. I like that he did this. Watching a performance can feel selfish in a way. I’m there expecting a show and giving nothing but money in return. But a good stage presence can transform the one-sided performance relationship into a sort of exchange. David got just as much out of us and our city as we got from him, or at least he made me feel that way. He showed off the apartment he spent Covid in as well, which was a bit of a flex because it’s an NYC high-rise and nice as hell. Okay, David. He also told us the lore behind “And She Was.” Turns out it’s about his friend in college who would take acid in a field next to a Yoo-hoo Chocolate Milk factory. Wow, David.

3. The art of the political barb

This was a politically charged performance. Slogans like “Make America Gay Again,” “Well Behaved Women Seldom Make History,” and “Tell your cat I said pspspsps” danced across the screen to varying levels of audience excitement. But David’s political commentary got a lot more overt than the occasional feline greeting. As the band played “Life During Wartime,” the screen showed ICE kidnappings in disturbing detail. It seems that a lot of his newest album was written during the pandemic, because much of what he said in between songs pertained to the importance of human connection and the loneliness he experienced during lockdown. He showed a video at one point of people in Italy celebrating La Festa della Liberazione by singing from their balconies. “They’re celebrating their liberation from fascism,” he said, and then the band burst into “Life During Wartime.” It doesn’t take a political mastermind to catch his drift. Sneaky one, David. 

The show felt less like a performance and more like a catch-up session with David Byrne. He literally practiced what he preached, connecting with his audience at a human level by relating to our experiences and engaging us with crazy visuals and amazing music. His political undertones were tasteful; barbed and intentional, but not preachy or on the nose. At the end of the day, David came with an agenda: to put on the best freaking show I have ever seen. Congrats, David, you did it, and I learned stuff along the way. Getting your political takes from the same old talking heads on TV is lame. Go to a David Byrne show. He ended on a banger too. “Punk Rock is all about resistance,” he said. “And right now, the best way to resist is to love and be kind.”

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