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Jan 16, 2018 David Byrne By Christopher Roberts Photography by Steve Powers

David Byrne is releasing a new album, American Utopia, on March 9 via Todomundo/Nonesuch. Previously he shared the album’s first single, “Everybody’s Coming to My House.” It was one of our Songs of the Week, was co-written by Brian Eno, and features contributions from Sampha, along with TTY, Happa Isaiah Barr (Onyx Collective), and others. Now Byrne has announced a whole bunch of new tour dates that take him all the way through August. Check them out below, followed again by “Everybody’s Coming to My House.”

The tour dates will feature a 12-piece band for a choreographed concert that feature songs from both Byrne’s previous band Talking Heads and his solo material. In a press release Byrne says the concerts will be “the most ambitious show I’ve done since the shows that were filmed for Stop Making Sense.”

American Utopia is Byrne’s first solo album since 2004’s Grown Backwards. It features collaborations with producer Rodaidh McDonald (The xx, King Krule, Sampha, Savages), Daniel Lopatin (aka Oneohtrix Point Never), Jam City, Thomas Bartlett (St. Vincent producer, aka Doveman), Jack Peñate, and others. American Utopia was recorded in New York City at David’s home studio, as well as at Reservoir Studios, Oscilloscope, XL Studios, and Crowdspacer Studio, with additional recording at Livingston Studio 1 in London.

Byrne issued this statement about the album in a previous press release: “Is this meant ironically? Is it a joke? Do I mean this seriously? In what way? Am I referring to the past or the future? Is it personal or political?

“These songs don’t describe an imaginary or possibly impossible place but rather attempt to depict the world we live in now. Many of us, I suspect, are not satisfied with that world-the world we have made for ourselves. We look around and we ask ourselves-well, does it have to be like this? Is there another way? These songs are about that looking and that asking.

“This album is indirectly about those aspirational impulses. Sometimes to describe is to reveal, to see other possibilities. To ask a question is to begin the process of looking for an answer. To be descriptive is also to be prescriptive, in a way. The act of asking is a big step. The songs are sincere-the title is not ironic. The title refers not to a specific utopia, but rather to our longing, frustration, aspirations, fears, and hopes regarding what could be possible, what else is possible. The description, the discontent and the desire-I have a feeling that is what these songs touch on.

“I have no prescriptions or surefire answers, but I sense that I am not the only one looking and asking, wondering and still holding onto some tiny bit of hope, unwilling to succumb entirely to despair or cynicism.

“It’s not easy, but music helps. Music is a kind of model-it often tells us or points us toward how we can be.”

David Byrne Tour Dates:

3/3 Red Bank, NJ Count Basie Theatre SOLD OUT
3/4 Wilkes-Barre, PA F.M. Kirby Center for the Performing Arts SOLD OUT
3/6 Buffalo, NY Center For The Arts SOLD OUT
3/7 Hershey, PA Hershey Theatre SOLD OUT
3/9 Waterbury, Ct Palace Theater SOLD OUT
3/10 Kingston, NY Ulster Performing Arts Center SOLD OUT
3/16 Santiago, CHI Lollapalooza (Chile)
3/18 Buenos Aires, ARG Lollapalooza (Argentina)
3/19 Teatro Gran Rex Buenos Aires (Argentina)
3/20 Teatro de Verano Montevideo (Uruguay)
3/24 Sao Paulo, BRA Lollapalooza (Brazil)
4/3 Mexico City MX Metropolitan Theater
4/5 Monterrey MX Auditorio Pabellón M
4/7 Guadalajara, MEX Corona Capital Guadalajara
4/14 Indio, CA Coachella
4/15 Tucson, AZ Centennial Hall
4/17 San Diego, CA San Diego Civic Theater
4/18 Las Vegas, NV Smith Center for the Arts
4/19 Mesa, AZ Mesa Arts Center-Ikeda Theater
4/21 Indio, CA Coachella
4/24 Dallas, TX Winspear Opera House
4/25 Oklahoma City, OK The Criterion
4/27 San Antonio, TX Tobin Center for the Performing Arts
4/28 Houston, TX White Oak Music Hall Outside Lawn
5/4 - 5/6 Atlanta, GA Shaky Knees
5/6 Nashville, TN Ryman Auditorium
5/8 Asheville, NC Thomas Wolfe Civic Auditorium
5/9 Charlotte, NC Ovens Auditorium
5/10 Durham PAC Durham, NC
5/12 Washington, DC The Anthem
5/13 Pittsburgh, PA Benedum Center for the Arts
5/15 Milwaukee, WI Riverside Theater
5/16 Madison, WI Orpheum Theater
5/17 Minneapolis, MN Orpheum Theater
5/19 Saskatoon, SASK TCU Place
5/20 Edmonton, ALB Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium
5/21 Calgary, ALB Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium
5/23 Vancouver, BC Queen Elizabeth Theater
5/24 Seattle, WA Paramount Theater
5/27 Portland, OR Keller Audiorium
5/28 Eugene, OR Hult Center
5/30 Salt Lake City, UT Capitol Theatre
6/2 Chicago, IL Auditorium Theater
6/5 Des Moines, IA Des Moines Civic Center
6/7 Kansas City, MO Kauffman Center for the Arts
6/8 St. Louis, MO Peabody Opera House
6/9 Indianapolis, IN Farmers Bureau Lawn Amphitheater
6/14 Oxford, England New Theatre
6/15 Glasgow, Scotland Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
6/17 Birmingham, England Birmingham Symphony Hall
6/18 Manchester, England Manchester Apollo
6/19 London, England Eventim Apollo
6/22-23 Prague, Czech Republic Metronome Festival
6/25 Zagreb, Croatia INmusic Festival
6/26 Wien, Austria Museumsquartier
6/30 - 7/1 Ewijk, Netherlands Down The Rabbit Hole
7/5 - 7/8 Werchter, Belgium Rock Werchter
7/6 Roskilde, Denmark Roskilde Festival
7/5 Gdynia, Poland Open’er Festival
7/11 Oeiras, Portugal Cool Jazz Festival
7/13 Bilbao, Spain Bilbao BBK Live Festival
7/13-14 Barcelona, Spain Cruilla Barcelona
7/17 Zürich, Switzerland Theater 11
7/19 Ravenna, Italy Ravenna Festival
7/20 Perugia, Italy Umbria Jazz Festival
7/21 Trieste, Italy Piazza UNita
7/27 Camden, NJ XPoNential Music Festival
7/31 Boston, MA Blue Hills Bank Pavilion
8/1 Shelburne, VT Shelburne Museum - The Green
8/3 Toronto, ONT Sony Center for the Performing Arts
8/5 Canandaigua, NY Marvin Sands Performing Arts Center
8/8 Grand Rapids, MI Devos Performance Hall
8/10 Detroit, MI Fox Theater
8/11 Huber Heightes, OH Rose Music Center
8/12 Cincinnati, OH PNC Pavilion at Riverbend
8/16 Oakland, CA Fox Theater
8/18 San Jose, CA City National Civic Auditorium
8/21 Sacramento CA Community Theater
8/24 Santa Barbara, CA Santa Barbara Bowl
8/28 Morrison, CO Red Rocks Amphitheater

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