Wednesday, May 14, 2025

American Utopia review – David Byrne and Spike Lee burn down the house

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This ambitious concert film mixes politics, Talking Heads hits and Lee’s inimitable style to winning effect

Director Spike Lee and musician David Byrne have created a crowd-pleaser with this spry concert film of Byrne’s 2018 tour turned Broadway performance. Nearly half the setlist comprises hits made famous by Talking Heads – and who wouldn’t find their spirits buoyed by footage of Byrne and co careening through the crowd during a sweaty and exuberant performance of Road to Nowhere, GoPro cameras trailing them? Byrne and his band, who wear their instruments strapped to their bodies, dance barefoot in starched, steel-grey suits across a stage designed to look like a chainmail cube.

Related: David Byrne: ‘Spike Lee and I have a lot in common’

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