David Byrne appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert this week to talk about his ongoing Who Is The Sky? Tour, perform album track “When We Are Singing”, and discuss the jarring Immigration and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E.) footage he’s been showing during live performances of Talking Heads classic “Life During Wartime”.
Societal themes are woven into David Byrne’s Who Is The Sky? Tour on various levels, often delivered via a rounded triptych of floor-to-ceiling screens that embrace the stage from behind. During 2025 single “T-Shirt“, the screens run a slideshow of corny t-shirt slogans including a Burger King logo reworked to read “No Kings,” which faithfully prompts cheers from his audiences. In October, Byrne attended Philadelphia’s No Kings rally between dates of his run at The Met and showed the audience photos from the march later that night, including one striking snap of a large group of protestors unfurling a giant American flag—an image of unity as resistance. Read our full review of David Byrne’s No Kings Day show in Philadelphia here.
Toward the end of his Who Is The Sky? Tour sets, Byrne and his kinetic backing ensemble perform a frantic take on Talking Heads’ “Life During Wartime” punctuated by a barrage of jarring video clips from various I.C.E. protests, squeezing genuine emotional impact and relevant commentary out of the classic track’s lingering sense of foreboding.
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This week on Colbert, seated next to co-host John Mulaney, Byrne’s mind seemed to immediately arrive at “Life During Wartime” when the show’s host asked about whether Talking Heads material feels different when he plays it now.
“Oh, my goodness,” Byrne responded. “Uh, well, the second one ‘Life During Wartime’, yes. I licensed some I.C.E. footage to show at the … very, very end of the song. If we showed it for the whole song, it’d be kind of sad, depressing. But we show it at the very end. And we start off with some footage that I saw of [what] looked like a delivery guy on a bike being chased by the I.C.E. guys, and he gets away.”
After breaking for applause from the audience, Byrne continued, “It was in Chicago [where] we debuted that clip ’cause [I.C.E.] kept coming.”
Comedian John Mulaney, the episode’s guest host, noted that he was in the house when Byrne debuted the aforementioned clip in Chicago. “Biggest, coolest reaction I’ve ever seen of a live audience e-ver,” Mulaney confirmed.
They went on to talk about Theater of the Mind, Byrne’s immersive exhibition at Chicago’s Goodman Theater, and the song he was planning to perform on the program, Who Is The Sky? track “When We Are Singing”.
“I’m going to do a song called, uh, ‘When We Are Singing,'” Byrne explained. “In the beginning of [writing] it… I thought about, I really don’t like writing songs about my business, but I thought, ‘You know, when people are singing, they look kind of funny. … You know, they just have their mouth open. You don’t know if they’re in ecstasy or if somebody stepped on their toe or they saw something horrible. It’s all the same look.”
After a characteristically awkward pause during which Byrne seemed to be waiting for Colbert’s reaction to his quasi-explanation of the song’s meaning, the host replied with a touch of exasperation, “We look forward to seeing you do that.”
Below, watch the videos of the Stephen Colbert interview with David Byrne on his use of I.C.E. footage with “Life During Wartime” at his Who Is The Sky? Tour shows and Byrne and company’s live performance of “When We Are Singing” on The Late Show.
David Byrne’s Who Is The Sky? Tour is currently back in the States after a Europe and U.K. run in February and March. Upcoming stops will take Byrne and his kinetic touring band up and down the West Coast before heading east toward the tour’s final domestic destination, a two-show run at Baltimore, MD’s Hippodrome at France-Merrick Performing Arts Center on May 17th and 18th. From there, Byrne will head overseas once again for another Europe/U.K. leg in June and July.
Find a list of upcoming David Byrne Who Is The Sky? Tour dates and corresponding ticketing details here.
Why David Byrne Shows Footage Of ICE Raids Alongside “Life During Wartime” On Who Is The Sky? Tour – The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
David Byrne – “When We Are Singing” (Live) – The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
It seems that David Byrne’s name is never far from Stephen Colbert’s lips on The Late Show. Just last month, Colbert spend a good chunk of his interview with Dave Matthews raving about Byrne’s Who Is The Sky? Tour.
“He’s the truest of artists,” Matthews told Colbert. “He’s [a] visual artist, and he’s [a] lyrical artist, and he’s subtle, and he’s smart and he’s funny, and he’s—anyway, he’s all good things wrapped into one.” Watch that clip here.
