David Byrne and Brian Eno have been bending the musical map for decades: scribbling new borders, torching old ones, and leaving the rest of us sifting through the glowing rubble. Their fingerprints are everywhere: on art-rock blueprints, on dance-floor daydreams, on every guitar player who ever thought rhythm could think for itself. T Shirt, their latest co-conspiracy, slips right into that legacy with the casual grace of someone tossing their coat on your chair and commandeering the whole room before you’ve even stood up.
The song arrives with a steady hum: lean, steady, slightly cheeky, and Byrne unfurls a lyrical confession that feels handwritten on the soft cotton he keeps pointing at. Here, slogans serve as lifelines. Garments become confessionals. A life is reduced and expanded through little messages pressed near the heart. There’s humour in the simplicity, but there’s also a pulse of sincerity running underneath. Byrne knows the trick: the smaller the message, the sharper it cuts.
His voice moves with that unmistakable Byrne wobble, half-smile, half-sermon, drifting across a bed of glossy electronics that feel naturally Eno-coded. Nothing is rushed. Nothing is fussed over. The song strolls forward, holding out its thesis with the unselfconscious warmth of a friend telling you a truth they’ve carried for years. The arrangement keeps a clean frame: bright keys, crisp percussion, a few glints of texture, and lets the focus stay exactly where it should: on a man trying to speak plainly in a world that long ago misplaced free speech.
That odd, beautiful Byrne sincerity is on full display here. He’s comfortable with his quirks now; he says so himself. Age, for him, isn’t a shroud, but a kind of permission slip. He talks about stepping outside the usual limits, about treating each song as a leap into unmapped territory. You hear that wanderlust here…quiet, steady, confident, but never overstated. When he mentions that the best collaborations are the ones that understand the destination without needing a map, you can sense the truth of it in T Shirt. He and Eno walk the same road again, side by side, heading toward some unknown horizon.
Listen to T Shirt below and order the single here.
Who Is the Sky?, Byrne’s first album since American Utopia, arrives under the Matador banner, buoyed by Kid Harpoon’s production and Ghost Train Orchestra’s sharp arrangements. The guest list stretches from Hayley Williams to St. Vincent to Tom Skinner, each adding small sparks without crowding Byrne’s center of gravity. The tour around it has drawn raves—Minneapolis crowned it their big winner, NPR dropped in for a Chicago night, and fans have been treating “T Shirt” as a highlight, a quiet anthem stitched into the set.
The dates continue across North America before heading to New Zealand, Australia, and Europe in the New Year. Full details and tickets can be found here.
North America:
- 12/02/2025 – Atlanta, GA – Fox Theatre
- 12/03/2025 – Atlanta, GA – Fox Theatre
- 12/05/2025 – Miami, FL – Fillmore Miami Beach At Jackie Gleason Theatre
- 12/06/2025 – Miami, FL – Fillmore Miami Beach At Jackie Gleason Theatre
Australia & New Zealand:
- 01/14/2026 – Auckland, New Zealand – Spark Arena
- 01/17/2026 – Brisbane, Australia – Brisbane Entertainment Center
- 01/21/2026 – Sydney, Australia – ICC Sydney Theatre
- 01/22/2026 – Melbourne, Australia – Sidney Myer Music Bowl
- 01/24/2026 – Adelaide, Australia – Adelaide Entertainment Centre Arena
- 01/27/2026 – Perth, Australia – RAC Arena
Europe & United Kingdom:
- 02/12/2026 – Berlin, Germany – Tempodrom
- 02/15/2026 – Amsterdam, Netherlands – AFAS Live
- 02/16/2026 – Amsterdam, Netherlands – AFAS Live
- 02/18/2026 – Brussels, Belgium – Forest National
- 02/21/2026 – Milan, Italy – Teatro degli Arcimboldi
- 02/22/2026 – Milan, Italy – Teatro degli Arcimboldi
- 02/24/2026 – Frankfurt, Germany – Jahrhunderthalle
- 02/26/2026 – Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg – Rockhal Main Hall
- 02/27/2026 – Zurich, Switzerland – The Hall
- 03/02/2026 – Cardiff, UK – Utilita Arena
- 03/03/2026 – London, UK – Eventim Apollo
- 03/04/2026 – London, UK – Eventim Apollo
- 03/06/2026 – Glasgow, UK – SEC Armadillo
- 03/07/2026 – Glasgow, UK – SEC Armadillo
- 03/09/2026 – Manchester, UK – o2 Apollo
- 03/10/2026 – Manchester, UK – o2 Apollo
- 03/11/2026 – Manchester, UK – o2 Apollo
- 03/13/2026 – Dublin, Ireland – 3Arena
- 03/15/2026 – London, UK – Eventim Apollo
- 03/16/2026 – London, UK – Eventim Apollo
- 03/18/2026 – Paris, France – La Seine Musicale
- 03/19/2026 – Paris, France – La Seine Musicale
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