David Byrne Shares His “Biking Playlist”

David Byrne has shared the music that’s helped him clear his head during a year on the road.

The Talking Heads co-founder has unveiled a new installment of David Byrne Radio titled “Biking Playlist,” featuring songs he listens to while cycling between dates on his ongoing “Who Is the Sky? Tour.” According to Byrne, the entire band travels with folding bicycles, allowing them to get out and explore whenever the schedule permits.

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“The whole band has folding bikes that we travel with – if I have an afternoon off I’ll often go for a ride to clear my head,” Byrne explained. “And if I’m on my own and it’s a secure path or not a busy road… I’ll listen to this playlist.”

Biking is hardly new territory for Byrne. He has used a bicycle as his primary means of getting around New York since the early 1980s. In 2009, he published Bicycle Diaries, a travelogue drawn from rides through cities around the world that doubles as a meditation on architecture, culture, and bike-friendly urban design. Byrne has even designed a series of bike racks that were installed throughout New York City in 2008 and 2012.

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In a note accompanying the playlist, Byrne also reflected on his naturally expansive understanding of pop music, arguing that the distinction between mainstream and unconventional music is constantly shifting. The playlist backs up that wide-ranging description, bringing together Mitski, Allison Russell, Audrey Hobert, Dry Cleaning, Olivia Rodrigo, WILLOW, James Blake, Yebba, Kelsey Lu, St. Vincent, Harry Styles, Paul McCartney, Phoebe Bridgers, Ibeyi, and more.

“What I think of as pop music is broadly defined,” he wrote. “Some songs are, by consensus, mainstream, but even some of those often push at the edges. Others take the format, length and shape of pop songs, but to my ears they don’t sound anything like the ones considered more mainstream.”

“That said, they’re all equal in my book,” he continued. “I don’t think of any of them as inside or outside – as I’ve seen those definitions change with plenty of exceptions that prove the rules are meant to be broken.”

The playlist arrives as Byrne enters the final stretch of the “Who Is the Sky? Tour,” which began in September 2025 and will have kept him on the road for just over a year by the time it concludes. “It’s a long one, but it’s going extremely well and the general vibe among the band and crew is, amazingly, still good,” he wrote.

The remaining itinerary takes Byrne through Singapore, Jakarta, Tokyo, Seoul, and several North American cities, including Berkeley, Los Angeles, Mexico City, and Saratoga Springs. The tour concludes with a September 19th performance at Forest Hills Stadium in Queens. Look for deals and sold-out tickets via Vivid Seats, where fans can save $20 off their first order of $200 or more by using promo code CONSEQUENCE20 at checkout.

Pick up a copy of David Byrne’s Who Is the Sky? here.

Stream David Byrne’s “Biking Playlist” on Spotify and Apple Music below.

David Byrne 2026 Tour Dates:
07/09 – Bilbao, ES @ Bilbao BBK Live
07/10 – Barcelona, ES @ Cruïlla Festival
07/11 – Madrid, ES @ Mad Cool Festival
07/14 – Cascais, PT @ Ageas Cooljazz Festival
07/18 – Halifax, UK @ The Piece Hall
07/20 – Edinburgh, UK @ Edinburgh Playhouse
07/21 – Edinburgh, UK @ Edinburgh Playhouse
07/22 – Edinburgh, UK @ Edinburgh Playhouse
07/24 – Suffolk, UK @ Latitude Festival
07/26 – Cardiff, UK @ Depot Live at Cardiff Castle
07/29 – Reykjavík, IS @ Laugardalshöll
08/07 – Singapore, SG @ The Star Theatre
08/10 – Bangkok, TH @ UOB Live
08/13 – Tokyo, JP @ SGC Hall Ariake
08/15 – Tokyo, JP @ Summer Sonic Festival
08/16 – Osaka, JP @ Summer Sonic Festival
08/21 – Seoul, KR @ Kyung Hee University Peace Hall
08/25 – Berkeley, CA @ Greek Theatre
08/27 – San Diego, CA @ Cal Coast Union Open Air Theatre
08/28 – Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Bowl
08/29 – Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Bowl
09/04 – Mexico City, MX @ Teatro Metropólitan
09/05 – Mexico City, MX @ Teatro Metropólitan
09/06 – Mexico City, MX @ Teatro Metropólitan
09/08 – Guadalajara, MX @ Telmex Auditorium
09/10 – Monterrey, MX @ Escenario GNP
09/17 – Saratoga, NY @ Saratoga Performing Arts Center
09/19 – Queens, NY @ Forest Hills Stadium