
David Byrne by Shervin Lainez
David Byrne will be at the event next July.
David Byrne, IDLES, CMAT, Lily Allen and Alabama Shakes are all a part of the first wave of artists to be confirmed for the 2026 edition of Bilbao BBK Live.
Byrne has a busy year ahead following the recent release of his Who Is The Sky? solo album – summed up by Live4ever as, ‘cryptic but not hard to understand, playful but not lacking in purpose’:
“New material evolved organically, but after working up a pile of demos the veteran turned to Harry Styles and Miley Cyrus producer Kid Harpoon (also known as Tom Hull) and the amorphous New York-based instrumental collective The Ghost Train Orchestra to flesh them out.”
David Byrne himself has described what it’s all about by promising listeners: “A chance to be the mythical creature we all harbour inside. A chance to step into another reality. A chance to transcend and escape from the prison of ourselves.”
“High concepts yes, but at least in the beginning the messages are universal, as opener Everybody Laughs charts a course through happily strummed acoustics and tropical brass; on it the singer sounds very much at one with the things that form common bonds amongst us.”









