David Byrne’s American Utopia 4K UHD Review: The Road to Somewhere

David Byrne remains an astonishingly vital performer. In his late sixties during this Broadway run of American Utopia, he still dances, jumps, and commands the stage. He moves with the restless energy of the twentysomething radical who helped define art-rock at CBGB and The Ktichen in NYC. But there’s wisdom in his movement now — four decades of creative reinvention informing every gesture.

Spike Lee‘s film captures Byrne’s 2019 Broadway adaptation of his American Utopia album and tour. It feels less like a concert and more like a raw self-examination on connection, isolation, and the possibility of collective joy as freedom. Byrne and his eleven musicians wear matching gray suits. They perform untethered — no cables, no fixed positions, with all instruments strapped to their bodies. Choreographer Annie-B Parson‘s minimalist staging allows the performers to flow together and apart. In doing so, they are the physical embodiment of Byrne’s hope for a more connected, less divided world.  Onscreen or in the theater, he transformation unfolds right in front of you.

The setlist spans Byrne’s career beautifully. Talking Heads staples like “This Must Be the Place,” “Once in a Lifetime,” and “Burning Down the House” share space with solo material. A stirring cover of Janelle Monáe‘s “Hell You Talmbout” provides one of the show’s most powerful moments. Between songs, Byrne speaks directly to the audience about everything from neural connections and dadaism as a response to fascism to the importance of voting. The political content never feels forced because it’s woven into the fabric of everything Byrne has always done. He questions systems. He celebrates human weirdness. He finds hope through art.

Like many of the filmed live on Broadway/West End films that have been released in the last five years, Lee’s cameras capture details that theater seats would miss. Byrne’s barefoot toe-wiggles. The precision of the percussionists. The sweat and joy on every performer’s face. This isn’t Jonathan Demme‘s Stop Making Sense — that film belongs to a different era and a different Byrne. This is something gentler, more hopeful, and equally essential.

I caught pieces of the show working for a theater on one of the stops during its pre-Broadway tour. What struck me then still resonates now: Byrne has figured out how to be a propulsively entertaining elder statesman without becoming a nostalgia act. His current Who Is The Sky? tour is performing to sold-out crowds across the country. Devoted fans are leaving these shows reeling from his artistry. The man simply does not slow down.

Criterion’s 4K presentation, supervised by cinematographer Ellen Kuras, looks gorgeous. The 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio captures every layer of the intricate arrangements. A new documentary features Kuras, Byrne, Lee, and key collaborators discussing the production. A 2020 conversation between Lee and Byrne rounds out the package. Essays by K. Austin Collins and Jia Tolentino add critical context. 

Lee and Criterion go hand in hand and when you add Byrne to the mix, there’s a delightful harmony. This is what happens when visionary artists collaborate. A concert film that transcends documentation and becomes its own work of art.