David Byrne has brought one of the most iconic Talking Heads songs back to life. During the opening night of his Who Is the Sky? tour in Pittsburgh, Byrne stunned fans by performing “Psycho Killer” for the first time since 2006. The performance took place at the Benedum Center for the Performing Arts, where the legendary musician stood in a lone spotlight, flanked by dancers and a band dressed in blue suits identical to his own.

The return of “Psycho Killer” was a moment of theatrical electricity. Byrne moved with deliberate precision, echoing the eccentric energy that has always defined his stage presence. The audience, aware of the song’s absence from his live repertoire for nearly 20 years, greeted the performance with rapturous applause.

The concert marked the beginning of Byrne’s extensive tour, which blends his career-spanning material with selections from his latest project. He opened the night with “Heaven,” a Talking Heads track that set a contemplative tone, before shifting into a mix of solo cuts and collaborations. The setlist traveled through eras of his career, including “Everybody Laughs” and “Stranger Overtones,” the latter drawn from his 2008 album with Brian Eno.

Byrne strategically placed “Psycho Killer” late in the show, nestled between a surprising cover of Paramore’s “Hard Times” and the Talking Heads classic “Life During Wartime.” This placement allowed the song to land as both a nostalgic callback and a fresh reimagining, framed by music from different generations. Fans also heard live debuts of several tracks from Who Is the Sky?, including “Don’t Be Like That,” “I Met the Buddha at a Downtown Party,” and “My Apartment Is My Friend.”

For Byrne, however, revisiting his old catalog comes with limits. “You can’t turn the clock back,” he told Rolling Stone in a recent interview. He acknowledged the emotional weight that songs like “Psycho Killer” hold for fans but was careful to stress that reliving the past is not the same as recreating it. “When you hear music at a certain point in your life, it means a lot,” he said. “But it doesn’t mean you can go back there and make it happen again.”

That philosophy explains why “Psycho Killer” had been absent from his shows for so long, even as countless other artists, from Miley Cyrus to Duran Duran, have embraced it in their own performances. Byrne’s decision to revisit the track now feels less like nostalgia and more like a carefully chosen moment within his broader artistic journey.

The revival of “Psycho Killer” comes after a year of heightened Talking Heads visibility. In 2023, Byrne briefly reunited with Tina Weymouth, Chris Frantz, and Jerry Harrison to promote A24’s rerelease of their landmark 1984 concert film Stop Making Sense. While the reunion sparked hopes of a larger comeback, Byrne quickly dispelled the idea. “I didn’t feel like, ‘Oh, yeah, let’s go out on tour again,’” he said. “Musically, I’ve gone to a very different place. And I also felt like there’s been a fair number of reunion records and tours. And some of them were probably pretty good. Not very many.”

Still, the band’s legacy continues to grow. Earlier this year, Talking Heads celebrated their 50th anniversary with the release of the first-ever official video for “Psycho Killer.” Directed by filmmaker Mike Mills and starring actress Saoirse Ronan, the clip brought a fresh, modern perspective to the track. In a statement, the band emphasized their appreciation for the project: “This video makes the song better. We LOVE what this video is NOT, it’s not literal, creepy, bloody, physically violent or obvious.”

Talking Heads officially disbanded in 1991, and their last live performance together came during their induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2002. Since then, Byrne has built a reputation for reinventing himself musically and theatrically, from Broadway’s American Utopia to collaborations across genres.