Talking Heads To Reunite For 40th Anniversary Of Their Concert Film

In honor of the 40th anniversary of their concert film Stop Making Sense, Talking Heads are set to reunite.

This will be the first time all four members, David Byrne, Tina Weymouth, Chris Frantz, and Jerry Harrison, will appear together in more than two decades. The band will do a live Q&A moderated by filmmaker Spike Lee which will take place at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sept. 11.

Although there is “no performance” from the band, according to reports, the discussion will be followed by the screening of the film which will also be broadcast live in selected IMAX theaters around the world. In a previous interview, Harrison said:

“To me, Stop Making Sense has remained relevant because the staging and lighting techniques could have been created in a much earlier time period.
“The absence of interviews, combined with the elegant and timeless lighting, created a film that can be watched over and over.”‘

The newly 4K mastered of Stop Making Sense is also set to come to theaters this year on Sept. 22. While an expanded edition of the movie’s soundtrack will be released this Aug. 18, featuring the full setlist plus two previously unreleased songs.

Talking Heads were last seen playing together in 2002 at their Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction. Later on, each member embarked on a solo career. Talking about a reunion, Frantz told Rolling Stone in 2020:

“It would be nice if it could happen because unlike many of our contemporaries, we’re all still alive.”

While Byrne recently explained in an interview:

“I realized after a while that I was very happy doing the kind of wide variety of things that I was doing and the different kinds of music that I was doing.
“And I thought, ‘Why should I trade in my happiness for some cash?’”