SAN DIEGO — Same as it never was?

Not even a near-full lunar eclipse could overshadow David Byrne’s stellar concert Thursday night at San Diego State University’s Cal Coast Credit Union Amphitheater, which fittingly opened with the 1979 song “Heaven” and included “Air” and “Once in a Lifetime” (which includes the famous lyric: “same as it ever was”).

In an entirely serendipitous coincidence — at least on a night when what became a blood moon was clearly visible — the title of Byrne’s latest album and his soon-to-conclude 2025-26 tour is “Who Is The Sky?”

Who, or what, indeed?

Appearing in front of a loudly enthusiastic, sold-out crowd of 4,280 people, the proudly idiosyncratic Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee and his 12-piece ensemble of musicians and singing dancers repeatedly lit up the night during their 19-song, two-encore performance. The group’s music director, UC San Diego alum Ray Suen, was an impressive quintuple-threat on guitar, violin, accordion, bass and backing vocals.

Ten of the selections performed were from the Talking Heads’ songbook, including “Burning Down The House,” which brought the concert to a galvanizing conclusion. Ten other selections came from Byrne’s solo catalog, including “Everybody Laughs,” “When We Are Singing” and three other songs from his 2025 album “Who Is The World?” One number, “Strange Overtones,” was from his 2008 duo album with Brian Eno, “Everything That Happens Will Happen Today.”

The music sizzled throughout. So did the temperature, which was almost 80 degrees at showtime and only slightly less steamy when it ended.

“This is the hottest it’s been at any place on this tour,” former San Diegan Suen said, in a brief post-show conversation.

Thursday’s concert took place nearly 48 years after Byrne made his SDSU debut in September 1978 at the now-defunct Backdoor club with his then-3-year-old band, Talking Heads.

With Byrne at the helm, the Heads’ game-changing 1984 concert film, “Stop Making Sense,” irrevocably expanded and redefined the parameters of live performance in rock. Byrne raised the bar even higher with his 2018 “American Utopia” tour, which included two eye-popping, jaw-dropping San Diego Civic Theatre concerts.

That tour, vividly captured in Spike Lee’s subsequent “American Utopia” documentary film, dispensed with nearly every conventional concert concept. There were no wires, cables, amplifiers, drum sets, monitor speakers, audio gear, stage risers or any fixed equipment.

Handheld microphones were replaced by wireless headsets. The role of a drummer was filled by six roving percussionists, whose instruments were mounted on metal harnesses. Ditto the band’s lone keyboard. The musicians were in constant motion and each song had intricate changing choreography that required meticulous precision. Each barefoot band member wore identical outfits. Hundreds of large silver metal-mesh strands were used in place of a curtain. There were no video screens on the bare-by-design stage.

For the “Who Is The Sky?” tour, Byrne has upped the ante again, while retaining the headsets, metal harness-mounted instruments and nonstop choreography, which looked somewhat less demanding. He’s added a saxophonist and four dancing background singers, reduced the number of drummers from six to four, and added matching orange shoes to each musician and dancers’ identical orange stage outfits.

Far more dramatic are the changes made to the stage and the production itself. The wire mesh curtain has been replaced by five curved LED screen walls. They showed a series of stunning visuals for each song, complementing the music without overwhelming it.

When Byrne sang his pandemic-inspired “My Apartment Is My Friend,” footage of his New York apartment provided the backdrop. During the perpetually ominous 1979 Talking Heads’ classic, “Life During Wartime,” chilling footage was shown of ICE agents chasing a young man on a bicycle and police violently reacting to protesters. Prior to the lilting song “And She Was,” the LED screens showed photos Byrne shot during his pre-concert visit to the San Diego Model Railroad Museum in Balboa Park.

Byrne was clearly charmed by his visit and his voice danced with delight as he commented on the six museum employees whose photos he had taken.

“Okay, so much for San Diego. Now we’ll talk about me!” Byrne quipped.

During the song “Independence Day,” the screen identified each band member by name. Whenever any of them moved from one part of the stage to another, which was often, their names would move with them on the screen. It was a very effective way of introducing the musicians — at least by their first names — to the audience.

For the concert’s 10th selection, “Like Humans Do,” the screen showed film of each of the band members performing the same song while wearing faux animal heads. The image of the live band, performing unmasked on the stage, with the film of them performing “Like Humans Do” with the animals masks was striking.

One of the LED screens constituted the floor of the stage that the musicians and dancers glided and marched on. A dozen infrared cameras mounted above the stage on the LED screens captured nearly every angle of the performance.

And what a performance it was!

Byrne, 74, may not move like Jagger (not that he ever did). But he was in near-constant motion throughout the 112-minute show and sang in a strong, steady voice despite the atypical evening heat. His band and singing dancers brought exemplary skill, pinpoint precision and fresh verve to each number, new and old. The arrangements of familiar songs were given new twists and most of the crowd was on its feet, dancing, for much of the show.

Highlights abounded, from the propulsive grooves of “This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)” and “Slippery People” — during which Byrne vocally emulated the sound of a DJ scratching a vinyl record — to the brooding yet musically upbeat “Psycho Killer” and such engaging new songs as “I Met The Buddha at a Downtown Party” and “T-Shirt,” which earned cheers when the LED screen displayed the words “MAKE AMERICA GAY AGAIN” and even bigger cheers for a fast food-inspired logo with two buns bookending the words “NO KINGS.”

Byrne did not mention President Donald Trump by name and did not show any images of him. But he made a pointed allusion in his spoken introduction to the song “When We Are Singing” as the LED screens showed photos of isolated Italians who comforted each other by singing from the balconies of their apartment buildings during the 2020 pandemic shutdown. After noting that they were very good singers, Byrne noted that they sang with extra commitment on “Liberation Day” to celebrate “their freedom from fascism” In Italy at the conclusion of World War II.

“Love and kindness are our purest form of resistance,” Byrne told the audience, which cheered again. Same as it ever was.

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