David Byrne Praises Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘Great Relationship With Her Audience’ & Shares His Wedding Plans

From performing with Olivia Rodrigo at Governors Ball this summer to getting married this week, David Byrne is truly living a wild, wild life.

During a Wednesday night (Sept. 3) appearance on the Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, the Talking Heads legend shared how his surprise cameo during Rodrigo’s festival set came together while touching on his upcoming nuptials with fiancée Mala Gaonkar. Describing how he and Rodrigo both wore red while performing “Burning Down the House” during her headlining Gov Ball set in June, Byrne recalled with a laugh, “She sent me a picture of her outfit and I said, ‘Oh yeah, I can match that.’”

The idiosyncratic rock icon went on to share how he first crossed paths with Rodrigo on her Guts World Tour before revealing that their dance moves on stage in June were his idea. “I saw her show here at Madison Square Garden and met her — I’m a fan,” Byrne said, “And she stayed in touch.”

“She said, ‘Hey, wanna join me?’” he continued of the Gov Ball team-up. “I did say, ‘Hey, if you’re in town for a couple days, maybe we can work out a little choreo.’ I had to pinch myself and go, ‘Yeah, I’m really doing this.’

“She has a great relationship with her audience,” Byrne added of Rodrigo. “Not only do they know the songs, they mean something to them.”

The Tonight Show stop comes just a couple days ahead of the release of Who Is the Sky?, Byrne’s first solo album in eight years. Produced by Kid Harpoon and featuring collaborations with St. Vincent, Hayley Williams and more, the project drops Friday (Sept. 5).

The album is just one reason this is a big week for Byrne. The star also recently revealed that he will be getting married to his longtime partner this week in a post on his Instagram Stories (about which he told Fallon, “Yes! I let the cat out of the bag”).

“I’m getting married this week and made an almost entirely instrumental playlist while our guests eat an amazing and spicy dinner,” Byrne wrote Monday (Sept. 1) on the platform. “My sense is that words & lyrics can be distracting – the ear goes to them, especially if it’s a song one knows. So, I opted for buoyant instrumentals that will create a hopeful and joyous atmosphere… and that folks can also ignore at the same time.”

Watch Byrne’s full interview with Fallon above.