David Byrne announces 'ambitious' new tour

Rock icon David Byrne is planning a tour with an ultra-minimalist stage, calling the concerts his most ambitious since 1984's film "Stop Making Sense" with his band Talking Heads.

"Stop Making Sense," directed by then little-known Jonathan Demme, has become a classic among concert movies with its sleek, unadorned footage of the art-house rockers as they play songs such as "Psycho Killer" and "Burning Down the House."

Byrne, a Scot who has long lived in New York, said his 2018 tour will feature musicians moving around a bare stage with no risers, no gear lying about and no crew lurking in the corner.

"With everyone mobile, I realized the stage could be completely clear," Byrne wrote on Facebook on Tuesday.

"This is the most ambitious show I've done since the shows that were filmed for 'Stop Making Sense,' so fingers crossed," he said.

Byrne will open the tour on March 3 at the historic Count Basie Theatre in New Jersey before moving on to other small venues around the US East Coast.

He will also play the Lollapalooza festivals in Chile and Argentina and later the Roskilde festival in Denmark.

Byrne said the tour will feature new as well as old music. He has earlier said he plans to release an album in 2018, which would be his first since 2012's "Love This Giant," a collaboration with younger indie rocker St. Vincent.

Talking Heads disbanded in the early 1990s but Byrne has remained a prolific presence including as a film composer and author. He also founded the Luaka Bop label, which has been influential in bringing African, Brazilian and other artists to a wider international audience.