âaverage person eats 3 spiders a yearâ factoid actualy just statistical error. average person eats 0 spiders per year. Spiders Georg, who lives in cave & eats over 10,000 each day, is an outlier adn should not have been counted
All three nights in Chicago we could hear the soundcheck. It was especially long and included a lot of Bells Are Ringing tonight as they worked on getting Factory Showroom ready. We went straight into the venue this time, no crowding in the entryway, and ended up on the horn section side. We obviously knew it was a Factory Showroom show ahead of time, even without the soundcheck Flans had told us all at the show last night, but it was still super exciting when they came onstage and said so.
They had the horns come on right at the start for S-E-X-X-Y. When they left, the Johns started talking about the setlist. It must have been here that Flans told us we could say we saw They Might Be Giants perform their âleast well-known albumâ. Linnell said that from his point of view they were going from the most difficult to the least difficult and that they needed to get through this song. Flans told the crowd not to record them for this one âthis moment is between us and you.â They seemed so obviously nervous that I personally thought that if it was that stressful they could just skip it. Linnell messed up almost immediately after starting (mixing up the dings and dongs) and stopped everyone, saying he was glad it had happened and they started right back up again.
With obvious relief, they played New York City. Flans then did his spiel, which heâd been doing for the last few shows, to the photographers telling them to stick around. Usually I donât mind photographers, but there were three this time including a super tall guy who apparently needed to get several shots right in front of me, so I was ready for them to leave. It was either now or after Spiraling Shape that they had the photographers come up onstage to take pictures of them with the audience. One guy (the tall one) hopped up and did it right away, but the other two were delayed until he was done and they had already moved out of the pose. Flans made a joke about them getting held up by TSA, and they re-posed for a bit longer.
It mustâve been then that Flans noticed Marty was wearing a suit, and commented on it as they were getting back to their places. Flans told us Marty was suffering from âadult onset dignityâ (which Marty found hilarious) and that when he first started with them Marty asked if he could drum without a shirt and they said no. Linnell corrected âwe just didnât say anythingâ and he knew that meant no.
Spiraling Shape got a big cheer (which was well-deserved, I canât believe I got to hear it live!) and I think this was when Flans told us âThank you! If only you had worked for Electra Records in 1996.â
He moved on to introducing XTC Vs. Adam Ant, saying most They Might Be Giants fans must like XTC, and that the Venn diagram was like this, gesturing with his hands to make two mostly overlapping circles, but Flans personally likes Adam Ant a lot.
He then said that heâd recently looked up the lyrics to the song on Spotify (really, Flans?) and that when you search on Spotify every podcast where it was discussed comes up and one of those was where someone (he said a name but it didnât mean anything to me, presumably someone related to Adam Ant) had evidently discussed the song. Linnell was surprised to find out that he didnât listen to it, and asked Flans if the guy was nice. Flans told him yes, he was nice, but he might think that they were mean. He then said that he had such a dysmorphic idea of the band that he âpretends we donât existâ as a coping mechanism.
This prompted Linnell to claim that he has a parasocial relationship with the audience, going on and on about how he thinks they're friends even though they don't know each other at all, etc.. I laughed so hard I almost triggered an asthma attack
So they played XTC vs Adam Ant and then Polk before welcoming the horns back onstage. Flans introduced Pet Name as having a horn chart that Mark Pender had put together. This song was one that I knew a lot of folks were really excited to hear, but I wasnât so much because Iâd seen it in 2020 and it isnât one of my top Factory Showroom tracks. I was delighted and surprised by it though. Obviously a song will be different with full horns than just with a trumpet like in 2020, but I felt like the horns gave it a lot of complicated depth that came across really well and made it a highlight of the spotlight for me.
I canât remember if it was before or after Metal Detector (which was fantastic by the way) that Flans talked about Dan Levineâs previous work with Frank Sinatra. He told us he had worked with Frank Sinatra and with Frank Sinatra Jr., and joked that the Sinatras just kept getting smaller. He went on to say, checking in with Dan to make sure it was true, that the whole time that he had worked with Frank Sinatra, he had called him Johnny Levine.
He and Linnell both did a bit about how you couldnât really correct someone like that âHey Frankie!â I had heard the story before, but not with Dan Levine there, and his facial expressions while all this was going on were a treat.
Flans then did a Sinatra Style intro where he said they were going to play the wrong song next (I think he told us a Beatles Song but I donât remember) and called Linnell the wrong first name. Both the intro style and the calling people the wrong name were recurring bits throughout the rest of the show.
Still in the Sinatra-voice, Flans told us he considered himself âa saloon singerâ this clearly gave him a thought. He paused for a moment, then slyly looked over at Danny for his reaction as he continued âwhich reminds me of the Danny Weinkauf song Where Do They Make Saloons.â
After How Can I Sing Like A Girl, another song made new by the horns this tour, they left stage as Flans discussed the new album.
Linnell said the next song was about a group who theyâd made no effort to sound like. Flans pointed out theyâd also made no effort to sound like James K Polk, but Linnell decided that since there were no sound recordings of Polk he may have sounded âjust like thisâ and did a Polk impression. âLet's invade Mexico for no reason!"
This led into Wu-Tang, then into a run of every single new release they had in rotation: Overnight Sensation, Eyeball, Hit the Ground, and Get Down. There was at least one more Sinatra-style intro somewhere in the mix, and I think Linnell called Flans âDanny Flansburghâ in here.
As the horns were coming onstage before Get Down Dan, Danny, and Marty were discussing something about Hit the Ground (Dan indicated they had been âthis closeâ to something). Flans noticed their discussion and was jokingly grumpy that they were having a band meeting without him. âIs there a bet Iâm not in on?â
This reminded him of the Kentucky Derby, and he asked the room at large if they had seen it. He said he wouldnât spoil it for Marty (which got a laugh from him) but that the horse came from last to win.
After Get Down, they finished out the set with Particle Man, with an Elusive Butterfly interlude. During the chaos portion, Dan Levine came and stood right behind Danny, clearly hoping to get a reaction from him and maybe do the leaning on each other bit they sometimes do, but Danny didnât even realize he was there until he turned around at the very end of the song.
Even taking the different spotlight aside, this was a very different first set than what we had been seeing up to this point of the tour. I remember thinking during the set break âWhat are they even going to play in the second set?â
The Johns, Marty, and Danny came back on to open the set with Donât Letâs Start, and then Dan Miller joined them for Damn Good Times, slipping up to the highest house-right balcony for his solo. The spotlight was a bit delayed in finding him, and then when he left it stayed turned on and aimed that way, so the people who had been sitting there were sitting with a super bright light shining in their faces for a good 20 seconds after theyâd returned to their seats.
Flans went offstage to do his Stuff is Way camera work. It's a fun bit, but my sister really doesnât like teeth, so itâs always a rough part of the show for her.
Flans introduced Santaâs Beard by saying âThis song goes all the way back to this Friday.â
During Older, Linnell really messed up the bit he does on the Kaoss pad and took a while to get back on track with it, drawing a horrified look from Dan Miller. Afterwards, Linnell told us âI was getting worried!â
The horns came back on at that point and stayed on for the rest of the set. After Cloisonne, they surprised us with a rare mid-set Doctor Worm.
At some point in here, the incorrect Sinatra-names made a comeback. Linnell referred to Mark as âMichael Penderâ and Flans told him âEven his mother calls him Mr. Pender.â
Flans introduced the next song as being from their Apollo 18 album, which was âtragically underrepresentedâ in the show, so they were going to remedy that. They then proceeded to play Turn Around, Dig My Grave, and Spider. It was like getting a second, bonus spotlight for the night, especially with Sheâs Actual Size in the first encore!
I think it was during Turn Around that Dan Levine came in a verse before the horns were supposed to start playing. Mark and Stan both cracked up and both jokingly extended their arms to present him to the crowd while he laughed, clearly embarrassed.
After Spider, they finished off the second set with Birdhouse. For the last few shows, there had been an ongoing saga of Flans forgetting he was supposed to be playing the âguitars!â bit with Dan. Dan would look for him, then give up and do his own thing and Flans would join him at the last minute. Tonight, Dan had given up entirely, and decided he was going to play that bit with a surprised Danny instead. Turning away afterwards, Dan literally bumped into Flans, who had come up behind him while he was playing.
As mentioned, they started the first encore with Actual Size. First though, Flans did intros for everyone except Marty and Dan (who was offstage). The most notable was Linnellâs, who Flans introduced as being on âthe freaky-deaky cameraâ as he was taking a picture. Linnell responded by moving his camera forward and back to the music. I think it was here that the Sinatra-name bit made a final appearance, as Linnell called Flans âDanny Flansburghâ before they started the song.
The Marty intro was saved for the drum solo of Actual Size itself, with Flans doing all the appropriate hyping him up while standing behind him on the drum riser. After the solo, Marty leaned back against Flans, making a show of how exhausted he was.
Once Dan Miller was onstage, Flans made a point to introduce him as well âand lest we forgetâ which made Dan smile.
We had heard them soundchecking Withered Hope, but it was a treat to see after falling off the setlist for the start of the leg.
They finished the night with Istanbul, with Stan and Marty providing the intro this time (or Stanford and Martin if you believe the setlist).
I didn't have the wherewithal to put this into a comprehensible order, but it was the most banter-heavy show of the run and a whole lot of fun, despite a few... unique events in line and with the crowd. We were over on the horn side for this one.
There was a single photographer working, Flans talked to her a bit between songs, asking where she was from and telling us sheâd promised to make them look nice and heâd be sucking in his gut. I think she may have been a bigger deal than most of the photographers they get, because it looked like Flans had made extra effort with his hair and he kept looking where the photographer was so he could get good shots lined up for her.
The Johns claimed that the last time they played here, there wasnât a balcony. They asked the people in the balcony if they had built it themselves.
Flans told a story about how some big star (maybe Jimi Hendrix?) used to count his frets when he got onstage and how he thought about doing that sometimes. He then did it before starting the song, and a few times right after, as well as once during the encore.
Flans said that their Uber driver that day asked âWhat do you think of diversity?â and Flans had told him that he liked diversity. As for the Uber driver, Flans told us âHe did not.â Which led to an awkward 20 minute ride.
Flans and Linnell had been to the Henry Ford museum together that day. Flans joked about being in a band together and whether they still spent any time together. Linnell told us about how much of the stuff there wasnât about Henry Ford, including stuff about Edison and Alexander Graham Bell
Stan is usually the least dancey of the horn section, but tonight he was really feeling it. He was dancing so much in fact, that Danny picked up on it and started dancing back at him at various points throughout the night.
When Flans mentioned Ohio when introducing Out of Jail a big part of the crowd started booing. This was squashed by the start of the song but, as my sister said, puts the lie to Michigan's claim it is a one-sided rivalry.
Before they started their new songs, Flans did this Dateline style narration about the âhard right turnâ the show was about to take when They Might Be Giants started playing songs off of their new album and how horrible it was to hear "21st century music from a band you only cared about in the 20th century"
Before stelluB, Linnell was talking about his shoe tossing thing, but was asking Flans and the band at large if it was actually visible. Flans was a bit flustered that he wanted to have that discussion right then.
Flans said that their âunearned 20 minute breakâ was coming up. Linnell played softly while Flans started âthanking everyone individually starting from left,â He got to a person in a Science is Real shirt and mentioned a video with a woman wearing a Science is Real shirt, going off on a bit of a tangent "Hey I'm in that band!" "You gotta check out this video we're tangentially involved.â
Flans was filming Dan using the guitar cam during the intro to Istanbul.
After one song, Linnell claimed he had swallowed a filling, but that he âdidn't need it anyway.â This reminded Flans of when they had been playing outside (I think he said in St Louis) and Flans had swallowed a bug. He talked about the experience not only of swallowing a bug, but having to pretend that you werenât having the experience of swallowing a bug in front of a crowd. He mentioned how Marlon Brando had pulled it off, just saying he swallowed a bug, and discussed with Linnell not being as cool as Marlon Brando.
In the second set, Linnell brought up Alexander Graham Bell again, talking about how he had wanted us to say âAhoyâ into the phone instead of hello. He speculated on how our lives might be different if that had happened, and Flans decided that our lives would be more nautical.
Flans started to tell a story that started with someone talking to himself in the streets of New York, but got sidetracked to say that you used to see a lot more of that. Linnell replied saying that the end of the story must be that he went up and hugged the guy and said âThis is how itâs supposed to be!â They talked some more about people talking to themselves and how itâs changed since the advent of bluetooth. Flans said now you have guys walking around like- and did a pretty great impression of some financial type on Bluetooth in a public space, talking about selling shares. After the laughs from that were slowing, Linnell told us âand those are the guys who are talking to themselves.â
Flans flubbed the beginning of Hit the Ground and explained to us that the starting words were âkaboom presto-changoâ and he had confused them with the words in the second verse âsim sala-bimâ
Leading up to When Will You Die, Dan Levine and Stan came forward first and Dan Miller moved to the side to avoid them. Mark came up a few moments later and told him he was in the way. Dan gestured that heâd just moved out of the way for the others, and they were laughing about it, when The Johns said that they had never said who the song was about and started speculating on it being someone in this room. Mark put his arm around Dan and started pointing at him.
When he was leaving at the end of the second set, Marty got the wire connecting his in-ears to his back caught in part of his kit. When he turned to see the problem it pulled free, but it also pulled the jack out of the pack and it was swinging around loose as he ran offstage. It wasnât until he got back on for the encore that he realized it wasnât working, and Christian came out to help with the problem. It did take a few moments of them looking around before they realized it was unplugged.
Coming back for the first encore, Linnell mentioned that coming onstage thereâs a sign that tells you you are in Detroit, Michigan. Both Johns approved of the sign, and Flans talked about when they had played in Tempe, Arizona. He compared it and Phoenix to Cambridge and Boston, where you wouldnât notice moving from one to the other but to the people in the area it is a huge distinction. So he was told that he was playing in Phoenix and when he mentioned that onstage the whole crowd went âTempeâ and he thought it must just be some local thing to respond that way.
For Number Three, they got us clapping saying that for this song they were âwelcoming audience participationâ, and Marty used his giant drumsticks to keep us on track.
Ahead of Sheâs an Angel, Linnell had us get our phones out and turn on our lights, saying he had been talking with Flans backstage and Flans had said that this was a wasted opportunity. So a bunch of us got our lights on, and then Flans came up to the mic and did his bit about knowing that everyone had phones but he wasnât seeing a light from everyone until the people who had been hanging back added their flashlights. Flans then had Linnell pose in front of the crowd with all the lights on in the background. Linnell told him to take a panoramic picture and Flans had absolutely no idea how to do that. He tried for a bit, but quickly gave up.
With apologies to the also fantastic 4/25 show, which I failed to keep sufficient notes on.
We ended up in front of and a bit to the right of the keys since it was a short enough stage that the keyboard wouldn't really block our view. We had discussed this ahead of time. It was also short enough that I could actually watch Linnellâs and Dan Miller's hands a bit while they were playing.
They came onstage to the They Might Be Giants song intro, presumably to squeeze another Flood track into the set,and quickly played Theme From Flood before moving on to Birdhouse. Flans started doing a âgoodnight everybodyâ bit over the end of the song and Linnell, who was still holding the last note and was in a goofy mood the whole night, sang "I'm still singing" at him. So they all held the ending note of the song for an extra long time.
Linnell did an interlude for Particle Man that I hadnât heard before (the wiki says it was Southern Man). Afterwards Flans said he liked it and Linnell told him he was desperately searching for new material.
After the horns left the stage, Flans started talking about their new album to the point Danny actually went over and checked the setlist to make sure they weren't playing a new song next. He said it had 18 tracks as all their best albums did and we should look that up on the wiki later, presumably misremembering that Flood had 18 tracks instead of 19.
I think it was here that Linnell, in a complete non-sequitor, cheerfully announced "We all serve grits!" Danny cracked up and I think Dan also got the reference, but Flans (and the crowd) had no idea what he was talking about. He explained that it was a sign up at the diner near where he lived at one point and it took him a while to realize the âallâ was underlined because it was "we all" (like y'all). He repeated the âWe all serve gritsâ a few more times, trying to get the proper emphasis across.
They started working through more Flood songs, We Want A Rock, Minimum Wage, and Twisting. They may have stopped to do another beards vs glasses check somewhere in here.
I think it was before Dead when they mentioned that the spotlights were on but that they weren't on them. As Ellington fixed it, Flans joked that it was AI. After playing the song Linnell clarified that it was not AI, it was their human lighting guy Ellington, and pointed out where he was and Flans said he was accepting tips.
After that they departed from Flood and played Wu-Tang, then Overnight Sensation. Dan Miller continued with his epic posing and for the first time Danny noticed what he was up to. He copied him slightly, but mainly just grinned at him.
During his pre-stelluB explanation, Flans brought up Ellington taking tips once again.
They brought the horns back on to play The Darlings of Lumberland, which I had missed the last two nights and was glad to hear. The horns were continuing to do their marching and hand motions, but the whole band is back to doing the âdrag you by your mindâ motion together.
With the horns back onstage, they returned to the Flood spotlight with Whistling and Road Movie. The final song of the set was Instanbul with a Millerstanbul intro.
While most of the guys left the stage, Danny sat down on the corner of the drum riser and Marty behind it to watch Dan. Marty especially was visibly engaged with what Dan was up to, he had a smile on his face and was bopping along. At this point, getting a Millerstanbul is a rare treat. Dan did the bit where he loops a bit of his playing and then alternates turning it on and off while playing over top of it.
The song itself was as energetic as always, and then they left us for the break.
They were back on after the stelluB video with Older, then with Wearing A Raincoat. Flans introduced Santaâs Beard as being back in its original key after being out of it "much to the distress of our bass player Mr. Danny Weinkauf" The end was messed up again but this time Flans took full responsibility for it.
He then talked about being in a band for 40 years âand not many people can speak to this.â He said that at the start youâre âcompletely dysmorphic to yourself and 40 years later youâre still completely dysmorphic to yourself.â People asked at the start of their career why their songs were all so short and now he wishes that song was longer but if they made it longer people would be like "Oh, they added stuff to it." He unconsciously quoted a bit directly from a recent Tumblr response about how if they change things people will say they're tired. Linnell broke in and said they'd started out tired. Flans agreed and said they had just gotten grumpy. They then decided the next song was the perfect length and played Can't Keep Johnny Down.
From there they played FIngertips, which I never get tired of, and Till My Head Falls Off, with Linnell getting all the lyrics this time.
Starting New York City, Flans apparently thought they were playing a different song. When Marty started the drums, he had to double check the setlist.
A few times in the set so far, Marty had ended the song with a little stinger. After he did it for New York City, Flans called a âband meetingâ and started to talk about it. Marty stopped him, asking "Is this about ME?â seeming genuinely shocked. Flans told him that it would âsound good if we were a different kind of band.â Marty made some âfine, fineâ gestures, but later on was pretending to add those endings on without actually hitting the drums.
They played Donât Letâs Start, then Dan came back on, along with the horns, for the remainder of the set.
It was high-energy song after high-energy song to close things out, with Operation, Brontosaurus, and The Guitar one after the other. Marty got out his giant sticks again for the Future of Sound, and Mark noticed them for the first time and couldnât look away.
They ended the regular set with Get Down, then came back for the encore with just the Johns, Danny, and Marty.
Linnell introduced the next song as a universal experience: killing your future self. He went on a tangent about how precisely you would stab your future self, specifically by using a "forward stabbing motion", complete with a variety of gestures. Flans jumped in to do a bit as a person in the audience, saying he didnât get most of their songs but the ones about killing with a forward stabbing motion were exactly his thing.
This, of course, led into the universally understandable 2082.
As the rest of the band came back on, Flans introduced everyone. The best intro was Dan Miller taking center stage "where he's always belonged." He did a bit about being impressed he could play the guitar and the keyboard too, telling us "He could've been a classical musician!" (which made Dan crack up) and continuing that he had a voice that was "wasted on a boy" Dan echoed "Wasted!" into the mic and cracked up again.
Flans was also really laying it on thick for the horn intros. When talking about Dan Levine, Linnell added that he liked that Dan Levine was wearing an orange shirt (Linnell was wearing an orange shirt that day, and Flans had his orange jacket on, so they were accidentally color-coordinated). Flans picked up on it immediately, responding with an "if you don't like the uniform then get out of the band!"
With the intros complete, they played Doctor Worm, which was as wild and wonderful as ever. Over on the rhythm-section side leading up to the Rabbi Vole solo, Flans used the head of his guitar to play the keyboard and mess with Dan a little. Mark did remember to yell into the trumpet pickup this time, but Dan didnât do it with him on the keyboard mic.
The second encore apparently had Number Three listed on the setlist, but they only played Where Your Eyes Donât Go. Beforehand, Flans told us that they were playing in Detroit in a few days âand apparently they donât know.â Danny noticed the horns doing their singing bit again this time around and grinned at them.
As soon as the lights changed we headed out. We had a long drive home ahead of us and I was working in the morning.
Storms were in the forecast, but no one in line was expecting the sternly worded tornado warning that pushed to everyoneâs phones telling us to take shelter inside a building immediately. While the phrasing and the tornado sirens were scary, the sky itself didnât make me overly concerned. As it was, the alcove under the marquee and some umbrellas kept our little group fairly snug until the rain stopped and we waited for doors in relative comfort.
My sister and I were on the horn riser side for this show, in a pretty perfect position. The Vogue is a super tiny stage, so to add more space they had put what I suspect was the normal horn riser in front of Linnellâs keyboard and had a smaller riser in the back instead. Both Johns, the horns, and Danny all made use of the extra space up front at different points throughout the night with dazzling effect.
We knew from soundcheck that we were getting a Lincoln show, so I wasnât surprised but I was super excited. Overall my impression of this spotlight is that it, more than any of the others, really showcases how much their sound has changed over the years. Over the three Lincoln shows I saw, Flans made multiple comments about how short the songs were but more than the length, for me at least, was the ghost of a band with two guys playing to a tape. It wasnât a bad ghost to have. The songs were great and definitely worked with the full band setting, but so many just share that inherent quality from their origin so that putting so many of them together definitely adds up to a different feeling in the first set. This was clear almost immediately as they began with Santaâs Beard. Iâm not positive if it was this song or not, but after one of the Lincoln songs, Linnell had a conversation with the backing band, saying âWe specifically talked about this!â Marty took responsibility, saying he was on 7 but was apparently supposed to be on 5. Flans commented that they were running an efficient machine, and that he hadnât been part of the band meeting, so he didnât know what was going on.With that they moved on to Stand On Your Own Head.
Dan Levine was on a song before the other horn players. Flans introduced him and the euphonium, saying that this was the time in the show when euphonium players got confused because they had never seen anyone else playing it before. Dan played alone on Piece of Dirt, before being joined onstage by the others.
For Where Your Eyes Donât Go, the horns repeated the bit theyâd started in the fall; acting like a chorus, with raised arms and all, during Flansâ backing vocals. It was as hilarious as ever.
It may have been after this song that Flans did his beards vs glasses bit, which he did every night that I saw them on this tour. This may have also been when he asked Linnell what he had done that day.
Linnell had gone to the nearby Shake Shack, which apparently 4 people from the band had gone to, but they had all done it at different times and didnât know anyone else was going.
Flans, by contrast, mentioned that he had talked with their lawyer, who had advised him to âtalk to them directly instead of threatening legal action.â He had done that too and Flans clearly thought it had gone well, as their manager had âscared them.â Linnell started to say something about their lawyer, but broke off to clarify that Flans was talking about Mike. Flans was, and they chatted a bit more about him. Apparently theyâve had the same lawyer their whole career and he is also Madonnaâs lawyer. Flans made a joking comment about Madonnaâs legal actions that I canât quite remember, and then mentioned that Mike was âhard to get on the phoneâ before moving on. Â
Flans introduced Pencil Rain as a song that, according to the wiki, they had only played 8 times. Lie Still Little Bottle was, as always, preceded and followed by a change in lighting and tinkly keys as Flans slowly swung the stick around to cheers from the crowd.Â
After that, Danny and Dan headed off for the moment, and Marty left his drums to bring his bell downstage. Flans introduced him, saying that on the next song he was âpracticing enormous restraintâ by only playing three notes, and that he would also be directing. This gave him a thought, and he asked Linnell what the movie was with the ânot my tempoâ. Linnell told him Whiplash, and Flans went off on a tangent about how terrifying and strict Marty was.
Then everyone was back on for Cowtown. I canât say that it was a Lincoln song I was looking forward to in particular, although of course I love the song, but it ended up being a highlight of the set. Linnell got out the clarinet and Stan joined him downstage with his clarinet. The squawking they did at the appropriate bits was wonderfully wild and the whole energy was just perfect.
Before Iâll Sink Manhattan, Flans told the Sink Manhattan band story. Essentially, he had seen graffiti in the subway that had inspired him to write the song, while being completely unaware that the graffiti was referencing a band. By the time he found out, the song was out and the band Sink Manhattan was already super angry at They Might Be Giants.
After the horns left, to much fanfare, they played They'll Need A Crane. Flans then had everyone hold up their copies of the new album, since there wasnât a copy onstage for him to show off. He talked about people telling him cassettes were coming back and about CDs actually coming back, pointing out people in the crowd holding the different formats and saying that they were meeting certain stereotypes related to each the format.Â
He got pretty invested in his review of the crowd, and the crowd got a bit rowdy in response. When Linnell told them not to yell, however, Flans claimed he was having a conversation with them and it was him who was yelling. At that point one person held up a Fugs record that they had bought that day. (And brought to a tmbg concert for some reason.) Flans was shocked âYouâre getting into them now? At your age?â He told us that he had bought a Fugs record as a teen and it changed his whole thing. âMy advice to you, sir, is to start a band.â
With this, he reeled things in enough to get them started on Hit the Ground, the first The World is to Dig song of the show and an excellent high-powered Flans song that really works in a live setting.Â
For Snowball in Hell, I was excited to see how they managed the âtime is moneyâ bit. It started off pretty standard, with Linnell emphasizing the âgiant PILEâ and Flans saying heâd been there for â40-45 yearsâ but quickly devolved as Flans completely forgot the âback on that time is money kickâ that would prompt Linnell for the exit line. They looped around several times, with Flans saying he was doing alright but could do better and Linnell repeating that he was piling up sales. Originally I assumed it was an intentional bit, but it went on long enough that it mustâve been genuine. Iâm pretty sure Flans got a prompt from his monitor on how to end it and after the song was over he announced that this was the end of the âtheatrical portion of the evening.â
They then introduced the last song from Lincoln as âprobably the reason weâre all hereâ which, of course, was Ana Ng (always a delight).
From there, Flans explained stelluB, and they played it with the usual shenanigans. Linnell flipped off his shoe like he usually does, and has really stepped up the âwiggling his fingers to make it fly back onâ bit, but he clearly hadnât considered the extra height the shoe would need to clear the heads of the crowd on a shorter stage. Marty did the bit where he throws his drumsticks up in the air. He recovered one on his own, but Danny had to pick one up for him. This may have been the night where he jokingly jabbed it at Marty and yanked it away before relenting and giving it back.
The horns came back on to finish the set with Particle Man. Theyâve dropped the Sun-Ra interlude, and Linnell has gone back to choosing from a few different songs to add in. Todayâs was Elusive Butterfly of Love. I know the Sun Ra bit was a lot of fun for the horns and for the crowd, but I had heard it enough times that I wonât really miss it, and have always enjoyed hearing what Linnell will come up with each night when heâs given his choice.
And, with that they left stage for their announced break. The break this tour is closer to 25 minutes than 20, but it still has everyoneâs favorite Girl Donât Come as the cue song.
They put up the reversed stellluB video, but almost immediately after starting, it froze. To a hush and a few laughs and mummers from the crowd, they restarted the projector and tried again, but no luck. After a bit longer watching a blank screen, they made the decision to give up on the video and came on to the regular cheers. Coming up to the mic immediately, Flans announced that they always liked to start the second set âwith two minutes of silence.â He asked Linnell if he remembered when they used to open the show with this song, and Linnell claimed he had no idea what he was talking about. This led into Synopsis For Latecomers, with the horns coming on in the middle and blowing us all away, and from there they smashed straight into Birdhouse. Continuing on their high-energy comeback they went straight from Birdhouse into The Guitar, which saw a special guest appearance from Martyâs giant drumsticks.
The horns left and Dan moved up to the keys for You Probably Get That A Lot. It would have been around here that Flans was starting to introduce a song when he suddenly broke off âThat sound means I played the guitarâ and went over to fix it. There was a slight buzzing, but I had the feeling it was louder in their monitors. Linnell commented that the show was going too fast (it never did slow down much) and Flans was back over to say the buzzing was âgoing to be like that for the rest of the show.
Introducing Overnight Sensation as being a cover, Flans said that The Raspberries had a lot of hits but they had chosen one that was slow, with unusual melodic turns âSo we could claim we improved it... We did not.â Dan Miller was as theatrical as he gets for this song, getting up on the vacant horn riser and striking some rock star poses during the start of the song.
I believe it was after playing Twisting that Flans, starting to introduce Letterbox by saying these two songs were a âmini flood showâ and mentioning the show Sunday, broke off to ask Linnell what was going on. Linnell had the desk drawer under his keyboard open, and said there was nothing wrong, but Flans told him that when the computer was out of the drawer, that started the âsad portion of the show.â Linnell said that the drawer was like your home, you just get more and more stuff there and donât want to get rid of it. Flans said that he didnât have that problem, and Linnell sounded slightly exasperated when he answered âWell you have a storage space.â Flans admitted that he did have a storage space, then went on to say how well-organized it was and how he used to have two storage units but consolidated into one. He told us that when that episode of Storage Wars came up, they were all going to be like âThat guy was so well organized.â and be impressed that everything in it was alphabetized. âAnd then itâs just the worst hoarder junk.â He concluded by imitating a storage wars guy going through every issue of New Yorker magazine from the 90s in chronological order.
Finishing their âmini-Flood showâ they introduced Fingertips. Flans didnât do his regular bit from Heart Attack, which I felt was an okay change, though I was glad to see him doing it at later shows. For the whispered Fingertips, Dan bent the microphone way down low (like, knee level) to whisper the second one. It was funny, but not nearly as funny as the fact it got stuck that way and a crew member had to come onstage to fix it before the next song.
Starting Till My Head Falls Off, Linnell missed a line and a half of the first verse but recovered well and overall sounded great.
They mentioned the new EP before playing Eyeball, then played Moonbeam Rays, (which I had hoped they would keep in the set!) and brought the horns back onstage for Brontosaurus.
As the horns moved back up towards their riser and they started Spy, Danny came up pretending he was going to block their way and have a fight. The ending was extra fun, with Linnell at one point playing the chords to Imagine and directing everyone over top of it.
They finished the set with Get Down, introducing it as one more song from their new album. Even knowing it was coming, it was a treat to get live. The horns were down in front of the keys like theyâd been doing all night so I didnât really have a view of anyone else, but everyone's energy was amazing.
Everyone came back on for their first encore with Let Me Tell You About My Operation and then When Will You Die, both high-energy songs that are always an awesome time live. The final encore was Doctor Worm. Last fall, Mark had been yelling into his trumpet mic at one point, while Dan Miller did the same at the keyboards. Mark clearly had forgotten all about it this show until the moment after he should have started his yell. He fumbled with trying to get there, but at that point it was too late.
At least he still got to wow us all with the high note before everyone left stage for the final time.
The next round of recaps is coming soon! Disclaimer: theyâre not going to be perfect. I write them based on my memory alone (watching videos feel like cheating) so I may have forgotten or mis-remembered things.
So... after years of not managing to put anything postable together, I have recaps for some of the shows I attended this spring that will be going up sometime soon. All the above warnings apply, and I won't be posting a recap for all 8 shows (right now it's looking like 3 1/2). I've also felt the need to redact a few more things than I did back in the day, sorry if we chatted and I don't mention it!
i canât even be the number one tmbg lesbian on tungle dot hell because my good friend @disinvited-guest exists and they easily outclass me. but amber is great so i canât even be mad
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