Tonight, I had the pleasure of seeing They Might Be Giants at the Lincoln Theatre. To put it simply, they pulled off a fantastic show, playing old favorites (“She’s an Angel”, “Twisting”, “Birdhouse in Your Soul”), some new stuff (“Bastard Wants to Hit Me”, “Spine”), and a few surprises (“Violin”, “The End of the Tour”, and a very amped up version of the Fingertips suite from Apollo 18). I continue to be amazed by the amount of energy the two Johns are able to summon on stage.
Corn Mo, the opening act, was a one-man tour de force. His songs were as bombastic as anything Jim Steinman ever wrote for Meatloaf, except that all of Corn Mo’s energy is channeled through his frenzied accordian playing and his quasi-operatic vocals. Yes, his songs were silly, but because they managed to mix adolescent humor and pathos in just the right proportions, they became so much more than just jokes with musical punchlines.
The venue was a bit crowded and smoky, more so than previous shows I’ve been to. Also, the amps must have been turned up to 11, because my ears are still ringing two hours later. I guess this is a sign of aging.
The next time, I’m bringing my camera. Everyone was taking pictures, as the band stated that they don’t care if people videotape, photograph, or audiotape the shows for later listening.
TMBG setlist follows. Note that the order of songs is approximate, as I was having too much fun to take notes. What do you think I am…some kind of obsessive nerd1?
Main show
- Intro: O Fortuna
- The Lincoln Theatre
- Experimental Film
- New York City
- Ana Ng
- Spine / Memo to Human Resources
- Alphabet of Nations
- Dr. Worm (with confetti explosion)
- The Famous Polka
- Meet James Ensor
- Particle Man (featuring Corn Mo)
- Older
- Damn Good Times
- Thunderbird
- Stalk of Wheat
- Drink!
- She’s an Angel
- Bastard Wants to Hit Me
- Boss of Me / Twisting
- Birdhouse in Your Soul
- Clap Your Hands
- James K. Polk
1^st^ encore
- Robot Parade
- Fingertips suite
2^nd^ encore
- Violin
- Radio improv (cover: I Can See Clearly)
- The End of the Tour
1 Of course I’m obsessive. In fact, if you went to the show, and you think my setlist order is incorrect, e-mail me and tell me how I screwed it up.
UPDATE: Corrected the setlist, thanks to Amber who noted that I missed “Memo to Human Resources”. Bryce’s post from alt.music.tmbg cleared everything up order-wise (and, incidentally, I wasn’t too far off).