Shows/1987-01-28
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Links:
- Footage of Mr. Me, recorded by Joy Farm
- Footage of Everything Right Is Wrong Again, recorded by Joy Farm
- Joy Farm's tape from the show
- Kansas City Star review
- Kansas City Times listing, Jan. 24, 1987
- Kansas City Star listing, Jan. 28, 1987
Setlist: (Incomplete!)
They Might Be Giants
— with London Calling opening —
Lone Star in Kansas City, MO
January 28, 1987 at 9:30 PM
Fan Recaps and Comments:
This show was recorded by Joy Farm Live in 1987, with a large amount of songs from the show being filmed on tape (minus For Science). The performance of Mr. Me ended up appearing on the Gigantic DVD as a bonus feature, while Everything Right Is Wrong Again was released exclusively through Joy Farm Live's Facebook.
Preview of the show from the Kansas City Star, Jan. 27, 1987:
If the weird and wonderful and hopelessly hummable New York duo They Might Be Giants aren't really giants, then what are they?
"We're merely messengers for the giants on earth in the form of a rock band," said guitarist John Flansburgh, who has spent the last four years with accordionist John Linnell entertaining club patrons in and around the Big Apple.
The band (and its prerecorded rhythm section) appears with London Calling at 9:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Lone Star, 4117 Mill St.
More stuck-to-the-wall than off it, They Might Be Giants' 19-song debut album on Bar/None Records contains such memorably abnormal experiments in musical brevity as "Everything Right Is Wrong Again," "Put Your Hand Inside the Puppet Head" and "Youth Culture Killed My Dog," a contender for quirkiest rock anthem of any year or solar system.
A dial-a-song service — (718) 387-6962 — features a different non-album cut daily by the band, including the "you can't always get what you bought ditty "Self-Made Millionaire."
"This fabulously wealthy guy comes home, he's a creep and his wife kills him," Flansburgh said of the song. "It's a very quick story." In the past, They Might Be Giants have fenced with loaves of French bread or directed sing-alongs with oversized cue cards on stage. However, there was room in the van on this road trip only for the paper-mache hands.
"Other people think we're trying to be as wacky as possible..." Linnell said. "We're normal guys, definitely. It's hard to say about influences. We both have been making up songs for a long time. It's kind of a compulsion. We like the little melodies more than a lot of bands that basically just get by on their danceability or their awesome rhythm."
"Giants indeed" by "Nighthawks" Robert Trussell and Brian McTavish
Kansas City Star, Jan. 28, 1987:
"Play music!" shouted a man who came to see They Might Be Giants on Wednesday night at the Lone Star.
"This will have to do," replied accordionist John Linnell, who with guitarist John Flansburgh gave a crowd of about 150 its lumps - of wisdom that is, all unfailingly couched in infectiously melodic songs that blew through like a fresh-air tornado.
It may be that "life's just a mood ring we're not allowed to see," as this New York duo claims. But its natural talent, energy and unrelenting wit are clearly visible. They must be giants.
Brave new styles included morbid folk, chest-beating polka, goofy country and both real and fake rock. Flansburgh broke strings on two guitars. Linnell didn't. Both enjoyed hip-hopping about and sing "I Will Date the Girl From Venus."
