Shows/1989-03-05

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Setlist:

• Piece Of Dirt Intro
• Hello Radio Intro
• Istanbul (Not Constantinople)
• Ana Ng
• Your Racist Friend
• Purple Toupee
• The Famous Polka
• I'll Sink Manhattan
• They'll Need A Crane
• Number Three
• Rhythm Section Want Ad
• Santa's Beard
• Kiss Me, Son Of God
• I've Got A Match
• You'll Miss Me
• The Car Crash
• Don't Let's Start
• Lie Still, Little Bottle
• Cowtown
• (She Was A) Hotel Detective

Encore #1:

• Shoehorn With Teeth
• She's An Angel

Encore #2:

• Where Your Eyes Don't Go
• Road Movie To Berlin
• Put Your Hand Inside The Puppet Head

They Might Be Giants
Luxor in Cologne, Germany
March 5, 1989

Photo from Snap by Freddy Merxx.
"From left to right: John (sweating), John (charismatic)"

Fan Recaps and Comments:

From German fanzine Snap, Summer 1989;
Review by J.R. Carrington:
(Translated from German)

They Might Be Giants

Damn. One deja-vu experience after another: One John looks like a civilian from Regensburg I once met on a training course, the other like a recent high school graduate who just got his 2.8 report card and is now sweating profusely for fear of his grandma's kiss, and the Luxor looks the same as always.

In contrast to the "Might Be Giants," the place was packed. The band, as mentioned, preferred to sweat. The drummer and bassist in particular seemed to have been consumed by the joy of playing, or they were dressed entirely in black and wore the masks of the same color. In any case, they could hardly be made out on the huge stage.

Insiders even spread rumors that the rhythm section had been recorded from a tape. Incidentally, only John showed charisma. John, on the other hand, impressed with his hilarious attempts to correctly pronounce the phonetics of the word "Köln" (a major city in North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the Rhine - ed.) without making a mistake. I didn't hear anyone laugh. The duo created a great atmosphere anyway. There was dancing and laughter, the crowd got their money's worth. Tracks from the debut LP and even more tracks from "Lincoln" constantly put the crowd in a good mood.

A not-inconsiderable flair of great freedom was initiated by a bunch of young US citizens who had traveled all the way from Bitburg to cheer their compatriots unreservedly. The whole thing culminated in an embarrassing soap opera scene: John (sweating) suddenly brought a girl onto the stage, who had to contribute the rhythm to one of the Giant songs by violently beating a tree trunk on the stage floor. After sweaty, high school guitarist John explained to her what to do, he declared, to the salvation of all our souls: "I think she's an American".

When the US groupie, with her red head and awed gaze, then planted wet kisses our Johnny's cheeks after the work was done, the kitsch was perfect. "That's entertainment," as Paul Weller would say. After all, he should know, because he isn't possibly a giant, he is one.