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Shows/1992-10-05

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Venue: Modjeska Theatre City: Milwaukee, WI
Date: 1992-10-05 Artist: They Might Be Giants
Time: Opening Acts: N/A

[edit] Fan Recaps and Comments:

review by Joel Kuester It has been almost 10 years to the day that I write this, but the events of that night are emblazoned in my mind's eye to this day.

It was not only my first They Might Be Giant's live concert, but the first of hundreds of concerts that I have been to since that day. If I was a concert virgin, then my first experience was like being tossed into a leather club and stripped naked and beaten. Standing in line before the show with my friends was uneventful, but expectation was thick in the air. This crowd was all hardcore fans, and actually had a different 'feel' than all the TMBG shows I have been to after. Most of the people were older college art-types, whereas the shows lately seem to draw a younger, more mainstream audience. Once we were let in, I was horrified to discover that the Modjeska Theatre was filled with seats. We were looking forward to dancing, so we grumpily staked out our seats, about 10 rows from the stage, which was built out with an adhoc frame over the shallow orchestra pit.

I remember seeing a guy with a bright red smoking jacket and fez sitting in the third row, and thinking how cool it would be to own an actual fez. Yeah, I know... I was only 16, gimme a break here.

I actually don't remember the opening act, except that I think it was a guy with an acoustic guitar. We did a lot of talking over him, but what I heard didn't impress me much at the time.

This was great show, and the Johns were in top form! The sound system was actually pretty decent from my perspective, and even with the seats the crowd was moving around a bit, and I only saw a few stragglers who remained in their seats.

This next part has been debated a bit. Right before The Famous Polka, Flans made a comment that 'people should get up here and dance'. I don't have an exact quote obviously, but it must have seemed clear to pretty much everyone, because an immediate queue started in the aisles to scramble up on stage.

By the time my friends and I got to the front of the stage, there was a heaping crowd of bouncing fools already up there... and the music was going strong. My friend Jeremy was climbing up when there was a sudden commotion.

The adhoc stage collapsed forward, catching Jeremy between the front row of seats and itself, and pushing a few dozen people on the main floor backward. On the main stage, the band faltered to a stop as each one looked down on a mass of writhing bodies. The theatre darkened and then came up to full light within a minute. I heard Jeremy yell in pain, and a few of us slid his trapped leg out from under the stage.

The next few minutes were a blur, as people rushed forward and back, trying to get everything under control. A few were hurt pretty bad and I do remember seeing one bleeding and being walked out by a bouncer. The mood was pretty dismal, and we all agreed the show was over for sure at this point.

All heads turned forward to what was left of the stage as Flans came out from backstage somewhere. I think They were talking to the show promoters to get a handle on the situation. Flans said something along the lines of 'we didn't mean for anyone to come up on stage!' and he let everyone know that the show was continuing in a few minutes. The rest of the band eventually came out and after they started to play for a little while, the lights dimmed back down.

Everything was pretty low key for a while, but by the end of the night everyone's energy level returned.

All in all, a night not to be forgotten ever. We were all greeted by a huge mess in the streets, akin to a small riot of confusion after the show. Apparently, during the show, the local media carried a few reports of the stage collapse on their nightly news, which caused many parents to freak out and come down to the Modjeska Theatre. When they got there, they saw a few ambulances that were taking care of mostly minor scrapes (a few people did have to go to the hospital, including Jeremy. He said the Modjeska gave him a ton of free tickets for the summer and he met the Johns, so he was happy about it).

A few days later, I heard a local newstalk commentator lament about misbegotten youth that rioted and destroyed the Modjeska stage during a "punk polka" band. He didn't even know the name or the situation, and his diatribe was hilarious... I wish I had it taped to this day, I think They would enjoy hearing it.

Well, that's my little story, hope it entertained you well enough. cheers!

---

review from bootleg by Tenniru I was but an infant when this show occured, but nevertheless I have the blind man's experience of being here; that's right, I have a perfect-quality bootleg of the event as it happened. The show is very well-performed. Mysteriously, only 25-second version of I'm Having A Heart Attack is present here; it seems Fingertips usually wasn't done at all on this tour. The performance is great and the quality was wonderful thanks to the small venue, presence of bodies, and the audience doesn't mar anything (I guess the chairs were disenheartening.) Let's get to the famous bit.

Flansburgh: "We would like to ask you for this one brief moment to disregard the fire laws... feel free to just come on up and help us out with The Famous Polka..." The Famous Polka begins. It only lasts a bit under a minute: it reaches the guitar solo and suddenly ends clear before the lyrics begin.

Flansburgh: "I was just talking about the aisles, folks. I wasn't trying to invite everybody to stage-dive. Please, grab your friends if you see anybody that's lying down, please pick 'em on up. Sorry about that folks. Is everybody alright? Woah." The actual crash wasn't too loud (not that audible at all, actually), and initially the crowd is laughing; then the band disappears and the hall is filled with yelling, hooting, some shouts of pain, more laughing, people trying to find eachother, the like.

Flansburgh: "Hey, everybody. Sorry, I didn't mean to... I was just talking about the aisles, I... wasn't trying to be like a (some word) or something. So, like, uh... everybody just calm down and sit down for one brief second while these guys make sure everybody's okay, and there's nobody hurt, we'd really appreciate it. We're going to turn on the house lights for the next couple minutes to make sure that everybody's okay." The crowd is now just confused but nevertheless in good spirits. The taper temporarily stops his rig. When it's back, the crowd is less chaotic and there's just waiting around. Suddenly the band is back.

Linnell: "Hey. Pardon our appearence. It's great to be here."

Flansburgh: "Ladies and gentlemen, um, I know there are a couple of people outside who are worried about their, uh... if you got hurt, or anything. If you have, uh, a swelled kneecap or something there's ice downstairs, so, uh, if you did get hurt don't be shy about getting attention... to those wounds. So, um, here comes a song off our very first LP, and it's called Chess Piece Face." And so the band begins anew and finishes the show, much to the glee of the audience.

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