Setlist:
Encore #1:
Encore #2:
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| Venue: Gypsy Tea Room | City: Dallas, TX |
| Date: 1999-09-19 | Artist: They Might Be Giants |
| Time: | Opening Acts: You Were Spiraling |
Review by Justin Smith:
THE ARRIVAL
The Dallas
show was in a club type place called The Gypsy Tea Room in a part of town
known as Deep Ellum. I had never been to Deep Ellum before and, because I
gave my self extra time not to get lost, got there about 60 to 90 minutes
before the doors opened. I was rather stressed out after the drive (my
nice friend gave me directions right through the ghetto to get there) but
luckily managed to find the club with no problem. There was a small bunch
of people by the front door (Elm St. side) talking about TMBG and stuff,
so I just sort of stood there and listened in. They seemed like a nice
bunch. Anyway, it had been about 30 minutes when these four guys in white
shirts came up and asked us where Deep Sushi is. I don't know if I was
just overwhelmed or what, but it took me a few seconds to realize that I
was mere FEET away from MR. JOHN FLANSBURG! Apparently the suprisingly
short Mr. Flansy was craving some pre-show sushi so he headed back down
the street with his entourage. It was all very overwhelming for this TMBG
concert virgin, so unfortunately my lungs were too busy grasping for air
to shout "I LOVE YOU JOHN!" Probably for the best actually. But anyway,
some more time passes (I lost track by this point) and I heard some people
saying "You rocked in Austin!" so I looked up and walking by was Graham
Maby and Dan Hickey, and a few steps behind them was MR. JOHN LINNELL!
After the first Near-John experience I luckily wasn't about to pass out
this time. Anyway, the line got longer and longer and finally the doors
opened and, after getting a big black "X" on both of my hands to indicate,
"Give this man no alcohol!", everyone shuffled inside. GETTING A SPOT
Luckily since I got there insanely early, I ended up about 5 feet from
the stage, with excellent view of everything. There was a big speaker
aiming our way too, I should have brought a pocket tape recorder with me
for the perfect bootleg! Oh well. If someone else did have the foresight
to bootleg this, e-mail me and I will pay you dearly for it. :) YOU
WERE SPIRALING I was very excited about hearing YWS (the opening
band), because I have been completely in love with their Hello CD for some
years now. They did not let down! Their performance was amazing, and
they have an awesome stage presence. Tom does some *amazing* things with
the keyboards and has a very interesting voice. They did a few covers, a
few songs from their Hello disc (much much better live), and a few things
I had never heard before. One interesting part was when Doherty used a
Game Boy to play his guitar. I'm not sure exactly what effect he was
going for, but it turned out unique. To quote someone in the audience,
YWS's lead singer Tom Brislin looks like "John Linnell with better hair",
or something like that. Anyways, here is what they played: Will You
Still Love Me Tomorrow I'll Be Right Along Excellent Body
You Belong to the (???) (I can't read my notes This is the...?
(I'm not sure about this one either) (But I can assure you, these
both rocked. Unfortuneately I was too busy having a good time to write
very legibaly.) Just a Place Crisis at 92 Credits Squirm
Your New Boy Take On Me THEY MIGHT BE... (GASP!)... GIANTS!
After what seemed like an eternity following YWS, THEY finally took
the stage. I really don't know how to explain it, other than it was
completely beyond my wildest expectations. There were a few times when
they stopped to talk because Flansy broke his guitar strings during We're
The Replacements and Cyclops Rock. John Linnell also got distracted by an
audience member holding up a piece of paper and had to stop during It's So
Loud In Here ("A song that has never been released and we never perform...
in fact, we never even practice it! But since you don't know that, you'll
think it is supposed to sound this way.") A few other interesting notes,
Linnell did all of the vocals on Older (even the "TIME!") because Flansy
was fixing his strings or something. There was so much fantastic about it
that I could type for hours but I'll shut up now and get to what they
played: [see setlist above.]
So there you have it. A fantastic show
to be sure. All four of the YWS guys were hanging around at the shirt
stand afterwards and were very friendly to talk to. (They even signed my
CD!) All things considered, I don't think I could have imagined a better
TMBG concert. (but then again,
I'm sure that is what everyone says about their first one!)