Setlist:
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| Venue: The Usual | City: San Jose, CA |
| Date: 2001-09-18 | Artist: They Might Be Giants |
| Time: | Opening Acts: The Bicycle Thief |
Review by Kai:
We had never been there, but we ended up finding parking easily. Once inside the Usual, we realized this was definitely a dance
club. A packed dance club, with one bar and a low stage and plenty of black lights.
Weird, local, accoustic act opened and the singer talked longer than he sang, which would have been fine if it was TMBG... but sadly the talking continued, as well as the not TMBG.
When TMBG finally came out on stage, the club was a sweltering sauna. They completely filled up the stage, dancing much like sardines would dance in their little can if someone accidentally let them live. But indeed TMBG was live, opening their act with Cyclops rock.
We were rocked by the sonic blast! And the lights... oh the lasers were incredible. Imagine what an incredible sound and light system was like in such a small venue! We were deaf, blind, and sweaty by the end of the night, and appeased of all our sins I'm sure!
Despite those setbacks (and be assured Flansburgh complained as well), the Johns and Dans were pumped and full of action after a long journey. This was the first gig after the 9/11 terrorist attack, and they seemed happy just be out there doing a show.
Some of the memorable moments of the show were when they played NYC. It almost felt like the national anthem, as the crowd erupted in song. When Flansburgh announced "Yeah, Yeah", someone in the audience yelled "that's my favorite song!" Flansburgh bellowed, "Why is it that people like our covers better?! That's it! For the rest of the night we're playing covers!" (Didn't happen, though) And then after the second encore, as the band was limping off stage, Flansburgh regrouped the band for one last song of the night--explaining that they had been on the road forever and he just wanted to rock! I don't think anyone on either side of the stage disagreed with his assessment. The venue was lame, but they were just there to rock.