Shows/2003-07-18

5 wikians attended: Apollo15 Harringtonj85 Iamdooser JJRRutgers Kazen

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Setlist:

• Orff Intro
• Violin
• Wicked Little Critta
• Destination Moon
• Cyclops Rock
• Dead
• Particle Man
• The Famous Polka
• Birdhouse In Your Soul
• Clap Your Hands
• G-L-O-ckenspiel Intro
• Shoehorn With Teeth
• Shoehorn With Teeth (CD Skip Version)
• John Lee Supertaster
• Another First Kiss
• James K. Polk
• Drink!
• The Shitty, Shitty Blues
• She's Actual Size
• Four Of Two
• Doctor Worm
• Why Does The Sun Shine?
• New York City

First Encore:

• Zilch
• She's An Angel
• Fingertips

Second Encore:

• Istanbul (Not Constantinople)
• Sleepwalkers

They Might Be Giants
— with Jedediah Parish opening —
The Egg in Albany, NY
July 18, 2003

Fan Recaps and Comments:

Review by Stephen Burton:

My cousin, Connor, and I got to the Egg at around 7:00, and stood around this lounge-type area they had outside the theater, where they were selling merchandise and food. The doors opened sometime around 7:30 and 7:45, and we got to our seats in the third row.

The opening act was Jedediah Parish, one guy playing the guitar and singing. His voice was a little harsh at times, but he wasn't too bad. I suppose his music would be classified as alt-country. He played about eight songs, and was greeted with a mostly positive response, though there were some tough critics of his in the line to the men's room before TMBG's set.

At about 9:00, the music over the speakers stopped playing, and the lights dimmed. From reading other reviews, I'm assuming that what was played next was Orff's "O Fortuna". It certainly got the crowd excited, and that excitment grew when Flansburgh, Linnell, and Danny Weinkauf walked onstage. Linnell picked up the accordion and went directly into "Violin". This being my first time seeing TMBG, I was particularly impressed with how Linnell can contort his voice for parts such as "speck of dust...". As that song ended, Dan Miller and Dan Hickey came onstage, and They really started rockin' the Egg, with standout songs such as "Wicked Little Critta" (once again, Linnell's fine voice contortion), "Cyclops Rock", and "Destination Moon". I believe it was during "Wicked Little Critta" that Linnell looked directly at me and smiled. The onstage banter had some high moments, thanks especially to the fact that they were playing in an "egg". Flansburgh remarked "I can't believe they stole my design." Later in the show, Linnell said "There's a law that states that, when playing in an egg, you have to do a song about a worm," to which Flansburgh replied, "I believe that's a colonial law; it was brought over here from England," and one of them metioned something about how it was valid everywhere but in Vermont. They went on to play (surprise) "Doctor Worm". The Johns also talked Ticketron's "bitchin' voice recognition system". Linnell said, "It's great, except when you change your voice." After that, they kept putting emphasis on different syllables of words, and Linnell even attempted doing it with one-syllable words. After doing that for awhile, he said "Oh, this joke never gets old!" Bringing the glockenspiel out was quite an event, with Flansburgh singing the "born in a graveyard" song, then talking about how sharp the glockenspiel is, because of its constant sharpening. The great Dan Hickey came down to play the glockenspiel for "Shoehorn with Teeth", and he was given a cheer every time he hit the note. "She's Actual Size" was prefaced with the shitty shitty blues, with Linnell on the sax, and Miller on the guitar with a synthesized sax sound. In the middle of "She's Actual Size", Flansburgh directed Hickey with Dial-A-Drum. Drummers included the drummer from Led Zeppelin (who's name is escaping me right now), early Stevie Wonder (funky beat), recent Stevie Wonder (pop beat on drum pad), Keith Moon, Animal from the Muppets, and a combination of Keith Moon and Animal. The confetti cannons on James K.Polk were impressive. Before "Four of Two", Linnell was talking about how the next song was based on an actual clock that had been stopped for many years, and how he didn't think anyone was naive enough to think that time had actually stopped. During "WDTTS", the nuclear reactions were between Troy, Albany, and Schenectady. They left after "New York City", then returned a few minutes later with Linnell on the accordion, singing something to the extent of "Bob Bobbolina, Mister Bob Dobbolina..." over and over, then going into "She's An Angel". They left again after an electrifying performance of "Fingertips", and returned with Miller doing a fine guitar solo into "Istanbul". After playing that one, Linnell said "We try to make our music sleep inducing, but it doesn't seem to work." They then went into "Sleepwalkers", which closed the show.

Connor and I waited around the stage area for a little while, watching people disassemble stuff. They pulled up the back curtain to reveal a little area that goes back, with a grand piano sitting there. After five minutes or so, Dan Miller walked onstage, went to the piano, and started playing some fancy stuff. As he was walking by us, I asked for a picture with him, and told him what a great show it was, and he shook the hands of all seven of us waiting there. We continued waiting there till a guy who must have been working for the Egg came down to the area in front of the stage. He told us that there was some great merchandise outside the theatre, and we could have a look at it if we followed him. Everybody just kind of stood there and said "No, that's okay, I aleady bought some stuff, but thanks!" After a minute, he said "Well, we're closing up in here, so you're going to have to leave." Oh well. As we were driving away after the show, we saw Dan Miller walking down the street with his guitar, talking on a cell phone. We determined that the band was probably staying at the hotel down the street from the Egg, since there was also a bus parked in front of the hotel as we drove past.

I have no other TMBG shows to compare this to, but it seemed to be a fine show. The Hart Theater is used mostly for more low-key shows, and also hosts functions such as ballet and lectures. For this reason, there are seats. Some people made a concious effort to make this a standing concert, but too many people chose to sit, so everybody was forced to. We were, however, able to remain standing throughout both encores, so that was better. In case anybody was intrigued by the name, the Egg is an oval-shaped building, not dissimiliar to, say, an egg. There are two theaters within the building. There aren't many rock concerts there, but TMBG managed to make it a rocking evening in the Egg.