Shows/2003-07-26

7 wikians attended: Doktorworm Drypaintsigns Mdith Rabbiv0le Rampantbaboon Rossum Torgo

You must be logged in to mark yourself for being at this show.

Setlist:

• Orff Intro
• Clap Your Hands
• Birdhouse In Your Soul
• The Guitar
• Why Does The Sun Shine?
• Wicked Little Critta
• Ana Ng
• She's Actual Size
• Particle Man
• Drink!
• Doctor Worm
• John Lee Supertaster
• Fingertips
• Istanbul (Not Constantinople)

They Might Be Giants
Live on Penn in Washington, DC
July 26, 2003

Fan Recaps and Comments:

Review by Kevin Sullivan::

OH MY F*CKING GOD!!!!

I showed up about an hour and half before TMBG was scheduled to go on. I had no idea who any of the other bands were so it was a total shock to my white-boy self when I ended up in the third row for Arrested Development (a hip-hop band for those as ignorant as I was) well that was... interesting but quite entertaining.

You could tell when TMBG-selected music went on before the show as the crowd began to get pumped. Then they played that music so often used in action/dramatic movie ad sequences and all ran out on stage as the huge crowd erupted. They picked up their instruments after introducing the band and began Clap Your Hands (the song had to be made for live performances). It included "everybody swear" and "everybody mumble". The next song was Birdhouse... and Linnell's mic wasn't leveled right so you couldn't hear his vocals but there was a sh*tload of fans singing along which was a feeling nothing short of incredible. I believe the next song was Why Does the Sun Shine. (After two songs of intense movement I was desperately in need of a break and still had none.) They did estrogen estrogen estrogen for the nuclear reaction. If I remember correctly, the next song was Wicked Little Critta (my welcome break). Flansy was constantly messing with the jumbotron camramen, at one point shoving the camera out of his face toward the auidence making this show really about the fans.

JF gave a rant to the president (ironically enough in a stage framing the capitol building) that TMBG had found the weapons of mass destruction...they were in JL's accordion, at which point they broke into Particle Man.

I was also amused as Flansburgh kept complaining that the giant inflatable Miller Lite bottle dwarfed the giant inflatable Fosters bottle whose cans "should come with their own pamphlet"... all in all an incredible recap of some of their best live songs in a great audience driven show.

When they left most of the crowd left (even though TMBG were openers for some other band), which was moderately amusing.

Review by Rich Sampson:

They hit the stage about 7:05 and we off about 8:10... not bad for an hour show. There was a pretty decent-sized exodus after TMBG, as Big Head Todd & the Monster's weren't an ideal pick for headliners. Attendance for these has been between 5-10,000. Linnell's mic didn't work until the 2nd verse of Birdhouse

Flans introduced the theme of "Sound of the Future: 2012" during Guitar

Flans sung "And you don't stop" before the last chorus of Guitar

Sun: "reactions between estrogen, estrogen and estrogen;" "everthing's a gas including jewlery, crystals, even kilns... you think kilns are really hot on earth, but on the sun they're really gas!"

Actual: Flans - "the enemy of the actual saxophone, the guitar synthesizer...what 'Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle' is to movies, so is the guitar synthesizer to music; drum solo: cowbell from Blue Oyster Cult, #8 (see Worm for continuation)

Drink: Flans - "this is a folk song, traditionally sung from the Foster's bottle to the Miller bottle, but we're gonna be a little radical and imagine if it were the Miller's sing it to the Foster's"

Worm: Flans - "the 'man' came to see us before the show and informed us every show on this street must include a song about a worm. they've left us no choice!" "we've found the WMD's...they're in John Linnell's accordion."

Linnell - "you know, we've been doing this bit (the WMDs) for a few shows now, but this is the first time I can see the President's house from stage, and it's blowing my mind"

Flans - "this crowd has a fever and the only prescription is a song about a worm" (stems from the Chistopher Walken/Will Ferrell skit on SNL of a Behind the Music on Blue Oyster Cult and the love of the cowbell... ironically, the Best of Will Ferrell was on that night, WITH that skit... it's like a Flansian prediction)