Shows/1988-06-02
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Setlist: (incomplete and possibly out of order)
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Links:
- Boston Globe review
- Paradise Club listing, Apr. 22, 1988
- Paradise Club listing, Apr. 29, 1988
- Paradise Club listing, May. 6, 1988
- Paradise Club listing, May. 13, 1988
- Paradise Club listing, May. 20, 1988
Setlist: (incomplete and possibly out of order)
They Might Be Giants
— with Danny Mydlack opening —
The Paradise Club in Boston, MA
June 2, 1988 at 8:00 PM
Fan Recaps and Comments:
"A weekend of musical wiseguys" by Brett Milano
Boston Globe, Jun. 7, 1988:
If you've heard one song by They Might Be Giants, it's probably their radio hit "Don't Let's Start"; a strong pop song about a weak relationship. But that's the only more-or-less normal song in their set: Last Thursday's Paradise show was more like a Saturday-morning kiddie show for adults. The two Giants, John Flansburgh and John Linnell, play guitar and accordion, look like nerdy mad scientists, and lead sing-alongs on all sorts of irrelevant topics. (Sample lyric, sung to a Sousa-march tune while wearing four-foot high, flaming red hats: "He wants a shoehorn, the kind with teeth / Because he knows there is no such thing"). Only one song, a dig at millionaire preachers, had a nasty edge; the rest was a romp for the fun of it.
The peak of the Giants' philosophy was their closing number, which put a spin on a famous line' by Pete Townshend of the Who: "I hope I die before I get old." In their hands it becomes "I Hope That I Get Old Before I Die," a jolly polka with cue cards for singing along. It's easily more mundane than Townshend's line, but a lot wittier and probably more honest.
From the Boston Globe, Oct. 5, 1988:
At the Paradise last spring, their closing number put a spin on a famous line from the Who's "My Generation" – "I hope I die before I get old" – and turned it into the existential polka, "I Hope That I Get Old Before I Die."
"That seemed the more correct point of view," says Linnell. "A lot of our songs are really pretty negative, but they're put in a friendly-sounding way. In that case, I was thinking about how our society doesn't look up to its elderly, and feeling like the old man I'll eventually become."
