Shows/1988-06-14
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Setlist: (incomplete and possibly out of order)
They Might Be Giants
— with Chemistry Set, Pure Joy opening —
Moore Theater in Seattle, WA
June 14, 1988 at 8:00 PM
Fan Recaps and Comments:
Seattle Times, June 15, 1988:
They Might Be Giants is the funniest rock duo since . . . well, since Zager & Evans.
Actually, there's no comparing TMBG with any other act. The two who make up the band - John Flansburgh and John Linnell - use drum machines and tape loops, along with their live accordion, guitar, baritone sax and voices, to create the big sound of a full band.
The show was part of a series of $10 Moore concerts featuring new acts.
"Their tunes are wacky and strange but have an edge of reality that makes them more than just novelty songs. When all the elements are working right the two come up with pretty solid material, such as their most popular song, 'Don't Let's Start,' a catchy tune that's a gets a lot of radio airplay. The video version is seen on MTV.
At TMBG's show last night at the Moore, that song, which came late in the set, caused half the audience to jump out of their seats and mob the stage. Some overzealous fans leaped onstage and some started grabbing and dancing with the two performers and, since they are the whole band, the song almost fell apart. But roadies chased the dancers away and the show went on.
That wasn't the only time the crowd got into the act. In the middle of a pleasant, folkish song called 'Hide Away Folk Family' - which included the line, 'And his shoes were laced with irony' - Flansburgh asked the crowd to 'scream as if you were in hell,' and people did, loudly. He later asked the crowd to simulate a car crash, which they also did. During one of the three encores, he held up cue cards so everybody could sing along to 'Hope That I Get Old Before I Die.'
The show started wacky and never let up. Even before the two came on stage, there was a funny introduction in the form of a countdown. Then they opened with a classic novelty song, 'Istanbul (Not Constantinople),' followed by one of their weirdest tunes, 'Put Your Hand Inside the Puppet Head.' And they wore their famous 5-foot-tall stovepipe hats, during a song called 'A Shoehorn With Teeth.'
A review of the show by Marshall Gooch
The Rocket, Jul. 1988
The two Johns donned six-foot fezzes while playing to a recorded backing, which I assume is them, anyway. Their oddly poetic, funny songs aren't for everyone, as judged by the half-packed Moore, but those who did go were treated to rhythm by the "stick" method, a couple of interesting audience participation numbers, and some of the most hook-filled pop this side of nowhere (TMBG say it's their secret weapon.)
Memo to myself: Do the dumb things I gotta do, and be sure to see They Might Be Giants if they ever come to town again.
