Shows/1989-03-05

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Links:

• EB/Metro-nom review

Setlist:

• Piece Of Dirt Intro
• Hello Radio Intro
• Istanbul (Not Constantinople)
• Ana Ng
• Your Racist Friend
• Purple Toupee
• The Famous Polka
• I'll Sink Manhattan
• They'll Need A Crane
• Number Three
• Rhythm Section Want Ad
• Santa's Beard
• Kiss Me, Son Of God
• I've Got A Match
• You'll Miss Me
• The Car Crash
• Don't Let's Start
• Lie Still, Little Bottle
• Cowtown
• (She Was A) Hotel Detective

Encore #1:

• Shoehorn With Teeth
• She's An Angel

Encore #2:

• Where Your Eyes Don't Go
• Road Movie To Berlin
• Put Your Hand Inside The Puppet Head

They Might Be Giants
Luxor in Cologne, Germany
March 5, 1989

They Might Be Giants performing at the venue (Photo by Freddy Merxx)

Fan Recaps and Comments:

(Translated from German)
"They Must Be Giants" by Bobby Vox
EB/Metro-nom, Mar. 1989:

Yes, they must really be giants.

It looked quite empty a few minutes before the concert in the Luxor, one of the friendly Americans actually greeted his audience individually with a handshake, really nice. The Two Johns (John Flansburgh and John Linnell) come from Massachusetts and consciously forego the usual appearance of a guitar band, although you get this impression from the duo's first LP. In parts they sound like an American version of the Jazz Butcher, with lyrics like "I hope that I get old before I die," who doesn't hope so?

The instrumentation consists mainly of a guitar and an accordion, at one point the accordion is replaced by a saxophone. So it goes without saying that the rhythm section and also keyboards came from the assembly line, one of the songs is, funnily enough, called "Rhythm Section Want Ad". They make up for this apparent disadvantage with a comedy-like stage show, tremendous joy in playing and a lot of humor and charm. A swinging song was performed using only vocals and the beat using a wooden trunk on a wooden plate.

The two shared lead vocals on the songs, both of them, by the way very confident, the guitarist, who, when he grinned, which he usually did, was a little reminiscent of Jerry Lewis, parodied the guitar jumping jack so skillfully that one of the statues that served as decoration fell over. The insanely minimal set drove the audience to incessant demands for encores, even after the Giants had long since run out of rhythm tracks on tape, but they carried on without. A successful concert with a fun mix of country, folk and guitar pop that not only impressed me.

(Translated from German)
From Snap fanzine, Summer 1989:

Damn it. One deja vu experience rushes the other: One John looks like a civilian from Regensburg, whom I once got to know on such a course, the other like a freshly baked high school graduate who has just bagged his 2 or 8 certificate and is now out of fear Sweat before grandma's kiss, and the Luxor looks like it always does.

In contrast to the “Might Be Giants” the place was packed, the band preferred to sweat as I said. Drummer and bassist in particular seemed to have eaten up with the joy of playing, or they were dressed entirely in black and wore the same masks. In any case, they could hardly be made out on the huge stage.

Insiders even spread rumors that the rhythm section had been recorded from the tape. By the way, only John showed charisma. John on the other hand impressed with the hilarious attempts to get the phonetic of the word “Cologne” (big city in North Rhine-Westphalia - located on the Rhine - the editor) accident-free. I didn't hear anyone laugh. The duo spread the mood anyway. People danced and laughed; the people got their money's worth. Pieces from the debut LP and even more pieces from “Lincoln” were always fun.

Incidentally, a bunch of young US citizens who had come from Bitburg to cheer their compatriots unreservedly caused a not inconsiderable flair of great freedom. The whole thing culminated in an embarrassing soap opera scene: John (sweating) suddenly brought a girl onto the stage, who had to contribute the rhythm to one of the Giant songs in the form of violent beating of a tree trunk on the stage floor. After sweat graduation guitar John explained to her what to do, he said to the salvation of all of us: "I think she’s an American".

When the US groupie put wet kisses on the cheeks of our Johnnys red head and with reverential looks after their work was done, the kitsch was perfect: Paul Weller would say ‘That’s Entertainment’. After all, he has to know, because he couldn't just be a giant, he is one. - J.R. Carrington