Shows/1990-04-23
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Setlist: (incomplete and possibly out of order)
- Particle Man
- Your Racist Friend
- Someone Keeps Moving My Chair
- Lie Still, Little Bottle
- Where Your Eyes Don't Go
- Ana Ng
- Kiss Me, Son Of God
- Purple Toupee
- The Famous Polka
- Istanbul (Not Constantinople)
- Hearing Aid
- Whistling In The Dark
- Birdhouse In Your Soul
- Minimum Wage
- Cowtown
- Road Movie To Berlin
- Twisting
- Nothing's Gonna Change My Clothes
Encore #1:
Encore #2:
They Might Be Giants
— with The Jack Rubies opening —
Barrymore Theatre in Madison, WI
April 23, 1990
Fan Recaps and Comments:
"Hijinks of 'Giants' gets warm reception from teen audience" by Eric Rasmussen
Capital Times, Apr. 24, 1990:
Opening up with three songs from their latest record, "Flood," the two Johns did take a little while to get going. But when Flansburgh introduced their "famous rock metronome" and Linnel donned a bass saxophone for the delightfully dorky "Lie Still, Little Bottle," the duo loosened up as much as the crowd. Surprisingly, the lack of a full band only occasionally made the songs sound empty. Flansburgh's guitar on "Ana Ng" and "Purple Toupee" (which he introduced as a "folk song we learned while we were in hell") dished out enough sonic force to make up for the lack of accompaniment, and even "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" worked well despite the absence of violin and trumpet.
It was clear that the crowd response took the duo a bit by surprise, too. While Linnell remained silent between songs, Flansburgh bantered with the audience, often without the help of his microphone, creating an audience-performer relationship free of the barriers one finds at most pop shows. Flansburgh's guitar playing was completely out of control, as he bounced around the stage like a kangaroo on speed. At one point, he even took his guitar off his back and bounced it, strings down, up and down on the stage.
Despite their new-found popular audience, TMBG hasn't gotten any less bizarre. When someone in the audience jokingly called for the band to play Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird," Flansburgh replied, "No, we haven't gotten that bogus yet."
"Groups 'power pop' Barrymore" by Michael St. John
Wisconsin State Journal, Apr. 24, 1990:
Guitarist John Flansburgh and accordion squeezer John Linnell of They Might Be Giants were an instant hit with an opening instrumental best described as New Age-movie theme-pop-funk-metal.
Most of the audience was on its feet and filled all the available floor space up front before the Brooklyn-based twosome made its entrance. With Flansburgh's announcement, "All hail the new king," the crowd became a congregation of human pogo sticks for "Particle Man" from the duo's newest 19-track release, "Flood." It served as an accurate introduction to the way these two think when assembling lyrics, particularly when it was mentioned that the song's "Universe Man" has a watch with a minute hand, a millenium hand and an eon hand.
Things abruptly turned to more serious matters with "Your Racist Friend," a happy song about an unhappy topic. Paradoxes collided constantly in the TMBG's show, but the guitarist's frantic style perfectly matched the exaggerated angst of "Someone Keeps Moving My Chair." Many of those closest to the stage bounced as if on individual trampolines for the twosome's breakthrough hit, "Ana Ng." Linnell, who handled the majority of the vocal chores, cut through the surprising din with a sharp nasal tonality to his voice. Although his partner handled his own vocal chores well, his best stuff was performed as he bounded, danced, ran and stumbled around the stage flailing his left-handed Fender Telecaster.
Most of TMBG's humor took close attention to absorb, but "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)," a pre-rock '50s hit, was grandly camped up. Flansburgh's psychedelic guitar work was powerful and popular with this crowd. Linnell's psychedelic accordion, however, was as amusing a twist as the use of metronomes to keep time when the duo wasn't playing along with pre-recorded tapes. If depth of thought wrapped in off-the-wall humor has any market value, these guys just might be giants someday.
"They Might Be Giants thrills Madison crowd" by Beth Zelse
Royal Purple, May. 2, 1990:
The Barrymore Theater in Madison held a capacity crowd on Monday, April 22, for non-conformist, alternative music guru's They Might Be Giants. The duo, consisting of John Flansburgh and John Linnell, made the Mad City stop while on tour for their third album Flood.
An unknown group, The Jack Rubies, preceded They Might Be Giants with a short half hour set. The crowd remained seated and sedate during that portion of the show, seemingly unimpressed by the band's (feigned?) Britishness. Once Flansburgh and Linnell graced the stage, however, the crowd forgot all about the mediocrity of the opening act. TMBG's simple stage layout added to the uniqueness of the show. The stage was minimally equipped with two microphones, Flansburgh's guitar, Linnell's accordion, baritone sax and three pillars. Placed upon the pillars were perhaps the most unusual of TMBG's instruments − three metronomes attached to amplifiers — used periodically throughout the show.
The initial show (not including two encores) lasted an hour and featured 20 cuts. Much to the audience's enjoyment the concert began with such Flood favorites as "Particle Man," "Your Racist Friend" and a metronome-accompanied "Someone Keeps Moving My Chair." A few earlier tunes were performed, including "Kiss Me, Son Of God." which sounded a little bit like an avant-guard Bobby Vinton remake, and "Purple Toupee," a song which Flansburgh revealed was "one of the quiet folk songs we learned in hell." The 'quiet folk song' featured Flansburgh and Linnell dancing around onstage with instruments in hand. (If you can picture two men violently thrashing around while playing their instruments − a guitar and an accordion, respectively − then you captured the true essence and humor of the band and the show.)
The duo woke any sleeping audience members with a striking rendition of "Whistling in the Dark," during which Fklansburgh leaned into the crowd while beating on a huge bass drum. A later performance of "Famous Polka," led to hysterical mass polka-in by members of the audience. At one point early in the show, a few audience members attempted to stage-dive. Flansburgh explained that although he hoped everyone would have a good time, he did not want any audience injuries. He asked that no one "sway and crush" people they didn't know.
The group went on to perform MTV favorite "Birdhouse In Your Soul," as well as "Minimum Wage," "Cowtown," and "Road Movie To Berlin". During a brief pause in the show, someone in the crowd requested an impromptu rendition of "Free Bird." Flansburgh denied the request saying, "We're not at that bogus level yet." He went on to imply that Madison was a pit stop to the REALLY BIG show in Chicago this week, a comment met with much audience defensiveness. He apologized for the remark, saying, "This is the ultimate college town... Everyone's so nice here... We should find a nice secluded street and set up camp on someone's lawn." With conflict out of the way, the duo redeemed the concert and themselves through an energetic ending, complete with renditions of "Twisting" and "Nothing's Gonna Change My Clothes."
The show was followed by two encores with a total of four songs. The first encore featured lyrically profound "Shoehorn": "He wants a shoehorn/the kind with teeth/People should get beat up for stating their beliefs/He wants a hoe horn/the kind with teeth/because he knows there is no such thing" followed by "Don't Let's Start." The second encore was the audience's chance to be Joe Satriani, according to Flansburgh. Both members encouraged the crowd to "Scream as if you're in hell" during finale performances of "32 Footsteps" and "Hide Away Folk Family." Concert-goers who desired to commemorate the highly unusual concert purchased t-shirts, posters and buttons in large quantities. To commemorate the show in truly TMBG fashion, however, the true enthusiast forked out $25 for an authentic TMBG "Fez" hat, complete with tassel.
For those of you who missed the show or just want to inexpensively dabble into the world of the musically unique, the duo created "Dial-A-Song." By calling 1-718-387-6962 (billed as a normal long-distance call), you can hear a different They Might Be Giants son everyday. Weird.
