Shows/1990-04-27
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Links:
Setlist: (incomplete and possibly out of order)
- Particle Man
- Lie Still, Little Bottle
- Where Your Eyes Don't Go
- Whistling In The Dark
- The Famous Polka
- Birdhouse In Your Soul
- Istanbul (Not Constantinople)
Encore 1:
Encore 2:
They Might Be Giants
— with The Jack Rubies opening —
Virginia Theater in Champaign, IL
April 27, 1990 at 8:00 PM
Fan Recaps and Comments:
Tickets were $13 and the doors opened at 7:30pm.
"Fe-Fi-Fo-Fun with the Giants" by Jennifer Kauss
The Daily Illini, Apr. 30, 1990:
The lights dimmed, the speakers roared what sounded like a funky reprise of "They Might Be Giants," and there they were — the jolly-good Johns, infamous accordion and guitar in hands.
Immediately the different dynamic duo ripped into the robotic "Particle Man." While John Flansburgh hopped around and let his guitar's feedback do the screaming, John Linnell clutched his accordion and eked out the lyrics. Because Linnell was "still recovering from the flu," his stage presence was somewhat lifeless; it looked like the weight of his accordion was inexorably pulling him toward the floor. Despite his lethargic performance, the masters of the two-minute quip-crammed ditty rocked Champaign's Virginia Theatre, 201 W. Park Ave., Friday night with their flair for the lexicographically extraordinaire.
During the tight 'n' tidy show, Giant Flansburgh made up for any Linnell lack of energy by be-bopping around the stage like a loose-limbed wallaby and unleashing his steel strings upon the very receptive crowd. The Brooklyn-based Giants lumbered nimbly into town to promote their popular 1990 release, Flood. Within a concert lasting nearly an hour and 15 minutes, the Giants managed to turn the about 1,300 folks into a grinning, spinning wild thing.
The Giants reeled off 11 of Flood's 19 songs, plus 13 tunes from previous albums. Requests for other songs were benignly turned down because, Flansburgh said with a fake sneer, "We're not the kind of band that wants to play what you want to hear, so stop making requests. The sooner you stop, the happier we'll all be."
The backup band for the Johns was made up of three metronomes: the first one got to play during "Lie Still," the second during "Where Your Eyes Don't Go," but the third little ticker never got its seconds in the spotlight. The Giants were also backed by taped drums and rhythms, but otherwise usually stuck to an axe/accordion mix. For bluesy "Lie Still, Little Bottle," Linnell dragged out a bass saxophone almost as big as he was to honk out a baritone backbeat.
Flansburgh later marched in with a big bass drum to play during "Whistling in the Dark," and said he wished there was no orchestra pit between himself and the audience because "we'd like to play it right next to your head." They also popped in a peppy polka; a must when an accordion is on stage. The Giants jammed through current single "Birdhouse in Your Soul" and a 78-speed version of "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)," in the midst of which the music halted for Flansburgh's echoing yodel of "better that WAAAAAYYY!!! AAAYYY!!! AAAYYY!!!" On that Turkish note, this was probably one of the only band's shows Akbar and Jeff would have felt comfortable attending, as colorful They Might Be Giants fezzes were available for a mere $25.
Speaking of concert gear, Flansburgh donned a fluroescent Meat Puppets T-shirt for the show − maybe the derivation of "Put Your Hand Inside the Puppet Head" from their first album They Might Be Giants?
When TMBG returned for their first encore, they played "Shoehorn With Teeth" (the only audience request honored), followed by "Don't Let's Start" − good idea for the end of the show, eh? The crowd didn't think so either, so they screamed like they were in hell, and the Giants came back to play "Hide Away Folk Family" from their first album. TMBG then told the crowd to "Scream like you're in HELL!!!" during "Hide Away," and since they already had, it was easy for the Giant-crazed crowd to do it again. And so the Giants buzzed and whined their way to the end of a two-man, too-great show.
