Shows/1990-09-27

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Setlist: (incomplete and out of order)

• Lie Still, Little Bottle
• Your Racist Friend
• Put Your Hand Inside The Puppet Head
• Nothing's Gonna Change My Clothes
• Whistling In The Dark
• Twisting
• Birdhouse In Your Soul
• Purple Toupee
• The Famous Polka
• Don't Let's Start
• Ana Ng
• Letterbox
• Istanbul (Not Constantinople)
• Stormy Pinkness
• Shoehorn With Teeth

They Might Be Giants
— with Carmaig De Forest opening —
Williams College in Williamstown, MA
September 27, 1990 at 8:00 PM

Photo from The Williams Record, photographer uncredited.
"Linnell plays Lasell: They Might Be Giants -- John Linnell and John Flansburgh -- performed Thursday night in Lasell Gymnasium."

Fan Recaps and Comments:

Review from The Williams Record, October 2, 1990:

They are, they are giants! by Robert Weisberg

The scene was Lasell, the day was last Thursday, and as they say, the joint was jumping. John Flansburgh and John Linnell of They Might Be Giants were belting out "Birdhouse in Your Soul," and everyone in the wildly enthusiastic audience was hopping like so many coked-up bunnies. Those who were too pooped to jump simply screamed.

It could have been a Williams-Amherst basketball thriller from years past. Of course, had it been hoops instead of eclectic rock, there probably wouldn't have been the giant postage stamps over the speakers. Or the "massive rock-'n-roll metronome" on stage. You can say a lot of things about TMBG, but they certainly travel light (except for carrying extra accordions, one of which was needed by Linnell during a "technical fuck-up," as Flansburgh said).

They played for over an hour, encores included, hitting about 20 or so songs. They started with "Lie Still, Little Bottle," from Lincoln, as Linnell pounded out a tremendous bass line on possibly the world's largest saxophone. Flansburgh added flair by playing two trumpets at once. "Your Racist Friend" was the next cut, and the crowd went bananas. And on it went. It's impossible to say that some of the songs were better than others. The other way to tell that would have required a seismograph and a noise meter. Suffice it to say that the crowd roared and jumped for the entire set. The two performers certainly helped feed the frenzy with their lively stage style. Flansburgh constantly jumped about, even letting audience members play with the strings on his guitar (which had been temporarily silenced). Linnell stayed more in place, but I heard several people after the show say they were going to take up the accordion.

Some of the highlights, as I saw them: Audience members spelling out, with their arms, the word "Don't," a la the Springstreeters, during the chorus of "Don't Let's Start." TMBG's hand gestures during "Shoehorn with Teeth," the first song of the first encore. Other terrific songs: "Ana Ng," "Put Your Hand Inside the Puppet Head," "Nothing's Gonna Change My Clothes," "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)," "Birdhouse in Your Soul," and "Whistling in the Dark." This list isn't meant to ignore the other cuts they played, but sometimes you've got to be arbitrary.

After the show, I fell as if I'd lost about six pounds of water weight. My calves were also very sore. It was a great concert, and the Student Activities Council definitely should to be congratulated for bringing TMBG here and pulling off such a terrific show. Of course, I wouldn't be a critic without criticizing, so I will pick on two small points. First, I have never been to a concert where the tour t-shirts were four times more expensive than the tickets. At a stadium show, a $20 shirt wouldn't be so outrageous, but this is Williamstown, village of perpetually broke college students.

Also, Carmaig DeForest, the opening act, was pretty awful. When he started, he appeared to be a TMBG-wannabe, with odd lyrics and a penchant for strange instruments (he spent much of his half-hour-plus on an electric ukulele). But after a 10-minute piece about a motel-room, people in the audience were screaming for They Might Be Giants (though it could have been out of pain). In fact, the only bone to pick with TMBG could have been that Flansburgh was wearing a Carmaig DeForest t-shirt. Ah, but even the great are capable of unnecessary pity. Still, these small complaints shouldn't mar the memory of a great concert. To dispute a line from TMBG, "No one in this world ever gets what they want and that is beautiful;" in the case of last Thursday, everyone got what they wanted. I know I did.