Shows/1990-10-21
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Setlist: (Incomplete!)
- 32 Footsteps
- I Hope That I Get Old Before I Die
- Whistling In The Dark
- Lucky Ball & Chain
- Don't Let's Start
Encore
They Might Be Giants
Arcadia Theatre in Dallas, TX
October 21, 1990 at 8:00 PM
Fan Recaps and Comments:
Tickets were $17.50.
Review from The Dallas Morning News (Oct. 23, 1990):
On this night, Messrs. Flansburgh and Linnell fronted a band that wasn't there. Mr. Flansburgh played guitar and the occasional bass drum, and Mr. Linnell spent a lot of time with his accordion. But the rest of the sounds filling the theater were provided by an unseen tape deck.
But, save for a few moments, particularly a rocking version of Don't Let's Start near the end of the show, the Giants' performance was more of a recital than a concert -- all talent and stage presence, and precious little in the way of excitement or energy.
Perhaps as a gesture of consistency, the show's staging was as discreet as the musical support -- just a few colored spots and a triad of postage-stamp art. The two Johns, dressed with the same attention to detail practiced by paperboys hustling to get out on their routes, rounded out the bare-bones motif quite nicely with their jeans and T-shirts.
Though convention dictates that the point of this tour is to push the new stuff, the Giants democratically spread their song selection evenly among their recordings. They retrieved early tunes like 32 Steps and I Hope That I Get Old Before I Die, along with such current songs as Whistling in the Dark and Lucky Ball & Chain. Presenting their willfully oddball perspective and meticulously amateurish approach in such a stripped-down setting, the show took on the look and feel of a junior high school talent show with John and John as the quintessential class weirdos...
Both Johns gave enthusiastic performances, livening things up a bit with some between-song wisecracking. And with songs as clever and entertaining as this, there is a concrete limit as to how uninspiring things could get.
