Shows/1995-02-18
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Setlist: (incomplete and possibly out of order)
They Might Be Giants
Flood Zone in Richmond, VA
February 18, 1995 at 8:30 PM
Fan Recaps and Comments:
"If you missed the Giants' show, try their Dial-A-Song treats" by Bill Craig
Richmond Times-Dispatch, Feb. 20, 1995:
The next time you have a little idle time on your hands and spare change in your pocket, consider taking a telephone trip to weird rock 'n' roll world of They Might Be Giants by making a long distance call to the group's Dial-A-Song phone number (718) 387-6962.
If the unreleased tunes that are found on the regularly updated recording are similar to the Brooklyn band's sold-out Saturday night Flood Zone show, you'll be treated to three minutes of pretty standard '90s rock with very nonstandard themes and heavy doses of new wave humor.
Judging from the size and the passion of Saturday night's crowd, They Might Be Giants has built a significant and faithful following since its 1981 birth. Competent musicians but songwriters with a wonderfully oddball view of the world, the duo's appeal lies more in their words and stories than the music that delivers them.
Named after a 1970's George C. Scott movie, They Might Be Giants are John Flansburgh on guitar and vocals and John Linnell on accordion, horns, and vocals. The duo is backed on its current tour by a band of four anchored by a pretty slick two-man horn section.
In front of a bouncy audience of about 900 fans, the two Johns and friends sprinted through a 90 minute set that featured plenty of songs from their recent release, "John Henry," as well as group standards and crowd favorites such as "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)," "The Statue Got Me High" and "Don't Let's Start."
Though lyrics were often lost in the buzz of electric guitars, twisted story lines set this group apart from its peers. The evening's most memorable examples included "Subliminal," the first-person account of an accident victim going through a windshield, "No One Knows My Plan," a prison inmate's secret scheming, "Sleeping in the Flowers," the heartbreaking tale of a failed attempt at romance with a copy clerk and "Meet James Ensor," the accordion-driven true life story of a Belgian artist.
Darlings of the MTV crowd, the band kept the slam dancers happy with the high-volume drone of Flansburgh's lead guitar and Tony Maimone's bass on "Stomp Box," "Why Does the Sun Shine?" and "Snail Shell."
But Jim O'Connor's trombone and Linnell's accordion smoothed the jagged edge of the group's sound on "Destination Moon," "Spy" and its own version of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," the show's official conga line song.
Harriet McLeod, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Feb. 23, 1995):
- When clubs like the Flood Zone say, "Doors open at 8:30," that has typically translated to "If you have nothing better to do, come at 8:30 and stand around an empty hall. The show won't start until 11."
- Not anymore. Not at the Flood Zone, at least.
- Some 30 to 40 concertgoers showed up at the Flood Zone between 10:30 and 11 p.m. Saturday to hear They Might Be Giants and found they'd missed the entire show. The opening band had started at 8:15, the headliner at 9:15, and by 11 the door guys were sweepin' 'em out.
- Most of the tardy ticketholders had been fooled by an erroneous WVGO (106.5 FM) radio DJ who announced over the air at 8:30 p.m. that the Giants would take the stage at 11. Don't believe everything you hear.
- Fliers and tickets were printed with show starting times. Radio ads were supposed to say "early show." Tickets for They Might Be Giants read, "Door, 7:30 p.m. Show, 8:30 p.m."
