Shows/1995-04-25
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Setlist: (incomplete and possibly out of order)
They Might Be Giants
— with Steve Westfield opening —
Pearl Street in Northampton, MA
April 25, 1995 at 7:30 PM
Fan Recaps and Comments:
All-ages show.
"Giants stumble while Stringbean pumps up volume" by Ken Maiuri
The Daily Hampshire Gazette, Apr. 28, 1995:
They might have been suffering from heatstroke, but Brooklyn's They Might Be Giants put on an uninspired, if hit-filled, 24-song set at Pearl Street in Northampton last Tuesday.
From the second the band walked out on stage, guitarist John Flansburgh complained about the extremely hot club; throughout much of the night, he and co-TMBG-founder and keyboardist/woodwind/accordion whiz John Linnell seemed tired, spent, and just plain bored. They started the show with their biggest hit — a cover of "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" — as if to get it out of the way.
Throughout the set they played half of their latest album (and first to feature the live band they've been performing with for almost three years), "John Henry," and MTV favorites like "Ana Ng," "Birdhouse In Your Soul," "The Guitar," and "The Statue Got Me High." There were only two real surprises: the two Johns reached back into the TMBG catalog for "Shoehorn with Teeth" and "She's an Angel," a song that moved so slowly it threatened to fall asleep.
Regardless, the full-to-capacity all-ages crowd ate it up. They pogoed to "Purple Toupee," crowd surfed during "Stompbox," conga danced around the room (as per order of the band) during "No One Knows My Plan." Surely the two Johns and their four piece band played a tight and perfectly executed set — but the energy level wasn't there. It seemes as if the live band is an experiment the two Johns list interest in.
Indeed, while Flansburgh introduced the members, the group vamped on "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction." Maybe they're trying to tell us something.
