Shows/1996-10-04

6 wikians attended: Bwhich, Jfailes, Minerwerks, Twilighter, Urshanabi, Wingchild

You must be logged in to mark yourself for being at this show.

• Listing

Setlist:

They Might Be Giants
Alachua Harvest in Gainesville, FL
October 4, 1996

Fan Recaps and Comments:

A review of the show from The Bolles Bugle, Volume 59, Number 1 - November 1996:

Because it was a festival they only put on an hour-long show, but at least it was complete.
They played many of their classics, including "Birdhouse In Your Soul" and "Don't Let's Start," along with several new favorites from their last album, John Henry. Mixed in were songs from Factory Showroom, like "James K. Polk," a characteristically upbeat political history of the eleventh President, and "Exquisite Dead Guy," during which Linnell and Flansburgh dropped their instruments to manipulate puppets singing along to the song.
Flansburgh, who communicated with the crowd more than Linnell, made several comments on how he had never played on such a large stage. TMBG is more of a club band, but the main stage for the Music Harvest was large enough to give them all space to run around, which they weren't used to but seemed to enjoy. Flansburgh also mentioned that he had never used a wireless mike before, and he carried the whole mike and stand with him wherever he went.
As I left the show on Friday night, I couldn't help feeling excited to be seeing them two nights in a row. If only I had known...

Bear with me - I'm trying to write a recap due to a random trip down memory lane about a show ten years distant. I'll do what I can.

Prior to the show, fliers went up around town advertising the presence of They at the Alachua County Music Harvest, a three-day open-air multi-stage concert held in fall in Gainesville, Florida. (At least, it used to be; I think they've gone on hiatus.) I remember ripping one of the posters off a telephone pole and keeping it as part of my room decoration. (I was 16, cut me some slack!)

Clearest memory of the concert experience was Flans announcing that it was his first time using a cordless microphone on stage. Immediately after saying that he went into a fairly solid cover of the BeeGee's `Stayin' Alive`. Quite strange, that, but it obviously made an impression.

The fanbase was pretty varied, but had more curious folks than fans; not a whole lot of crowd sing-a-longs, only a few of us hopping around in time to Birdhouse, that sort of thing. In short, nothing at all like shows at the Electric Factory in Philly, nor even at the 9:30 Club in DC. Even so, it was They, it was a good set, and everybody had a great time.

- Wingchild, 6/9/06

This show was a few days prior to the release of Factory Showroom, but I had heard an advance cassette so I gleefully sang along with all the new tunes. I left the show with a bit of melancholy, an inevitable comedown after such an exuberant show. I was sad to see it end.

- Minerwerks, 4/28/11

This was the first concert I'd ever attended, and we were late, making it into the park at the end of Don't Let's Start (after having missed the first several sets). To clarify, we weren't actually late; They Might Be Giants were asked to go on early due to George Clinton & the P-Funk All-Stars, who had been slated to perform before them, being late arriving at the venue.

Aside from that, the show was fantastic, and really ended up being everything I've come to expect from a TMBG concert. One thing that sticks out in my memory is that a mosh-pit formed in front of the stage (if I recall correctly, during Till My Head Falls Off), and John opined that he was always surprised to see people moshing to their songs (or words to that effect). He also mention that the next song, Dig My Grave, might be a little more appropriate for that.

- Urshanabi, 10/25/2013

Shows/1996-10-04

Fan Recaps and Comments:

Navigation

other

songs

Search

Tools