Shows/2004-05-29

15 wikians attended: Bryce Buttertownmayor Drypaintsigns ElfLady Frodolives JJRRutgers Kerosene Leecookson Mdith Megatron Redheadedsnippet TDK TheyCallMeDoctorWorm Torgo Zaph

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Links:

• Photos from the show

Setlist:

• Clap Your Hands
• New York City
• Birdhouse In Your Soul
• Why Does The Sun Shine?
• Memo To Human Resources
• Mammal
• Istanbul (Not Constantinople)
• Boss Of Me (short country version)
• In The Middle
• Wearing A Raincoat
• The Guitar
• Au Contraire
• Spin The Dial
• Older
• Stalk Of Wheat
• Particle Man
• Robot Parade
• Experimental Film
• Spine
• Violin
• Doctor Worm

Encore:

• She's An Angel
• John Lee Supertaster
• Fingertips

They Might Be Giants
Maryland Science Center in Baltimore, MD
May 29, 2004 at 5:00 PM

Fan Recaps and Comments:

Bryce:

It was a perfect day for an outdoor show. The science center offers a spectacular view of Baltimore's Inner Harbor, and the late afternoon sun gave everything a very Idlewild vibe. I hung out with some fellow fans and declared it a great time before TMBG even appeared.

At soundcheck they played Experimental Film. After they finished, they still hadn't soundchecked the accordion, so Linnell put it on and played a few bars of "Carrie Anne" by the Hollies, but singing it as "Hey, Marty Beller, what's your game now? Can anybody play?"

And speaking of Mr. Beller, he did a good job. Dan Miller was kind of coaching him on the "Darkened Corridors" crescendo, and Flans was giving him a lot of cues throughout the show. But he really got into Older, and I think that enthusiasm will make him a great TMBG drummer. Hickey's a tough act to follow, but Marty'll be excellent once he knows the songs inside and out.

JF: One of the good things about playing a science center is that they know how to figure out what time the sun will go down on the stage.

I tried making a LiveJournal phonepost during Spin the Dial, but egad does it sound awful. The PA stomped all over my little cell phone mic like Godzilla on a gecko. But you're not missing much anyway; Flans was really struggling to salvage it from an utter lack of real songs. There was a bit of classical choral stuff early on, but only ads after that.

JF: It appears that ClearChannel owns all the stations... Now I'm not positive that they're promoting the show, but I don't understand why I didn't get the memo not to do the radio thing at twenty after.

They did come across Prairie Home Companion at the very end. Linnell did a very brief impression ("Please, sing along with this one"), and Flans told the story of how they had "said stuff about Garrison Keillor" while unknowingly being recorded by Minnesota Public Radio. But they also claimed "We dig Garrison Keillor a lot."

The second Triangle Man verse of Particle Man ended something like this (all sung, with minor-key accompaniment on accordion):

JL: They have a fight...

JF: They have a fight...

JL: They have a fight...

JF: They have a fight...

JL: It's not their first fight...

JF: Not their first fight...

JL: When will they ever stop fighting...

JF: Always fighting...

JL: It's a very acrimonious relationship...

JF: It's not cool...

It wasn't the rockin'est show I've ever been to, but it was a lot of fun. My favorite performance was probably Robot Parade, which was full-band but not the heavy metal version. And I discovered I prefer the country version of Boss of Me. I stuck around for the laser light show after the concert, which was kind of nifty if you can embrace the cheesiness.

Redheadedsnippet:

During the soundcheck, they played the then-brand new Experimental Film. So I got to hear it twice. Twice. TWICE. Linnell wore his glasses for the soundcheck, but not for the concert.

Clap Your Hands included "Everybody scream! Now just the people in the back. Now just the ladies in the back."

Flans: This next song features the accordion.

Linnell: Noooo...

Flans: It usually features the accordion.

Linnell: No, I'm too grumpy. 

Audience: Awww!

Linnell: No, no, don't make it worse. (*huuuge smile*)

Flans: Let's get a spotlight on the accordion, though.

Flans gave away free Indestructible Object promotional matches. Since there were plenty of families out there, he added a safety warning. "Kids, these are not matches you can touch or play with."

The "hillbilly" version of Boss of Me was fun. I'd never heard it before.

Hearing Wearing a Raincoat live was very exciting. Linnell seemed to forget the words in a few spots. Beforehand:

Linnell: This next song, it's sort of backwards. Go home and play it backwards, and it'll all make sense...just like Memento.

Aluminum, copper, and wood are all gases on the sun. The sun is also "a giant disco ball." And the nuclear reactions were between "estrogen, estrogen, estrogen, and more estrogen."

They did the "Future of Sound" thing during The Guitar.

Flans: Twenty years from now, you'll be driving down the road, in your spacepod, with your five kids, listening to a mix tape. And it will be a chip in your eye. And your kids'll be like "Check this out"...and it'll sound like this. And you'll hate it...more than you can imagine.

Au Contraire intro:

Flans: We're far enough away from Canada that we can talk about Canada. This next song contains some French-Canadian words.

Me and my fellow French-Canadians: YEAH!

JF: There's a lot of anti-French sentiment going around, because they were right about the war...so this song has French-Canadian phrases in the middle.

My brother: POUTINE!

Strangely, there was no pause during Older. But I got to see Marty Beller stand up and play using huge mallets. It was quite charming.

Before Memo to Human Resources, Flans said it was about "the guy at your office who never talks to you." (guy in the audience: "So...everyone, then.")

They did the wave during Violin, of course. I love the face Linnell makes when he does the "speck of dust" part.

The Wave practice run went a little different than usual, since the venue was outside:

JF: Now, this is different, because we usually have a back wall.

JL: We've never played with a crowd that goes out to infinity before.

After the song, Flans tried to point out some guy in a boat at the harbor.

JF: Hey, guy with the small boat!. No, he's not...he's not acknowledging.

JL: He doesn't want to acknowledge that his boat is small.

At some point, Linnell encouraged everyone to "go jump in the water." No one budged.

JL: We just wanted to see if we could make you do what we say.

At some point, they commented that they could hear a weird humming noise.

JF: What is that?

Audience: It's the cicadas!

JF: I think it's the drummer.

JL: Blame it on the new guy, blame it on the new guy...

Elsewhere during the show:

JF: Only once every seventeen years do They Might Be Giants play at a science center. You know, I heard that cicadas actually have a tympanic chamber inside them that makes that noise. It's got a Latin name. It's tympanus thingius cicadaus.

And later: "I knew, when I saw you 3,000 people in front of the stage, that it would be a love that would never last, because I have ADD. I can't remember what I just said...I can't remember what I just said."

During Fingertips, they shot off the cannons during "I Walk Along Darkened Corridors" for a surprise twist. Nice. 

After the show, we went looking for our promotional matches, since Flans had promised them to us all. We managed to get some, and then I expressed my desire/extreme need to go over and see if Flansy or anyone had stuck around to sign things.

My friend Lizzie got Flans's guitar pick, and had him sign her wallet. 

I had him sign my Indestructible Object liner notes. Then he looked up at me, observed my Indestructible Object t-shirt, and said "Hey, nice shirt. I haven't seen one of those yet."  I was too star-struck/shy to find the words to say anything, but I grinned as wide as I could. None of my group had any interest in the laser show, so we headed out, fully satisfied.