Shows/2007-05-04
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Setlist:
- Damn Good Times
- I'm Impressed
- Take Out The Trash
- Ana Ng
- Asbury Park
- Experimental Film
- Higher Ground
- Fingertips
- Birdhouse In Your Soul
- The Shadow Government
- Phone Calls From The Dead
- We're The Replacements
- New York City
- Contrecoup
- Meet James Ensor
- Particle Man
- Careful What You Pack
- Why Does The Sun Shine?
- Withered Hope
- The Cap'm
- Memo To Human Resources
- Alphabet Of Nations
- Doctor Worm
- Drink!
- The Mesopotamians
Encore 1:
Encore 2:
They Might Be Giants
— with Nighttime Gallagher opening —
Higher Ground in South Burlington, VT
May 4, 2007 at 8:00 PM
Fan Recaps and Comments:
New venue song Higher Ground was a big hit with the crowd. John Flansburgh sings it, as he sang Live Free Or Die at The Stone Church. It featured the line, "We'll be your guide, we'll be your sherpa," but I was unable to write fast enough to transcribe the rest of this simple song. It dealt with the idea of higher ground as a concept, although the lyrics indicated that after guiding us to said higher ground, the narrator would then abandon us.
The band seemed to have hit their groove last night. They loved the venue, the crowd was enthusiastic, and the music was solid. While waiting to begin Alphabet Of Nations Flans spontaneously sang about how the show had come to a dead stop and the audience cheered anyway. The only faux pas the crowd seemed at all unforgiving about was during Phone Calls From The Dead when 'Eleanor Roosevelt' (enacted from offstage by John Flansburgh's falsetto) declared, "It's cold here! I don't like Vermont!" 'She' also wanted to know: "Why did you move my body?" but never received an answer. The bit seems to be getting tighter and funnier.
The band and crew had new toys tonight: pink sparkly spray cans filled with odorless smoke. Roadies would spray them into the backs of onstage fans spontaneously to dispense a stage-washing cloud to catch all the spotlights until it dissipated. Flans, if he wasn't doing anything during a song, would pick up his can and gleefully saturate stage left in fog. Cans were set out for all the band members before the show, right alongside setlists, water, and small towels as if they were essentials of onstage life. During the show John Linnell asked Flans what the smoke was. Flans replied, "Poison gas," while from offstage their tour manager offered, "Rat poison!"
The confetti cannons went off during Doctor Worm to the delight of the crowd. Before the show I'd seen Iggy pressurizing them with an air compressor and joking with some of the fans about how they were filled with broken glass. "What's the worst that can happen?" he said with a grin.
A venue staff member passed out posters after the show that fold up like an accordion, with the date of the show and venue name on the end. Viewed from one angle the words They Might Be Giants appear, and seen from the opposite side it shows two windmills. The guy handing them out remarked, "That's where the name comes from: 'Don Quixote.'"
I came here to say pretty much exactly what Kassi did, so pardon me if Im a little repetitive. After years of itching to go to a TMBG show, I finally did, and it was everything I expected from them. They were absolutely hilarious that night and their performance was excellent.
The Higher Ground Ballroom is relatively small, and it wasn't overly packed really, so I was able to get fairly close to the stage. Being that close to the Johns was for me a crazy sensation, though my ears are still killing me from being that close to the speakers.
Anyways, the new songs from The Else sounded great. From the start, I was impressed with I'm Impressed. They were all very catchy (i'm still singing them), though at this point it seems like the lyrics aren't quite as clever as their old songs once had. This show was very personalized for the venue. Flansy said it was their first time at the venue but they really want to return again some day. They then played Higher Ground, which was great.
Every song other than the new ones were big crowd pleasers and among everybody's favorites, so the crowd was excited the whole way through. Perhaps the highlight of the show for me was the Phone Calls From The Dead gig, which Kassi described. I always found JF's high-pitched voice funny, and when he said "I don't like Vermont" I cracked up.
Contrecoup seemed to have a new verse, so we can assume that it was redone for the album. The lights were also done very well; for example, during Why Does The Sun Shine? bright white lights were shined into our eyes to illustrate how bright the sun is. Flansburgh also said, "Ladies and people of Burlington, Vermont: The heat and light of the sun come from the nuclear reactions caused by a failed foreign policy, a failed domestic policy and a failed presidency." Doctor Worm was among the most amazing points in the show, with the confetti cannons. And Drink! was very fun-- the "sing-along" part of the show, in which we were supposed to close our eyes, spin in circles and yell "Drink drink!" whenever Flans said "Drink!" while throwing our fists in the air.
At one point in the show, JF told a long story about how the spotlights attract flies to them and at one show a fly flew into his mouth while performing in front of 20,000 people. He then commented something like, "I just felt like sharing that with you... Stories with no punchlines, it's what I'm best at."
At another point the Johns conversed about what the smoke spraying cans sprayed, as Kassi described above. JF said, "I've got some theories I'll share on the bus with you", to which JL said, "There might not BE an 'on the bus'".
Apparently They had been keeping a beard count of the guys doing the lights. JF counted one beard at this show, making the score 2 beards and 2 nonbeards at the shows they'd done so far. "Who will win?"
Oh yeah and Dan Miller's "Miller Time" intro to Istanbul was amazing as always.
I was a little disapointed that they didn't have us hold up our cellphones (i wanted to experience that).. I also wanted to get an autograph but I didn't see them after the show.
I picked up one of the posters Kassi mentioned. They're really cool and Im not sure whether to fold it up or to keep it as it is.
Anyways, sorry for writing so much about nothing-- I know I wrote more than Kassi and said less, haha. Well, you should go to a show on this tour if possible. :)
