Shows/2007-05-05a
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Setlist:
- Damn Good Times
- I'm Impressed
- Take Out The Trash
- Ana Ng
- Asbury Park
- Experimental Film
- Careful What You Pack
- Fingertips
- Birdhouse In Your Soul
- The Shadow Government
- Phone Calls From The Dead
- We're The Replacements
- New York City
- Upside Down Frown
- Meet James Ensor
- Particle Man
- The Cap'm
- Why Does The Sun Shine?
- Withered Hope
- Memo To Human Resources
- Alphabet Of Nations
- Doctor Worm
- Drink!
- The Mesopotamians
Encore:
Encore 2:
They Might Be Giants
Iron Horse in Northampton, MA
May 5, 2007 at 7:00 PM
Fan Recaps and Comments:
Dave:
So not only was this my first TMBG concert, it was my first concert ever. And I'm excited to say this. Flans said that they played at the Iron Horse once before, "like 19 or 20 years ago, then (they) played again, and then (they) never came back ever again." He mentioned there was a picture of a "shockingly young" TMBG on the wall, near an audience member who enthusiastically indicated the picture in question near him.
I really liked all of the tunes from The Else. They played about nine songs from the album. They were all really awesome (contrary to what this said before this edit ... I've since heard the songs again! Whee!). I'm pretty excited about the album. Just too cool.
Flans introduced Fingertips with (something like) the following: "This is an old traditional folk song some of you may or may not know. So feel free to sing along if you know it." Instead of concluding Fingertips with "I Walk Along Darkened Corridors," they cut immediately from the whispered Fingertips to the beginning of Birdhouse. Very sweet.
Phone Calls from the Dead didn't seem to go over too great. I think the audience just wasn't expecting a bit like that, because I think it was pretty funny. We were told that a high tech fiber-optic cable was wired into the nearest graveyard, and that lines were open. We received a call from Calvin Coolidge, as portrayed by trumpet noises from Linnell's keyboard. Mr. Coolidge was quite vulgar, apparently, and Flans had to warn him to tone down his language. Flans also explained to us that Mr. Coolidge was the mother in the beloved Peanuts television specials after his presidency.
The Audience Participation Portion Of The Show featured Particle Man. The audience was instructed to keep clapping throughout the song, "no matter what goes on up here on stage." Towards the end of the song, before Triangle Man and Person Man had their showdown, Linnell, all alone on the accordion, began to change the tempo, speeding and slowing down, which destroyed the audience's timing, which everyone got a kick out of.
I was blown away by Why Does the Sun Shine, because the only version I'd ever heard was the one off the LP, with just the mellow and slow version. TREMENDOUS.
When they came back for the encore, a bunch of people in the back shouted out "ISTANBUL!" So they did it, but at about a billion times the speed of the album version. It got to the point where Linnell was dropping halves of some words and all of others -- "People just liked it better that way" became "pee lye bet ay." I don't think this was an accident, because each chopped word was still clearly pronounced. I don't know if that's how they do the song live now, so ... yeah. I think that the super fast and clipped performance of the song was a perfect response to the shouters in the audience -- they certainly didn't want the song to be over in 40 seconds.
Yeah, though. I knew the show was promoting The Else, but I was pleasantly surprised by how many songs they did that I already knew. I expected A LOT less old stuff. But then again, I'm new with concerts. I only wish I could have afforded to go to both shows ...
I hope they come back this way again soon. It was an experience I won't soon forget.
This was my first concert, and I liked it a lot. My mother and I arrived about an hour early, and we got seats in what might be considered the second row, Flans-side. I generally loved hearing Them and especially was impressed by how much better Memo To Human Resources sounds live. I thought that in a lot of the new songs it was much harder to understand the lyrics- for one (Withered Hope?) I could barely understand anything, and The Shadow Government wasn't much better. That was probably my pick for low point of the show. I guess They were right in Their description of it as "songs you haven't heard, songs we don't know how to play", which was mentioned several times. My favorite song is Birdhouse, and I always love hearing a version of the song different from the one that seems to be on every album, down to the same faint noise at the beginning, though it did disappoint me a little that the first line was chopped off to make it merge with Fingertips and They didn't introduce it or anything, playing one song right before and one right after. But I still loved it the best. Crowd reactions to it and Ana Ng were especially favorable.
Before New York City: introduced everyone in the band as (name) from New York City, said it was a cover of a song they'd heard on the radio driving there
Why Does The Sun Shine?: along with everything else wood and wood chips were gases on the sun, failed foreign policy/failed domestic policy/failed presidency caused the reactions
Drink! was described as a quiet song, quieter if you close your eyes, quieter still if you turn around. It was called They Might Be Giants' anthem. Everybody was told to stand up, put a fist in the air (right or left, we give you choices (tangent on choices and the government))and say Drink drink! every time Flans sang Drink!.
The Mesopotamians was the last song, right after Drink! It was called They Might Be Giants' other anthem. Everybody was still standing.
Phone Calls From The Dead: just an amusing note that Dave didn't have, a couple Peanuts specials were listed, one was "Here Comes The Pumpkin"
At the end of the main set, Flans introduced himself as Eleanor Roosevelt and Linnell as DJ Squiggles.
Linnell's cut his hair recently- it's not as wavy and cute anymore.
And that's about all I can think of for now, though I may add more at another time. I didn't want it to end. I hope I can go to another concert soon.
