Shows/2007-11-02

19 wikians attended: Dietspritezero DoctorWorm7 Elise Geekqueen Hotelmesopotamia Iserguy Kassi Lange17 Lincoln MartysSoloCareer MinkeyBoodle11 Mr knucklehead Person man Poutinstereo Rjhatl Sixtyeightstate StudioBueno TheCerealPoet TheGreatBerserker

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Links:

• Flickr set of the show.

Setlist:

• The Mesopotamians
• Damn Good Times
• Istanbul (Not Constantinople)
• Take Out The Trash
• Climbing The Walls
• In The Middle, In The Middle, In The Middle
• Phone Calls From The Dead (Richard Millhouse Sagan)
• I'm Impressed
• Birdhouse In Your Soul
• The Shadow Government
• Put Your Hand Inside The Puppet Head
• It's Not My Birthday
• Contrecoup
• Cyclops Rock
• Withered Hope
• Memo To Human Resources
• I Palindrome I
• Boss of Me
• XTC Vs. Adam Ant
• Meet James Ensor
• Particle Man
• Alphabet of Nations
• Experimental Film

encore 1:

• With The Dark
• Graveyard
• Doctor Worm

encore 2:

• Maybe I Know
• Spy
• Atlanta
• Twisting

They Might Be Giants
— with Oppenheimer opening —
Variety Playhouse in Atlanta, GA
November 2, 2007 at 9:00 PM

Fan Recaps and Comments:

Mr knucklehead:

Ok let me give a proper recap after listening to the recording so I can brush up on a few things. We drove the all the way from Alabama to see this show, so I was very excited. When we got to 5 Points we missed the turn, no big deal got there 40 minutes early. The Variety Playhouse is a very interesting venue, once a movie theater it has seats in the middle, also a good size balcony. Well I'm not sitting for my favorite band so we moved to the pit and stood for a good 40 minutes. The lights then dimmed and Oppenheimer hit the stage at the exact time the show time said it would start. Oppenheimer is a very interesting band, I like their sound, but some songs sound the same as others.

After waiting another 30 minutes after crappy country song after country song(many "Ok they are definitely coming after this one".) the lights went a little dim and then dimmer. Then there it was the legendary horn intro, TMBG took the stage, Marty ran out first, then Danny I believe, followed by Linnell who raised his veiny hand with a cup of coffee in it. Surprisingly enough Linnell actually looked very happy to be there. Dan came out then Flans who said, "Hi everyone" then proudly announced, "You guys are looking good, you guys are smelling good, it's exciting to be back here in Atlanta." The Mesopotamians was played very well, straight into the best version of Damn Good Times, it's better live then on any recording. Flansburgh announced that he thought it was going to be their best show ever before the song. I thought after that there would be some banter, but I was wrong. Straight into Istanbul, no 7 minute Dan Miller acoustic guitar solo, but there was a huge ending. Flansburgh remarked after Istanbul, "Yup it's a lock now." Then they both joked how they were just going to tank it. A very strong version of Take Out the Trash, Flan's voice was in full form. Climbing the Walls was nice and unexpected, much as In the Middle was as well. Phone Calls from the Dead was I think the best version I've heard with a great improv "children's song". Then to the trifecta, I'm Impressed, Birdhouse, Shadow Government. One of my favorite moments in Birdhouse was when I was jumping up and down I kept on stepping on this ladies foot(she had room to move back, I have no idea why she didn't), she kept on kneeing me I stopped. Puppet Head was nice since they probably won't play it again after this tour, much as Birthday and Contrecoup most likely won't either. I also loved the transition from Cyclops into Withered Hope, which is a very cool song live. After that came some awkward banter from Flans with this younger then the age limit girl who had been waving at They during the songs. I'll just let you listen to it yourselves. The rest of the set was nice, but felt rushed. The Graveyard might be the best one, if this version doesn't prove that Marty is a great drummer nothing will. Also the encores were very long, and Flansburgh tore his strings off and threw them into the crowd after Twisting.

lange17:

Not sure how to properly format so please clean up after me. I added Meet James Ensor and Boss of Me to the set list, not sure about the order. The Phone Calls from the Dead bit was with "Richard Milhouse Sagan", supposedly Carl Sagan's twin brother who died during child birth. Linnell and RMS bantered for a while, with Sagan getting off a "billions" joke. Then Sagan said he wanted to ride TMBG's coattails by singing a children's song he had come up with. The song went something like:

I can't brush my teeth / Because they all fell out / Here in my grave / Because I'm dead

RMS made a return appearance during Particle Man, when Linnell came up with a long, apparently improvised verse about the partially reanimated corpse of Richard Milhouse Sagan reaching his bony arm up through the coffin and through the ground to fight, only to have it broken off by the victorious Triangle Man. It was tremendous.

Generally I thought the boys were in good spirits, doing quite a bit of bantering with the crowd between songs. They seemed to play a number of songs slower than normal, not sure but that was my impression. Also, I checked email between Openheimer and the main event, and noticed that there was a wifi network called "This Might Be Wireless" active. All in all, a very good show.

LINCOLN:

The show rocked!!! They played a good variety of songs off their albums. I liked the way they got the crowd involved.