Shows/2011-09-18
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Setlist:
- Sneaking Intro
- The Guitar
- When Will You Die
- Celebration
- Ana Ng
- Judy Is Your Viet Nam
- We Live In A Dump
- Can't Keep Johnny Down
- Clap Your Hands
- Battle For The Planet Of The Apes
- Cloisonné
- The Mesopotamians
- Your Racist Friend
- Crazy Train
- Spoiler Alert by the Avatars of They
- Free Ride
- Older
- You Probably Get That A Lot
- Meet James Ensor
- Turn Around
- Withered Hope
- Istanbul (Not Constantinople)
- Alt Intros
- We're The Replacements
Encore 1
Encore 2
On Setlist But Not Played:
They Might Be Giants
— with Jonathan Coulton opening —
The Intersection in Grand Rapids, MI
September 18, 2011 at 7:30 PM
Fan Recaps and Comments:
My second TMBG show at the Intersection and 5th overall. This was show definitely 2nd best (only to Lincoln Park Zoo). It was the first TMBG show for my girlfriend and her brother, so to commemorate she made by hand a group of William Allen White heads that we waved and pumped for most of the songs. Her efforts were definitely legitimized when Flansburgh made a point of mentioning the "creepy old man faces" to the whole audience, which resulted in a spotlight being shone towards us. ("And there were women involved in that. My goodness".)
Banter involved Flans having a frog in his throat and claiming to sound like his father. (In a gravelly voice: "John, please keep it down. What you're doing is very inconsiderate".) When he went to get a drink of water, Linnell killed time by continuing to do an impression of Flansburgh's father. "Your mother and I are coming to see your show. We're staying at the Essex. We'd like to see you but we don't want to visit Brooklyn. So you should come out to where we are."
Flans later lamented that while most of their "rock and roll dreams" have come to pass, they still have yet to achieve the lasers and thunder of a ZZ Top show. "They had a naked lady projected on the roof...made out of lasers! ...And they have great songs too.") Linnell mentioned visiting the Gerald R. Ford museum and being impressed. (Flans: But did it have a naked lady made of lasers? Linnell: ... Yes. You guys know what I'm talking about.) Flans tried to urge Linnell to introduce the next song "Can't Bring Johnny Down" as Henry Kissinger, but Linnell said that he was saving that for the puppet show.
The Apes won this Battle, much to the disdain of the People. Flans: "Our new goal is to create as much animosity between the crowd as possible". Also, at some point, when the video projector looping the large man's torso drinking beer, Flans joked that it was a live feed from the parking lot. "Something both human and ape. Let's pray that the camera doesn't pan up".
The Avatars introduced themselves as Gerald Ford (Blue, who kept professing his dream of a world of harmony between people and apes) and Henry Kissinger (a dead on impression by Green, worried about the tension caused by apes and people living together). After thanking TMBG for opening, the Avatars complained that TMBG were very needy. Blue: "No number 3 on the Bus. Or Number 4. Or Number 5...Number 5 is puppets. No puppets on the bus." There was also a brief appearance by "Meg Ryan".
While introducing the Mesopotamians, Linnell mentioned the back-handed compliments in the Join Us reviews directed at how great it was, "Not like that last one...". Flans concurred: "They were like 'No! It's really good!" He also said that his wife agreed with the reviews, and thought The Else wasn't that good. People began to boo this. Flans said "Yeah! And I have to live with that!" Linnell deadpanned that they would be releasing her cell number so that fans could complain to her.
The Alternative Intros were great, with Marty and Danny playing a arrhythmical base while Linnell played the Kaoss pad and Flans and Dan made weird noises on their guitars (at one point Flans was using his microphone stand as a slide). Flans gave all the band members humorous political figure pseudonyms but I can't remember them at this time. Part of me wants to say that Henry Kissenger and Gerald Ford were included again, but I'm not sure whether that is true.
While waiting for the encore, the people and apes began chanting again. After Lie Still Little Bottle was played, Flans joked that he was surprised that he couldn't hear the apes. "You're just going to sit back and be smug and comfortable?" which of course prompted the apes to try to prove him wrong.
After thanking the crew, they were very appreciative of the great energy of the crowd and began naming people in the front row one by one. There was McBeardy, Buckethead, Mrs. Lady and one or two others I forget.
After the last encore, Flans and Marty began handing out the cling stickers to the audience. I tried to give Flans my William Allen White head and he seemed annoyed (understandably, since his hands were full of stickers and also because he probably didn't really want it, but I set it on the stage by his feet and he placed it on Linnell's keyboard. I felt bad about being "that fan", but I could tell they had gotten a kick out of it and felt like giving it to them. Oh well. It was a great show. All of my friends that I convinced to come check out the show had a great time and I felt happy to have share it with them. I'm really pumped to see them again next time they come through Grand Rapids (or at least MI). Hopefully it doesn't take another 4 years. --Francisco 00:28, 20 September 2011 (EDT)
