Shows/2023-03-08
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Setlist:
Set 1:
- They Might Be Giants (Alt. Version) Intro
- Fingertips
- Letterbox
- Synopsis For Latecomers
- Brontosaurus
- The Guitar
- Twisting
- Someone Keeps Moving My Chair
- Women & Men
- The Darlings Of Lumberland
- Hot Cha
- Spy
- stelluB
- Moonbeam Rays
- Road Movie To Berlin
- Doctor Worm
Set 2:
- Video of stelluB reversed
- Hearing Aid (Alt. Version) Intro
- Minimum Wage
- I Can't Remember The Dream
- Man, It's So Loud In Here
- Your Racist Friend
- We Want A Rock
- Dead
- Number Three
- Whistling In The Dark
- Lucky Ball & Chain
- Istanbul (Not Constantinople)
- Particle Man
- Theme From Flood
- Birdhouse In Your Soul
Encore 1:
Encore 2:
On the setlist but not played:
They Might Be Giants
The Ritz in Raleigh, NC
March 8, 2023
Fan Recaps and Comments:
Review by Mike Paquin, Louder Hailer, Mar. 12, 2023:
Later referring to themselves as a “They Might Be Giants-sounding cover band,” TMBG performed two full sets with a brief intermission between them and no opening act. The sold-out audience at The Ritz was primarily people who had purchased TMBG’s albums when they were originally released and were extremely enthusiastic for the entire evening. The band came on stage after a recorded version of their They Might Be Giants “Intro” and immediately started with the musical shenanigans the band is so well known for.Highlights of the evening included a well-performed version of “Number Three” from their debut album, a song the band said they butchered badly at their show in Richmond, VA the evening before. A reimagined version of “Whistling in the Dark” followed. If the Devil were to be found skipping down a dark and eerie path on a moonless night, this is unquestionably the song he’d be singing in this exact creepy way. The second set closed out with their hit “Birdhouse in Your Soul” followed by two encores that closed the evening with the lighthearted death letter of a song, “When Will You Die.”
John Flansburgh welcomed everyone to the show and promised an amazing evening because the pre-show soundcheck was completely miserable. If this equation is true, the soundcheck must have been historically terrible because old favorites and new songs sounded fresh and alive, keeping the audience entranced and moving all night long. “Fingertips” from the Apollo 18 album is a song only TMBG can open up with. Chaotic and reeling like an abstract painting, the addition of a relatively simple light show shining on a very crowded stage filled with musical equipment made the audience’s eyes uncertain where to focus amongst the spiraling sound and vision. Songs “Letterbox” and “Synopsis for Latecomers” from the band’s latest album Book followed, clarifying Flood would be interspersed with music from other albums throughout the night.
The horn section entered the stage for “Brontosaurus” and added a whole new brassy and fun dimension to the song. TMBG remained true to the original for most of their songs including “Hot Cha” and “Road Movie to Berlin” but when it came to “Sapphire Bullets of Pure Love,” the band recorded themselves performing the song and choreography in reverse. Why? To open up the second set of the evening the recording was played back in reverse and quite amazingly the reversed recording was quite close to a proper performance of the song! Strange, wacky, dangerous to try, and true-to-form for TMBG.
