Shows/2024-12-06
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Links:
- Photos & review from WXPN
- Photos & review from Independent Philly
Setlist:
Set 1:
- Synopsis For Latecomers
- No One Knows My Plan
- Snail Shell
- Out Of Jail
- Unrelated Thing
- Let Me Tell You About My Operation
- Museum Of Idiots
- Dirt Bike
- Spider
- Spy / The Swing Era
- Particle Man
- Meet James Ensor
- The Famous Polka
- stelluB
- Working Undercover For The Man
- When Will You Die
- Brontosaurus
Set 2:
- Video of stelluB reversed
- Memo To Human Resources
- Man, It's So Loud In Here
- Moonbeam Rays
- The Darlings Of Lumberland
- Where Your Eyes Don't Go
- Lie Still, Little Bottle
- Number Three
- Can't Keep Johnny Down
- Twisting
- Science Is Real
- Dead
- Damn Good Times
- Doctor Worm
Encore 1:
Encore 2:
They Might Be Giants
Union Transfer in Philadelphia, PA
December 6, 2024
Fan Recaps and Comments:
UhaugMan TMBG absolutely killed it at the first show of theirs I've seen. My dedication to John Henry (Dirt Bike in particular) is somewhat fanatic, so I'm super pumped they played a bunch of tunes off that album. I'm not sure how much digging the TMBW community has done on this, but my favorite part of the show was definitely Spy, where they segued into a cover version of a Time magazine promotional flexi. By some freak coincidence, I actually have 2 copies of that disc in my vinyl collection, which makes that performance probably one of the most improbable things I've ever witnessed. stelluB was stellar; I can't wait to see what gimmicks they add to their setlist on future tours.
Spacehydra Forgive me for giving a little bit of a backstory to this recap, but it was a crazy whirlwind of an experience. I asked a group of friends if anyone would be willing to drop everything and see TMBG with me for this show, as I found 30 dollar tickets for this previously sold out performance the day before the show. Never mind the fact that it was the Friday before FINALS WEEK. TMBG takes priority!! My friend Chrissy, someone who I wasn't the closest with despite playing D&D with her for a year or so, messaged me that she wanted to go with me despite not knowing much about the band! We live an hour and a half away from Philly, so we left as soon as we got out of classes and headed straight for the show. Finding parking was a bit of a nightmare, and Chrissy ended up completely tearing the engine splash guard off of her tiny car while parking. NO MATTER. WE HAD A SHOW TO SEE.
We got into the venue about 15 minutes before the show started. I was tickled by the age distribution in the audience -- though I saw some kids, Chrissy and I were the youngest (20 and 21) people in eyeshot. I had heard a rumor that John Henry was the spotlight album for the night, and I was PUMPED as that is my favorite album.
After they opened, they had a little bit of what I would like to respectfully call "Old Man Banter". JL talked about going to target, and JF talked about getting a new phone case. Riveting stuff, LOL. They also spoke a little bit about the circumstances for the production of John Henry.
Speaking of show banter, at one point during the show, JF made a reference to the recent United Healthcare CEO shooting... to rigorous applause from the audience. JF and JL seemed shocked by the response, and JL said something along the lines of "oh i don’t know if that’s the right reaction...". JF proceeded to joke about how the assassin looked like Timothée Chalamet.
When JL grabbed the accordion to play Museum of Idiots, I got... very excited... and let out a bit of an excited yell. I'm not a loud person. I got some looks, though I may have made that up because I was embarrassed.
JF made a joke about Working Undercover For The Man being off of the album John Henry... or at least I'm pretty sure it was a joke. I turned to Chrissy after he said this and declared "NO IT ISN'T??" so I can only hope it was a joke.
During the intermission, they played two songs of note to me: "Not Like Us", which was a fantastic and unexpected shock. What felt like the whole audience sang along to this one. I'm ashamed to admit this was my first time hearing the whole song. Following "Not Like Us", they played "Linus and Lucy", which was a delightfully insane dichotomy. Chrissy, at some point during the ten or so minute break, turned to me and told me that she was having SO MUCH FUN, and that she had been completely sold since they played Snail Shell, the third song in the set. This was obviously delightful to me, as the knowledge that you had helped create a new TMBG fan is the greatest news a person can ever receive.
Man, It's So Loud In Here was the first song I didn't immediately recognize, as it was the first time I had heard the "rock version" as opposed to Mink Car's "dance club" version. I loved it!!
I AM DELIGHTED TO HAVE BEEN AT A STICK SHOW. I'm not the tallest, so I didn't initially see the stick coming to the stage. I heard a chant start, but I couldn't quite make out the words. Chrissy turned to me and asked "WHY IS EVERYONE CHANTING 'THE STICK'??" to which I responded "OH MY GOD THE STICK IS HERE???".
Right before Dead, we were instructed to take out our phones, take a selfie with the band, and post them on Bluesky, tagging Black Francis. None of my selfies turned out as I am quite short and couldn't get the band in shot. :( However, we kept our phones out, turned on the flashlight, and the whole audience sang along to Dead which is always such a cool experience.
The last four songs in the set were probably the highest energy of the whole show. The loooooong rendition of Istanbul (Not Constantinople) gave every horn the opportunity to do a deeply impressive solo. Ending the show on Birdhouse In Your Soul felt right. I left the show glowing and raving, and Chrissy revealed at this point exactly how much fun she had. !! :D
When we got back to Chrissy's car, we realized the extent of damage that had been done. CVS was closed, so getting duct tape wasn't an option. We ended up pulling into a gravel lot outside of what genuinely looked like a speakeasy to try to repair it by shoving the plastic back up, but the damage was too extensive. DON'T WORRY THOUGH. I'M A KNITTER WHO BRINGS THEIR PROJECT BAG EVERYWHERE. I used some scrap yarn from my current project to quintuple tie the damaged engine splash cover to the chassis. We were genuinely doubtful this would survive the 60 miles on the Pennsylvania Turnpike we had to traverse back to campus... BUT IT DID.
All in all, a lovely wonderful fantastic amazing night. Chrissy's first show, my first "real" show (I had seen TMBG open for the Sparks, but never a true show like this one!!), and a chance to put my McGyver skills to the test. This was WELL worth sacrificing an evening of studying.
