Shows/2025-11-21
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Links:
- Review and photos from Cleveland Scene
- Review and photos from Cleveland Magazine
Setlist:
Set 1:
- Stompy Intro
- Subliminal
- Snail Shell
- Out Of Jail
- Unrelated Thing
- Meet James Ensor
- The Famous Polka
- Stuff Is Way
- Synopsis For Latecomers
- No One Knows My Plan
- Spy
- Dirt Bike
- You Probably Get That A Lot
- stelluB
- Istanbul (Not Constantinople)
Set 2:
- Video of stelluB reversed
- What Nut Intro
- Dead
- Memo To Human Resources
- Everything Is Catching On Fire sung by Flans over the opening lines (first by accident and then on purpose)
- Can't Keep Johnny Down
- Shoehorn With Teeth
- Brontosaurus
- Lie Still, Little Bottle
- Let Me Tell You About My Operation
- The Darlings Of Lumberland
- Where Your Eyes Don't Go
- Moonbeam Rays
- 2082
- Damn Good Times
- Particle Man
- Birdhouse In Your Soul
Encore 1:
Encore 2:
They Might Be Giants
Agora Theatre in Cleveland, OH
November 21, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Fan Recaps and Comments:
First TMBG concert in several years after so much unusual times, since I've moved out of the NY area.
So Agora is in walking distance of the RTA Rapid stop, specifically at East 51st Street on the HealthLine and had no problem going in or back to my hotel.
A decent set with an abundant amount of deep cuts, especially since a lot of John Henry songs were done.
Funny highlight - Memo had two false starts; first time around Flansy sang "Everything Is Catching On Fire" unintentionally, and then deliberately the second time around, before performing it regularly.
First time experiencing "The Stick".
Not much to say since it was rather enjoyable.
- This show was SO. MUCH. FUN. I stood on the Linnell side, and managed to get to the very front! My dad asked me what the opener would be. I said that if it were a John Henry show, Subliminal would be an amazing opener. And sure enough, I was right! I didn't get to hear it at the JH show I saw in Boston, so that alone made my night! But man, John Henry with the horns is a magical experience. The Fingertips accident was really funny. After the show, I ended up getting a signed setlist from Marty!!! I've only seen TMBG three times, but this show was definitely my favorite so far.
- Fun night. Any night with a predominantly John Henry mix is bound to be.
- A few moments I'd like to remember:
- Flansburgh's repeated insistence that today was Black Friday(?)
- As the fancy pro photographers up front had to leave, JL went [cartoonishly blubbery voice] I'll miss you guys... [pointing at one of them] I'll miss you the most!!! [beat] [completely deadpan] That's from the Wizard of Oz.
- Local flavor discussion of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (admit the Monkees!!) and losing Grammys to dead people, which sparked unexpectedly prompt and coordinated "GRAMMYS SUCK!" and "GRAMMYS RULE!" chants from a portion of the audience.
- Stellub was presented as an incisive challenge to Depeche Mode "at Depeche Mode dot com"
- Play confusing games, win confusing prizes: They spotted a man up front singing all the backwards Stellub lyrics along and he was presented with a signed John Henry Demos vinyl for this feat.
- Before You Probably Get That A Lot, Flans worried he'd mess up the intro. "There are no mistakes," JL said. Then: "Only wrong ways of listening." This got a VERY BIG laugh from Dan Miller, up front at the keyboard. A few backing vocals lyrics were swapped around, but otherwise all went well as far as I could tell.
- JF used the Spy "stop" gesture to put an end to the Memo/Fingertips cacophony (the second, intentional time).
- Overall, started loud, GOT LOUDER. Fantastic for rockin', less so for audience socialization. But I got more of that the next day.