Shows/1994-12-01
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Setlist: (Incomplete and possibly out of order)
They Might Be Giants
— with Frank Black opening —
Memorial Hall in Kansas City, KS
December 1, 1994
Fan Recaps and Comments:
2,087 people were in attendance.
Review by Brian McTavish, The Kansas City Star (Kansas City, KS), Dec. 3, 1994:
The charm was gone.So was the personal thrill of seeing They Might Be Giants do its quirky, alternative pop-rock thing Thursday night at Memorial Hall.
Black delivered a relaxed version of his top-notch song "Headache," a pop stunner.. that's both raucous and refined on his latest album, "Teenager of the Year." But the set's standouts were two covers from another era, "The Duke of Earl" and "Handyman," which glowed with Black's earnest appreciation for them.
That's because what the Giants do on stage has changed in the last two years - and that's not good.
The Brooklyn duo of singer/songwriters John Flansburgh (guitar) and John Linnell (accordion) surfaced on the national scene in 1986. They captivated a cult following with eccentric lyrics and ebullient melodies backed by a drum machine.
Under cover of ridiculousness the harmo-nizing Johns struck a subtle chord in mod-ern music fans restless (although they may not have known it) for intimate songs about puppet heads, shoehorns with teeth and purple toupees.
These days, for whatever reason, They Might Be Giants is a six-piece touring band with a big, noisy, dissonant, jamming sound that unwisely obscures the personalities of the two original characters.
Thursday's show began promisingly with Flansburgh and Linnell performing by themselves in front of a curtain. It's irresistible to note that when the curtain was raised and they joined their full band, the two had to take a step backward.
Regardless, 2,087 young fans obviously enjoyed themselves, even forming crazy conga lines at one point. The large crowd hopped on the dance floor and on itself during such gems as "Don't Let's Start" and "Ana Ng." That those songs and others were merely dismembered instead of being completely gutted by the sonic monster on stage was unintentional testament to their greatness.
Frank Black, formerly Black Francis of the Pixies, looked cool with three guitars slung around his body during his solo opening set. Clear influences included rock archetypes John Lennon, Bob Dylan and Lou Reed.
