Shows/2000-04-27

Fan Recaps and Comments:

Tisher:

April 10, 2005 - This show was being filmed for (live?) broadcast over the internet by a (now defunct) internet phone company called Cahoots. It was part of a series of shows at the Bowery Ballroom with themes. The gimmick this show was that the songs would be performed in alphabetical order. "Numbers go first," we were told. Partway through the setlist (After "She's An Angel" I think) Flansburgh explained that we shouldn't be confused because the songs weren't going to be played in alphabetical order by their actual names, but by their setlist abbreviations.

After "Chess Piece Face" Flansburgh told us that they had had a really cool segue into "Cowtown" with the horns worked up. However, he had to ruin it to tell us about how once, back when crowd surfing was popular, some guy had been hoisted up during a more uptempo number and then remained surfing during "Chess Piece Face" which he thought was hilariously inappropriate. The Johns told a similar anecdote years back on Leno's show.

I believe Flansburgh informed that this was the unveiling of the the full version of "Boss of Me".

During "Hide Away Folk Family" Flansurgh intructed the audience to scream as if in Hell during the bridge.

When they returned for the encores they told us they were finished with the alphabetical order and would just play what they felt like.

Goodtimes2

I watched the brodcast (not live) about a week ago (i hope i can write about this show) They started out with some kinda rock version of 4 of 2. As Flans is talking about Cahoots and the setlist, all of a sudden he screams the first part of She's Actual Size! Then the sorta rare preformance of It's Not my Birthday.

Going into the middle part of the show, they start playing some old songs like The Guitar, Hide Away Folk Family, Istanbul, James K Polk, We're The Replacements and Purple Toupee but then break into a rock version of Man, Its So Loud In Here,

They went on to do 2 encores and overall it was a good show (i got a good seat, right in front, HAHA)

All banter transcribed by Zondry:

F: Good evening everybody. We're They Might Be Giants.

L: Welcome to the show.

F: We are pleased to serve you.

L: (Repeats above phrase in Spanish), and this whole show is in alphabetical order. Starting with the numbers. So here's a new song, it's called "Four Of Two".

4 of 2

F: Ladies and gentlemen, this is a very special night for number of reasons not only are we doing an alphabetical order setlist which we've only tried once before, and it TOTALLY didn't work. But ladies and gentlemen, we're also doing a webcast here for an organization called Cahoots that you'll be hearing about later. But if you've ever been to a filmed live show with They Might be Giants, you know it's always our VERY WORST PERFORMANCE!! We're just trying to set the stage for what's just about to happen so you got the general vibe. It's like shitty. But I can say that because it's a webcast! The Freedom of the Internet to bring the culture all the way down. Ladies and gentlemen, it's our pleasure to introduce on the Velcro Horns: Jim, Dan, and Mr. Linnell. What is my grace note here?

She's Actual Size, She's An Angel

L: Thanks a lot. So I guess that Mr. Flansburgh arrived at the alphabetical sorting of this was by the abbreviations that we use on the setlist for each of these songs. You might start thinking "Hey! That wasn't the one the comes next in the alphabet!". But actually, it is because it's the keyword in the song for us is the name of the song because as we get older we get simpler. And it's gonna happen to everyone in this room.

F: I can understand what you're saying.

L: I don't understand what I'm saying.

F: So, this next song is called is brought to you by the letter B. And it's called "Birthday".

L: That's right. Which is short for some longer name for this song that we used to know what it was and don't care anymore. Don't remember what key this song's in. What key is this song in?

(Flansy plays a D chord)

L: Oh yeah, I DO remember. I just didn't remember that I remember.

F: Does it start with me and John, or does it start with the smothers brothers?

L: Right. Did Penn and Teller do this song or did we do this song? I can't remember! I queue you by the pickup. Reviving it.

It's Not My Birthday

L: Ladies and gentlemen, here's a brand-new song. We wrote the first 30 seconds of this song about a year and a half ago for a television show called Malcolm In The Middle and we wrote the other 2 minutes yesterday. And this is how it goes...

Boss Of Me, Chess Piece Face

F: Thank you very much. So this next song had this as a segue because of this show is crazy long tonight. But I wanna tell a story about that last song. The 90s were a wonderful decade for They Might Be Giants but they came a middle point in the decade we're doing a show at the Tropicana in Philadelphia. I think that's the name of the venue. We are performing that last song. Trockadero's in Philadelphia, ladies and gentlemen. They made it out. We were doing that song and there were no less than 2 people being like past around crowd surfing. We're doing "Chess Piece Face" song and like, "This, yeah, it's fun!"

L: And you find it yourself, of course. You'd go home and you try to think what you've been from.

F: But speaking of blaming yourself for crushing that musical segue had planned. Here's a song of our second album on the Bar None label. Also, let's get the spotlight on the horns because they're playing this, the intro here.

Cowtown

F: Thank you very much.

L: We're still in the letter C. It's gonna be here a little longer. The show actually ends in the letter S, different. Yes we're ruining. We're ruining it. It's our pleasure to ruin it.

They'll Need A Crane

F: People ask us, where we get our ideas for our songs. A friend of mine who's a Cyclops told me about this. This song is called "Cyclops Rock". Ready fellas?

Cyclops Rock

F: Thank you very much. That song of course is on our "Not Record where what are you talking about?". That's been on a promo. Here's a song that's about a guy who's a painter and it goes like this...

Meet James Ensor

F: So is Dan Miller gonna play on this next song?

L: Nah.

F: He's in a mood.

L: He wasn't in the room when we decided that this isn't even interesting but he wasn't in the room upstairs when we said "Let's get the band play on this". So here we go. Here's a brand-new, all-new song....

Finished With Lies, The Guitar

F: Ladies and gentlemen, this next portion, you know my dad warned me once 2 audience participation portions of the show in a row are NOT a good idea. But this is the portion because we're doing an alphabetical show. We have no control over that guy or what we're about to do. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the portion of the show to ask you, the audience in the mid-section of the song to "Scream As If You're In Hell"! Please, ladies and gentlemen, this is your soundcheck, SCREAM AS IF YOU'RE IN HELL!! We're doing a webcast here and I don't know if the mics can pick that up. So I'm gonna turn the microphone around so the webcast people can enjoy it too during your portion of the song. It's 16 bars long. The signal is this, and in case you forget, I will scream out the words, "Scream As If You're In Hell!". I'm confident that after the solo in the last song. This next guitar moment will be in perfect tune. Let's investigate together.

Hide Away Folk Family, Hypnotist of Ladies, Istanbul, Masshole (Band Intros)

James K. Polk

F: It's interesting to find out that there are abolitionists here in the audience but maybe that's just fake ID crew. So here's a song this is off of our Lincoln album and it's called, "Purple Toupee".

Purple Toupee

F: So coming May 15th we're releasing this Working Undercover For The Man EP that's going to have a bunch of songs on it, and check this shit out with every MP3 with a free CD! That can't be right! It isn't right. You think what I'm saying would make sense the mike is in front of me and the lights are pointed at me but I'm speaking "Crazy Talk". Free. No! I suck! So check it out. You get a free CD with a free download at eMusic for this Working Undercover For The Man thing and you go to Wired Planet right now and listen to Radio They Might Be Giants anytime for free, it's the radio! Than it's on your really expensive computer. But it's free! And here's a song we wrote about it, it begins with the letter R, it's called "Radio They Might Be Giants".

Radio They Might Be Giants, We're The Replacements

F: Here's a brand-new song that's on our upcoming children's record that's gonna be out in September on rounder records. The record is called "No!". And this is the song off it, entitled "Robot Parade", and it's got a special sound that comes only from the hands of our from Mr. David Cophernist.

Robot Parade

F: Children's music in an adult venue.

L: Horns, horns, horns. Velcro horns, horns, horns (then playing that part 2x more).

(Flansy joins in, different versions, The "Velcro Horns" jingle)

F: Jim and Dan, the Velcro Horns, etc.

F: This song is called "S-E-X-X-Y".

S-E-X-X-Y, It's So Loud In Here, Spin The Dial

L: You know, it's actually not inconvenient that the radio is dragging so badly... ...on the webcast, that's part of the show and don't be in the webcast. Yeah!

F: Just one of the reasons, we've done that 5 times, it's worked 3 times. It gets 50-50. It's out! So....

L: We're actually in the "S"'s right now.

F: But not a moment too soon, don't make us bring the radio back.

Subliminal, Why Does The Sun Shine?

(encore)

F: The alphabet will not let you down. Search in the alphabet and it won't let you down, the song is called "Twisting".

Twisting

F: We got one more song for you it begins with the letter W it features the Velcro Horns, who will be expanding to an 8-piece outfit next week. Check it out. Different. Larger. Brassy. It's called "Doctor Worm".

Doctor Worm

(encore 2)

Exquisite Dead Guy, Spy

F: We wanna thank you so for coming to the show (Band Intros, etc.)

Birdhouse in your soul

(end of show)