Shows/2006-07-01

Fan Recaps and Comments:

Armicron:

This is only the second TMBG show I have seen, as most of their other shows have been too far away for me to attend. Overall the concert was well done, the Wolf Den stage was packed to capacity and I was lucky enough to get inside. Other people stayed outside the Wolf Den but could still see the performance and hear the music (They just couldn't sit.) The show included 3 horn players in addition to the regular band. They left after several songs but returned to play Dr. Worm and some others. The songs were played very well, but the monitor was off on one of the horns and it was barely audible. At one point when Flans wasn't singing he walked to the edge of the stage and used hand gestures to indicate raising the trumpet player's volume. That was pretty much the only thing that went awry from what I could see.
There were several songs that had were varied from the original including the "failed presidency" version of the sun is a mass of incandescent gas. The more memorable ones were during Older, where after the "Time! Is marching on, and time..." they waited for a good 10 seconds, thus sending the audience into a frenzy. The only other one I can remember is during the "I cannot understand you" segment of Fingertips, it eventually degraded into "Donut understand you."
After the Hollywood house of blues song, there was a conversation on stage about what Flans would like to play next. They were about to play Anaheim, but Flans played a few bars of a "Whiter Shade of Pale" quickly cutting it off after a few seconds and going into Stone Pony.
It was a very enjoyable show.

Torgo:

Thing that amused only me:

Tommy Stinson of "Someone find Tommy" in "We're the Replacements" is now playing in Soul Asylum, who will be playing the very same stage one month later on August 1. (I think he actually will not be with the band that day, as he's also playing in, of all things, Guns 'n' Roses, but it still amused me. And only me.)

This was probably my 15th or 20th time to see the band. It was a solid entertaining show in a very odd venue. I was on the inside for about half and then switched with my wife and watched the rest from among the incredibly annoying slot machines. The band seemed genuinely bemused by the venue, with Flans wandering up into the higher areas of the faux rock backdrop during (if memory serves) Alphabet of Nations.

Song Intros

• New York City "This song is about a place so good they called it New York City!" - Flans
• Why Did You Grow A Beard? + Damn Good Times were introduced as the "Podcast Medley."
• James K. Polk "This song is about the eleventh president of the United States: Mister James! T...Kirk." -Linnell
• Drink! The audience was instructed to yell "Drink drink" in quick succession after every "Drink!" that was sung.
• Asbury Park "This next song is about the Anaheim House of Blues! What? That's not it? What's is it?" - Flans "Whichever one you want, we play 'em all!" -Linnell
• Bee Of The Bird Of The Moth "This is a new song. It's not out yet. It's from our new album that we're working on with the Dust Brothers, so if you've got one of those recordophone things, get it ready." -Flans
• Ant "This is a true story." -Flans
• Doctor Worm "Also a true story." -Flans
• Why Does The Sun Shine? "Hey, what's the next song?" -Flans, from somewhere in the fake rocks "The next song is about the place where we are right now. People say to us 'hey, you don't do venue songs anymore,' and to them we say: 'Screw You!' So you'll find this one on our next album, 'Screw You!' It's called Why Does the Sun Shine!" -Linnell
• The Guitar "The year is 2030. You have 4 kids, and none of them appreciate your musical tastes." -Flans