Shows/2008-06-07

Fan Recaps and Comments:

They Might Be Giants performed on the "Grove Stage" at Appel Farm as the headliners for this smaller stage, following performances by Nicole Reynolds, Red Molly, Lucy Kaplansky, and Suzanne Vega.

The band took the stage about a half hour later than their scheduled time, after a long sound check and break after Vega's performance. Even after the extended sound check, there continued to be equipment problems throughout the evening. The extreme heat surely added to the stress of performers and audience members.

Having been away from TMBG for several years, it was nice to hear their songs live again.

Commerce Bank was giving away promotional beach balls at the event, and audience members were tossing them around throughout most of the show. While starting James K. Polk, Linnell went into "teacher" mode and instructed the audience to stop tossing the beach balls around, and rather to send them to the stage. He instructed one girl to share her chewing gum with the rest of the audience.

During "Sun:"

"The heat and light of the sun come from the nucular [sic] reactions of a failed foreign policy, a failed domestic policy, and a failed presidency." The song was followed by the band chanting "No more years! No more years!"

Also during "Sun," Flans sung-spoke the "The sun is large" response twice rather than first the response to "The sun is hot."

The confetti cannons were used several times during this outdoor show, which caused some unspoken concern amongst the eco-friendly members of the audience. These fears were assuaged by Flansburgh's explanation that, yes, the confetti is biodegradable. These remarks were followed by humorous banter on the subject of how wonderful it is that some guy actually has a job creating things like biodegradable confetti, and giving props to whoever that guy is, and his pot dealer.

I was hoping for an encore, and according to the wiki, more songs were on the set list. Probably due to the late start and the "curfew" (Marc Cohn was the headliner on the main stage, and his set was to begin at 6:45), the show was cut short and disappointed fans finally started walking out when the emcee (Gene Shay from WXPN?) announced that the band would not be coming back on stage.

The emcee did, however, suggest that the stage crew were short-handed, and that fans could volunteer an hour of their time to clear the stage and meet some of the performers. Disappointingly, the band (with the exception of Marty Beller who floated around for a few minutes and signed things) was no longer backstage by the time the recruit volunteers were admitted. However, several excited fans did get to acquaint themselves with the band's road crew guy who appears in Gigantic (Iggy Ingoglia).