Shows/2024-06-19

Fan Recaps and Comments:

Mrsbluebeard:

This was my final concert of the Big Show tour and I think it might have been my favorite setlist of the 8 I saw! I'm a big John Henry lover and the variety was absolutely wonderful. Folks who know me know that I am very familiar with TMBG's setlists, and I've become quite accustomed to the patterns that Flans has been gravitating toward for the past 2 years or so. He's been breaking out of that mold and surprising me a little bit this tour but this show was so different from what he's been doing lately. ("Doctor Worm" in the middle of set 1? They haven't done that since 2018.) I loved loved loved it.

There are a few other things about the show that I simply have to highlight in particular—

• This show marked the first plays of "James K. Polk," "Authenticity Trip," and "New York City" for this tour! They're the only songs besides "Can't Keep Johnny Down" (and "Minneapolis" at First Ave, of course) that have been introduced since last month. It was also the first show where "Synopsis For Latecomers" hasn't been played since the release of BOOK!
• During the last chorus of "Ana Ng," I noticed that Danny did a phrase of slap bass out of nowhere and then he had a little laugh with Dan over it. I was delighted to watch back video of it later and see that they must have talked about him doing it beforehand because Dan specifically asked him to try it from across the stage. (They laughed about it together but Danny ultimately looked unimpressed and switched back to his pick right away, although I can see why at least someone up there thought it could work!)
• At every other show where I've seen "Drink!" Flans has done a whole little intro explaining the audience call and response, but this time around they jumped straight into the song. I can't overstate how special it felt to see more and more of the crowd switching from the melody to the "Drink! Drink!" cheer throughout each chorus! I loved seeing folks pick up on it and join in with the concert regulars.

Backflip720:

This was my first live show and they really delivered! Lights, accoustics, energy, everything was top notch. It's definitely a different experience reading about things like The Stick and the riffs during Spy on the wiki versus seeing it live, and the Vic was very accommodating too. It was also nice of Marty to do some autographs after the show (I got my BOOK art book signed!). I'll be getting tickets whenever there's another midwest tour.

NaterTotGameing:

My first TMBG concert, and my first concert from a non-cover band! I saw it with my sister, mom and dad who got us into TMBG in the first place. The Johns sounded incredible throughout the whole performance, and the lighting was spectacular. I had been keeping track of all the sets from past shows to see what songs they'd played, and I told my dad, "They haven't played any Factory Showroom songs the whole tour, I doubt we'll see any when we go." Needless to say, I was gladly mistaken! "James K. Polk" and "New York City" are songs I grew up on listening to A User's Guide To They Might Be Giants and they sounded impeccable.

Every time I saw them on the setlists, I never understood why "Meet James Ensor" was followed up by "The Famous Polka". Seeing the transition live, I really gained a new appreciation for live stuff, especially with that final performance of Istanbul (Not Constantinople). The visuals, the banter between songs, and everything in between is just perfect. Well, except for the heat. The heat was pretty bad, but that's a problem for another millennia.

I was really happy to see this concert, especially cuz I didn't know if I'd get to SEE TMBG live in my lifetime. I thought I missed my chance with the Flood tour, but (again) I was gladly mistaken. I took a lot of cruddy pictures and video; if I get em backed up, I'll see if I can find a way to add em to wiki or at least post a link to an album of em.

Thank you for everything boys :]

Malachi:

Fourth TMBG show!I was able to snag a spot up close this time and experience the full eardrum damage! Drink was so cool. I'd never seen it live before, but with TMBG parents, I knew the call and response innately. It's in my bones. So. Cool.