TMBG + JoCo = Awesomesauce
There's generally this point about two hours in to a drive to Charlotte (or Asheville, or any similar distance) where I'm thinking, "why am I doing this again?". But it was totally worth it.
I met up with biodoc and her husband in town. (Thanks again for the delicious food, cozy bed, and hospitality!) Due to a minor misunderstanding of when the performance was actually going to start we got to the venue *just* before Jonathan Coulton came out to open, but we didn't miss anything, so it's all good.
Anyway JoCo did a short set, which if my memory serves included "The Future Soon", "Shop Vac", "Creepy Doll", "Skullcrusher Mountain", "Mr. Fancypants", and "RE: Your Brains". I was familiar with all of those but the first two - "Future" was pretty awesome and "Shop Vac" was... kind of depressing, really, but I'm pretty sure my suburban existence isn't *quite* that bad. He also rocked out with his Zendrum remixer for Fancypants, which is evidently a concert staple; somewhere in the midst of the sampling chaos he worked in the original Super Mario theme. It was epic.
After that I managed to gradually ninja my way down closer to the stage before the main act. I found a write-up including the setlist for the Giants portion, though I think it may have an error or two. There were a number of repeats from the Fall concert I went to in Raleigh, but plenty of new stuff too. They had their trumpet player with them this time, so they whipped out a lot of stuff that can use the extra brass. Particular highlights for me included:
- Meet the Elements - off Here Comes Science; heard it in the Fall but it's awesome
- Istanbul - arranged with a blistering trumpet solo, awesome
- Where Your Eyes Don’t Go - don't here this live very often, and I like it
- No One Knows My Plan - I love this song
- The Guitar - Linell did an awesome "crazy electronic sounds I have collected" solo
- They Might Be Giants - off the first album, I *know* I've never heard that live before, so cool
And plenty of other great live songs: Dr. Worm, Ana Ng, The Mesopotamians, Alphabet of Nations, and of course Birdhouse. And the finished with a kicked-up arrangement of Turn Around, which was new.
Oh, also, anyone who's been to a TMBG concert in the last few years might remember they usually have those cannons they use to shoot a blast of confetti over the audience? Well, they had them, but this time they just turned them on and left them on continuously for like 30 seconds. So... much... confetti...
So yeah, totally awesome and I'm glad I went despite the five hours of driving and whacked-out sleep schedule.
I also picked up a desk and some chair arm-rests and a few odds and ends from Ikea while I was down there. How exciting.
I met up with biodoc and her husband in town. (Thanks again for the delicious food, cozy bed, and hospitality!) Due to a minor misunderstanding of when the performance was actually going to start we got to the venue *just* before Jonathan Coulton came out to open, but we didn't miss anything, so it's all good.
Anyway JoCo did a short set, which if my memory serves included "The Future Soon", "Shop Vac", "Creepy Doll", "Skullcrusher Mountain", "Mr. Fancypants", and "RE: Your Brains". I was familiar with all of those but the first two - "Future" was pretty awesome and "Shop Vac" was... kind of depressing, really, but I'm pretty sure my suburban existence isn't *quite* that bad. He also rocked out with his Zendrum remixer for Fancypants, which is evidently a concert staple; somewhere in the midst of the sampling chaos he worked in the original Super Mario theme. It was epic.
After that I managed to gradually ninja my way down closer to the stage before the main act. I found a write-up including the setlist for the Giants portion, though I think it may have an error or two. There were a number of repeats from the Fall concert I went to in Raleigh, but plenty of new stuff too. They had their trumpet player with them this time, so they whipped out a lot of stuff that can use the extra brass. Particular highlights for me included:
- Meet the Elements - off Here Comes Science; heard it in the Fall but it's awesome
- Istanbul - arranged with a blistering trumpet solo, awesome
- Where Your Eyes Don’t Go - don't here this live very often, and I like it
- No One Knows My Plan - I love this song
- The Guitar - Linell did an awesome "crazy electronic sounds I have collected" solo
- They Might Be Giants - off the first album, I *know* I've never heard that live before, so cool
And plenty of other great live songs: Dr. Worm, Ana Ng, The Mesopotamians, Alphabet of Nations, and of course Birdhouse. And the finished with a kicked-up arrangement of Turn Around, which was new.
Oh, also, anyone who's been to a TMBG concert in the last few years might remember they usually have those cannons they use to shoot a blast of confetti over the audience? Well, they had them, but this time they just turned them on and left them on continuously for like 30 seconds. So... much... confetti...
So yeah, totally awesome and I'm glad I went despite the five hours of driving and whacked-out sleep schedule.
I also picked up a desk and some chair arm-rests and a few odds and ends from Ikea while I was down there. How exciting.