Chop me up into pieces
Before going to see They Might Be Giants tonight at the Beacon Theatre, Marisa and I had dinner with Anne and company. Anne got home in mere minutes; it took us a good hour and a half. I can't believe, well, not that it took us ninety minutes to get home; that's fairly plausible. But that it took that much time and yet the TMBG wiki still doesn't have the setlist. Usually this seems to take about half an hour, tops. Oh well! Marisa basically memorized the first set; the second set probably has some order errors but I don't think we're missing any of the songs.
(EDIT @ 3AM: OK, it's up now. We were pretty much on except for a few mistakes in the second set, which I just fixed.)
Damn Good Times
The Mesopotamians
Ana Ng
Why Does the Sun Shine?
Upside Down Frown
Take Out the Trash
Climbing the Walls
Alphabet of Nations
Memo to Human Resources
Put Your Hand Inside the Puppet Head
I'm Impressed
Asbury Park
Meet James Ensor
Maybe I Know
Older
The Cap'm
Istanbul
[twenty-minute set break to get horns and suits]
Mr. Me
Hey Mr. DJ, I Thought You Said We Had a Deal
With the Dark
Metal Detector
Spy
Birdhouse in Your Soul
The Guitar
Museum of Idiots
Withered Hope
In the Middle, In the Middle, In the Middle
Purple Toupee
Bee of the Bird of the Moth
Particle Man
Dr. Worm
Cowtown
----
Fingertips
Turn Around
----
New York City
I've never seen TMBG at such a large indoor venue unless you count a whole bunch of quarter-filled college gymnasiums (ah, 1998), so seeing them from so far away at a non-free, non-outdoor show was a bit odd and distancing. I'll always love those Bowery/North Six type shows the best. However, the setlist was pretty great -- similar to the last time they played with horns, but because of the two sets more like the last two times all in one massive 36-song chunk.
Highlights:
--Horns in general, sax intro on "Spy" in particular.
--"The Guitar" because I didn't get to hear it last times.
--Apparently this is the first time in years or ever that they've played "Hey Mr. DJ" and it sounded really good with horns.
--"New York City" played semi-unplugged, just Linnell on accordian and Flansburgh on guitar.
--Confetti when you least expect it: during the long music pause in "Older."
--And this exchange:
FAN IN AUDIENCE: Play "Boat of Car"!
FLANSBURGH: We're not going to play "Boat of Car."
[FAN (quieter): "Please!"]
FLANSBURGH (continuing): No one likes that song. Not even anyone in the band likes that song.
That exchange made me laugh out loud because even though I actually like "Boat of Car" and even though I actually saw them play it at this show, it is still basically correct.
(EDIT @ 3AM: OK, it's up now. We were pretty much on except for a few mistakes in the second set, which I just fixed.)
Damn Good Times
The Mesopotamians
Ana Ng
Why Does the Sun Shine?
Upside Down Frown
Take Out the Trash
Climbing the Walls
Alphabet of Nations
Memo to Human Resources
Put Your Hand Inside the Puppet Head
I'm Impressed
Asbury Park
Meet James Ensor
Maybe I Know
Older
The Cap'm
Istanbul
[twenty-minute set break to get horns and suits]
Mr. Me
Hey Mr. DJ, I Thought You Said We Had a Deal
With the Dark
Metal Detector
Spy
Birdhouse in Your Soul
The Guitar
Museum of Idiots
Withered Hope
In the Middle, In the Middle, In the Middle
Purple Toupee
Bee of the Bird of the Moth
Particle Man
Dr. Worm
Cowtown
----
Fingertips
Turn Around
----
New York City
I've never seen TMBG at such a large indoor venue unless you count a whole bunch of quarter-filled college gymnasiums (ah, 1998), so seeing them from so far away at a non-free, non-outdoor show was a bit odd and distancing. I'll always love those Bowery/North Six type shows the best. However, the setlist was pretty great -- similar to the last time they played with horns, but because of the two sets more like the last two times all in one massive 36-song chunk.
Highlights:
--Horns in general, sax intro on "Spy" in particular.
--"The Guitar" because I didn't get to hear it last times.
--Apparently this is the first time in years or ever that they've played "Hey Mr. DJ" and it sounded really good with horns.
--"New York City" played semi-unplugged, just Linnell on accordian and Flansburgh on guitar.
--Confetti when you least expect it: during the long music pause in "Older."
--And this exchange:
FAN IN AUDIENCE: Play "Boat of Car"!
FLANSBURGH: We're not going to play "Boat of Car."
[FAN (quieter): "Please!"]
FLANSBURGH (continuing): No one likes that song. Not even anyone in the band likes that song.
That exchange made me laugh out loud because even though I actually like "Boat of Car" and even though I actually saw them play it at this show, it is still basically correct.