Much like the band members themselves, many of the fans of They Might Be Giants are older than they’ve ever been, present company included. This means every show I go to has a growing ratio of glasses, receding hairlines, and longtime fans squabbling over personal space with the newer generations squeezing their way up to the front of the stage for a quick selfie. Soccer moms, high school marching band formers, professionals, local business owners — all of their differences melt away when everyone knows every word to every song.
The show this past Tue., April 5, was special not only because the two Johns were in town supporting three albums released in the last two years (Glean, Why? and Phone Power), but because there was no opener. At 8 p.m., They Might Be Giants took to the stage and played for over an hour, took a 20-minute break, and returned to perform until almost 11 p.m. It was glorious.
John Linnell continues to impress with his multi-instrument mastery, setting down the bassoon after "Cloisonné" and strolling to the other side of the stage to pick up his beloved accordion for a run through "Subliminal." The ever-dapper John Flansburgh showed off his vocal acrobatics, changing tone, pitch and accent to suit each song, even using a voice changer to prank John L. with a prison collect call from a Mr. Richard Head.
In the middle of the first set, John F. noticed someone in the crowd holding up a cell phone, and stopped the set to make a very important announcement: the band really didn't care if people took photos or video at shows. In fact, they actually enjoy looking at pictures of themselves in their spare time, so capture away. They also advised that their newest album, released only a few weeks ago, is available online for free download, and then blew everyone’s mind with a genius cover cover of Destiny's Child’s “Bills Bills Bills,” which is on said new album. I can’t recommend it more highly.
The second half of the show started with a Spanish guitar solo by Dan Miller that lead into “Istanbul” and then everything after that is a blur of high school crushes and me gradually losing my voice. I do recall that by the time we got to “Man, It’s So Loud in Here” that my face hurt from smiling, and that the final song of the final encore was “Answer”. And after three hours of bouncing and singing, there were no letdowns to wash out of our minds. We were promised fair, and we got way more than that.
