Review: They Might Be Giants gets weird and celebrates ‘Flood’ in all directions during sold-out St. Pete concert [PHOTOS]

Two nights after the Oscars, the mighty John Flansburgh gave a very hot take on its musical counterpart—the Grammys—after mentioning how his band had lost its most recent nomination: It really helps to be dead. “And we’re looking forward to that,” he jokingly admitted to a very sold-out Tuesday night crowd at Jannus Live.

“Somebody wake up the Grateful Dead, and tell them we want that back,” he added, referring to the Dead’s In and Out of the Garden box set that took the cake away from They Might Be Giants’ Book collection last year.

Strangely enough, Flansburgh and keyboard whiz John Linnell’s first stop in Tampa Bay since 2018 was actually going to be centered around an album that never earned any major awards, other than a Platinum certification in the U.S.
Had COVID-19 not been a thing, the Giants’ current run of Flood 30th anniversary shows—in which the guys play the bulk of the 1990 cult classic on shuffle, and then some—would likely be history by now, and perhaps 1994’s John Henry would be the next anniversary tour to get tackled. But because of lockdowns and Flansburgh recently being the victim of a serious drunk-driving accident, Flood is finally getting its tour-long birthday party in its *checks notes* 33rd year of existence.

But before the album of the hour (or in this case, two-and-a-half hours with intermission) could be saluted, Linnell propped himself behind his keyboard rig that included an Arcadia synth of some sort, Flans grabbed a mic, and the Brooklyn boys—backed by a three-piece band—launched into the slow intro of “The Mesopotamians,” off of 2005’s The Else.

A three-piece horn section—including Conan O’Brien trumpeter and frequent Springsteen collaborator Mark Pender—came on for Book tracks “Synopsis for Latecomers” and “Brontosaurus,” the latter winking at Monty Python’s “Anne Elk's Theory on Brontosauruses,” and putting specifically a euphonium in use. “What happened to the word ‘tuba?’ What is this woke culture going crazy?” Linnell jabbed.

He grabbed his accordion, Flans strapped on his lefty mint Telecaster, and a transposed “Particle Man” came swooping in, officially proving Flood’s presence in the setlist. During the last verse, Linnell threw in a few improvised lyrics from the late Sun Ra’s “Rocket Number Nine Takeoff for the Planet Venus,” because who doesn’t want to hear an extra nod to classic jazz at a They Might Be Giants gig?

A few more Flood tracks were dusted off (“Twisting,” “Someone Keeps Moving My Chair,”), Linnell programmed one of his keyboards to sound like a vintage computer on the verge of death, and the band played a track about “time traveling into the future, and murdering your future self” (“2084”), never performed live before this tour.

Then, the guys really went into showoff mode.

Flans and Linnell explained how during COVID-19 lockdowns, they learned how to perform “Sapphire Bullets of Pure Love” backwards, and now intended to perform it as so, have it videotaped, and at the end of the impending 20-minute intermission, present the backwards recording in reverse. “Your friend that you dragged here tonight is gonna turn to you and say, ‘I hate these guys,’” Flans joked, later adding that he expects an A+ on the video, or at the very least, an A.

While almost no one had heard a song performed in that fashion before—nor will they likely ever again—the final product had the lyrics still coming off a little bit wonky, so maybe an expert would give it an A- at best. But then again, you try learning to perform your own song backwards.

The second set mainly consisted of almost every Flood song the Johns missed in the first hour of the night. Internally, they surely dedicated “Your Racist Friend” to Gov. Ron DeSantis, having jabbed at him during the first set while praising the very few who accepted the guys’ request to wear a mask to the show. “We know it’s kind of peer pressure not to wear masks. I’m not gonna say which governor of which state…” Flans added.

“Dead” and a transposed “Whistling in the Dark” gave Linnell back-to-back opportunities to lead two of Flood’s best, yet least party-esque anthems. Flans would later provide leads for “Lucky Ball and Chain,” and watch as drummer Marty Seller scared the shit out of the crowd on the drum intro to “Minimum Wage.”

No choir was needed for “Theme from Flood,” and if it wasn’t immediately followed by “Birdhouse in Your Soul” the way it was, what’s the point of closing your main show with the 30-second introduction that answers questions we can’t ask quite yet?

St. Pete got three encores, consisting of Flans singing a really airy falsetto on “How Can I Sing Like a Girl,” crowd favorite “Istanbul (Not Constantinople),” and closing up shop, wannabe rock opera “Fingertips,” which sounded like snippets of ten different songs live, with horn solos in between.

In short, if everyone leaves a They Might Be Giants show at least a little bit weirded out, that means more to John and John than any Grammy could.