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vovatYesterday (which was, for those of you who might not have been keeping track, New Year's Eve), ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bethje and I went up to New York City to see They Might Be Giants. Since everybody talks about how many people go to New York for New Year's, I was afraid that the traffic on the way up and back would be terrible, and that I wouldn't be able to find parking. (I've never tried to find parking IN the city, mind you, but I was worried that the suburban lots would also be full.) I mean, we weren't going anywhere near Times Square, but still. It turned out not to be bad at all, though.
Anyway, once we got into Manhattan, we went to Books of Wonder, but ended up not getting anything there. Somebody needs to release some more Oz-related material. I guess there IS that new collection of Eric Shanower's graphic novels coming out next year. Anyway, after that, we stopped by Toy Tokyo, where we picked up some small Mario-related items.
Last time we were in New York, we ate at a Japanese restaurant called Go, on St. Mark's Place. We went there again today, and had lunch withnot_glimmer, who was in from Out of State, like the Frank Black song. And she now lives in the same state as Frank, so...yeah. It was cool to see her again, and she gave us a Christmas card that she'd made.
After lunch, Erin went her own way, and Beth and I took the subway into Brooklyn. The show was at the North Six, and the website had said that doors were at 7, and the show was to start at 7:30. We got there around 8, though, and there was still a long line. The ID and Will Call checks were REALLY slow. I don't know how much of the opener (Jeb Parrish) we missed, but I didn't like him much anyway. He wasn't a particularly good singer; but then, he DID say he was sick, so maybe I should cut him some slack.
I'm not going to post a complete setlist for TMBG, but I will point out some of the highlights. They started the set with "We're The Replacements," which isn't a favorite of mine, but it's always cool to hear something they don't play very much. Then, after "Damn Good Times," they went into "Spiraling Shape," another relative rarity. They later got their John Henry mojo working with "The End Of The Tour" and "Snail Shell." It was also the first time I had heard "Pictures Of Pandas Painting" live, and while the song isn't one of their better ones, any TMBG song is fun the first time you hear it live. The biggest thrill, however, was that they played "The Day," "Absolutely Bill's Mood," AND "Hope That I Get Old Before I Die" (the first two as a full band, and the last one as a duo)! I'd never heard any of those at a concert before, so hearing all three in one night was amazing.
There was also a Venue Songs section of the show, narrated by Robin Goldwasser. Her introductions bore some resemblance to those by the Self-Made Millionaire, but there were many differences as well. Definitely in the same general style, though. I'm pretty sure all the Venue Songs they did were the same ones that were made into videos for the DVD. Since the only two of those I'd heard live before were the Brooklyn and Dallas ones (the latter actually in Philadelphia, for some reason), the segment was exciting for me. Still, I've seen the setlists for other Venue Songs shows, and it seems like they're mostly just doing the same ones over and over again. I mean, what about the Blue Note? How about the Santa Cruz or London songs? We know the band can play them live, because that's how they did them in the first place! So how about a little variety? Oh, well.
For the next to the last song in the set, the band handed out the lyrics to five verses of "Auld Lang Syne." It was arranged for just the guys to sing one verse, and just the girls to sing another, but I don't think it turned out as well as they were hoping. They really should have turned on the house lights, so the audience could read the lyrics more easily. Maybe that's not possible at the North Six, though. I have no idea. Anyway, it was cool regardless, and it was followed with what was probably the shortest rendition of "Istanbul" I'd heard in some time. No long guitar solo, no drawn-out chorus, just a straight performance. I get the feeling they were pressed for time.
After the show, we got into another long, slow-moving line for the next one. This was the first time I've ever seen two performances by the same band in the same night, and I have a feeling it will be my last. The second show turned out to be almost identical to the first. They came on the stage just a few minutes before midnight, and after the countdown to the new year, played "Auld Lang Syne." They hadn't had a chance to hand out the lyrics to the newcomers, though, so it was even weaker than the other time. I didn't care so much, though. I mean, there was another show to look forward to, right? Once they started with the regular set, though, I soon realized that, not only were they playing the same songs as the earlier set, but they were playing them in the exact same order. The only difference was that they were playing them a lot faster, with much less talking in between. I thought that maybe they weren't going to do the Venue Songs at the second show, and that would free up time for some different songs. Not only did they do the Venue Songs, though, but the narration was identical. As it turned out, there were only five songs in the second show that hadn't also been played in the first, and four of them were ones they play all the time anyway ("Twisting," "Older," "Particle Man," and "The Guitar"). The last one, however, was totally unexpected--"How Can I Sing Like A Girl?", performed as a duo! The pink album tracks were also great to hear again, even so soon after I'd heard them before. But those few songs were hardly worth the $20 for the show, let alone the annoyance and foot pain caused by having to stand for so long. Even a good show (and it WAS a good show, the FIRST time through) isn't much fun twice in the same night. There should have at least been some kind of disclaimer that the two shows were practically identical. If I could send a message to myself from a month or so ago when I bought the tickets, I'd be sure to tell myself to only go to the early show. The weird thing about that, though, is that, if I'd decided earlier that I only wanted to go to one of the shows, I almost certainly would have picked the later one. I guess it's all over and done with now, though, and I know never to go to two TMBG concerts in one night again.
There remains little to tell. We thought about stopping at Denny's on the way back to Beth's from the concert, but we decided against it, and got some hot dogs from Wawa instead.
Anyway, happy new year to everybody. Also, happy belated birthday tojazzsammich and k1cup.
bethje and I went up to New York City to see They Might Be Giants. Since everybody talks about how many people go to New York for New Year's, I was afraid that the traffic on the way up and back would be terrible, and that I wouldn't be able to find parking. (I've never tried to find parking IN the city, mind you, but I was worried that the suburban lots would also be full.) I mean, we weren't going anywhere near Times Square, but still. It turned out not to be bad at all, though.Anyway, once we got into Manhattan, we went to Books of Wonder, but ended up not getting anything there. Somebody needs to release some more Oz-related material. I guess there IS that new collection of Eric Shanower's graphic novels coming out next year. Anyway, after that, we stopped by Toy Tokyo, where we picked up some small Mario-related items.
Last time we were in New York, we ate at a Japanese restaurant called Go, on St. Mark's Place. We went there again today, and had lunch with
not_glimmer, who was in from Out of State, like the Frank Black song. And she now lives in the same state as Frank, so...yeah. It was cool to see her again, and she gave us a Christmas card that she'd made.After lunch, Erin went her own way, and Beth and I took the subway into Brooklyn. The show was at the North Six, and the website had said that doors were at 7, and the show was to start at 7:30. We got there around 8, though, and there was still a long line. The ID and Will Call checks were REALLY slow. I don't know how much of the opener (Jeb Parrish) we missed, but I didn't like him much anyway. He wasn't a particularly good singer; but then, he DID say he was sick, so maybe I should cut him some slack.
I'm not going to post a complete setlist for TMBG, but I will point out some of the highlights. They started the set with "We're The Replacements," which isn't a favorite of mine, but it's always cool to hear something they don't play very much. Then, after "Damn Good Times," they went into "Spiraling Shape," another relative rarity. They later got their John Henry mojo working with "The End Of The Tour" and "Snail Shell." It was also the first time I had heard "Pictures Of Pandas Painting" live, and while the song isn't one of their better ones, any TMBG song is fun the first time you hear it live. The biggest thrill, however, was that they played "The Day," "Absolutely Bill's Mood," AND "Hope That I Get Old Before I Die" (the first two as a full band, and the last one as a duo)! I'd never heard any of those at a concert before, so hearing all three in one night was amazing.
There was also a Venue Songs section of the show, narrated by Robin Goldwasser. Her introductions bore some resemblance to those by the Self-Made Millionaire, but there were many differences as well. Definitely in the same general style, though. I'm pretty sure all the Venue Songs they did were the same ones that were made into videos for the DVD. Since the only two of those I'd heard live before were the Brooklyn and Dallas ones (the latter actually in Philadelphia, for some reason), the segment was exciting for me. Still, I've seen the setlists for other Venue Songs shows, and it seems like they're mostly just doing the same ones over and over again. I mean, what about the Blue Note? How about the Santa Cruz or London songs? We know the band can play them live, because that's how they did them in the first place! So how about a little variety? Oh, well.
For the next to the last song in the set, the band handed out the lyrics to five verses of "Auld Lang Syne." It was arranged for just the guys to sing one verse, and just the girls to sing another, but I don't think it turned out as well as they were hoping. They really should have turned on the house lights, so the audience could read the lyrics more easily. Maybe that's not possible at the North Six, though. I have no idea. Anyway, it was cool regardless, and it was followed with what was probably the shortest rendition of "Istanbul" I'd heard in some time. No long guitar solo, no drawn-out chorus, just a straight performance. I get the feeling they were pressed for time.
After the show, we got into another long, slow-moving line for the next one. This was the first time I've ever seen two performances by the same band in the same night, and I have a feeling it will be my last. The second show turned out to be almost identical to the first. They came on the stage just a few minutes before midnight, and after the countdown to the new year, played "Auld Lang Syne." They hadn't had a chance to hand out the lyrics to the newcomers, though, so it was even weaker than the other time. I didn't care so much, though. I mean, there was another show to look forward to, right? Once they started with the regular set, though, I soon realized that, not only were they playing the same songs as the earlier set, but they were playing them in the exact same order. The only difference was that they were playing them a lot faster, with much less talking in between. I thought that maybe they weren't going to do the Venue Songs at the second show, and that would free up time for some different songs. Not only did they do the Venue Songs, though, but the narration was identical. As it turned out, there were only five songs in the second show that hadn't also been played in the first, and four of them were ones they play all the time anyway ("Twisting," "Older," "Particle Man," and "The Guitar"). The last one, however, was totally unexpected--"How Can I Sing Like A Girl?", performed as a duo! The pink album tracks were also great to hear again, even so soon after I'd heard them before. But those few songs were hardly worth the $20 for the show, let alone the annoyance and foot pain caused by having to stand for so long. Even a good show (and it WAS a good show, the FIRST time through) isn't much fun twice in the same night. There should have at least been some kind of disclaimer that the two shows were practically identical. If I could send a message to myself from a month or so ago when I bought the tickets, I'd be sure to tell myself to only go to the early show. The weird thing about that, though, is that, if I'd decided earlier that I only wanted to go to one of the shows, I almost certainly would have picked the later one. I guess it's all over and done with now, though, and I know never to go to two TMBG concerts in one night again.
There remains little to tell. We thought about stopping at Denny's on the way back to Beth's from the concert, but we decided against it, and got some hot dogs from Wawa instead.
Anyway, happy new year to everybody. Also, happy belated birthday to
jazzsammich and k1cup.
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no subject
Date: 2006-01-01 08:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-02 12:35 am (UTC)But they're probably pretty sick of htose, having done them for like, 20 years.
Probably. I can't imagine they'd be more tired of those than "Istanbul" or "Particle Man," though. But then, I guess they think people will expect those. There seems to be somewhat of a divide between Hardcore Internet Geek Fans and Casual Show-Going Fans, in that the former (which includes me) will talk about how sick they are of hearing "Particle Man," but it still gets a pretty strong positive reaction at concerts. And I don't think it's even a case of having been to a lot of concerts. There are songs ("James K. Polk" and "New York City," to give two examples) that I absolutely loved at first, but I've heard them so many times in concert that they kind of annoy me now. But "Particle Man" and "Istanbul" were never really favorites of mine. As with many people my age, they WERE the first TMBG songs I heard, but it wasn't until I heard "Birdhouse In Your Soul" that I actually became interested in the band. They're essentially the songs that people who don't really like TMBG love. A lot of bands have those, though.
And on the subject of old songs, I do find it somewhat odd that I've been to what must be upwards of twenty TMBG shows (I've long since stopped keeping count), and only ONE of them included "Don't Let's Start."
no subject
Date: 2006-01-01 10:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-02 12:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-02 01:14 am (UTC)Yeah, but as it was, they didn't really cater to the people who were attending both shows at all. I expected there to be SOME songs in common between the two, but the exact same things in the exact same order? That's going a little too far, I'd say. Besides, it still doesn't explain why, if they were really intent on doing essentially the same show twice, they couldn't have provided some kind of disclaimer or something. Instead, I remember one of the newsletters saying the two shows would be completely different.
I mean, I could have definitely done without the Venue Songs set the second time around, but they just came out with a VS DVD that they have to promote. I do agree that they should vary the choice of VS.
Yeah, exactly. It's not so much that they did the segment twice as that the two performances were identical, right down to the order and the narration.
no subject
Date: 2006-01-02 01:46 am (UTC)The setlist was very long. I can only think that Flans was hoping to reward the once-goers with as much different music as possible and that the variety of the setlist made it prohibitive to play a very different second set. Not that I'm a musician, but pulling songs out of mothballs and not playing a show for essentially three and a half months probably requires a lot of work.
no subject
Date: 2006-01-02 02:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-02 01:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-02 02:55 am (UTC)My personal favorite is probably "Anaheim," but I also like "London" a lot. I don't know of anyone else liking that one as much as I do, though. Are they put off by Linnell's use of the word "gay," or what? :P