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So, I've been to two concerts this weekend, and I'm pretty tired out. I wish I didn't have to go to work tomorrow, but I guess those are the breaks. So, anyway, Friday's show was They Might Be Giants at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park. ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bethje and I left for the show around 5:30, and had made it almost as far as the New Gretna toll plaza on the Garden State Parkway before realizing that we'd forgotten something. Anyone who guessed "the tickets" can stay after the post and clean the erasers. Fortunately, there was a nearby police station where we could turn around, and we headed back to get them. By the time we'd reached the venue, the opening act (a DJ called Nighttime Gallagher) was winding down. It wasn't too much longer before TMBG came out and started their set with "Damn Good Times." After that, they admitted that they'd be playing mostly new stuff, and made their typical joke about how they don't know how to play the new songs. It was actually pretty exciting for me, because although this was my twenty-first TMBG show (I believe; I haven't kept an especially close count), it was my first pre-album concert. The others I've seen were all AFTER the release of an album, or else when they didn't really have anything to promote. Of the new material, I enjoyed "The Shadow Government" and "Climbing The Walls" the most. "The Mesopotamians" was also pretty cool, but I have to say it sounded like it should be a sitcom theme. Not that that's a bad thing, just not what I was expecting when I saw the title. I guess when you do enough TV theme and commercial music, it starts to seep into your "regular" songs. "I'm Impressed" and "Upside Down Frown" were decent, but somewhat lackluster. I'll be interested in finding out whether they sound better or worse on the actual album. The funniest comment of the night occurred when the Johns couldn't remember which track on the new album a song was, and Linnell asked if anyone had illegally downloaded it. Flansburgh then said that that was a sting operation, and "the guy from MSNBC" was waiting outside to talk to the people who had admitted to it.
As far as older material goes, they did "Don't Let's Start," which was cool. I think it was only the third time I've heard it live. They introduced another song by dedicating it to everyone who wasn't celebrating a birthday, and I was kind of hoping against hope that it would be "It's Not My Birthday," which they've introduced that way before. No, it was actually "Memo To Human Resources." But hey, that's a great song too, so no real harm done. They did play a few of the songs that I definitely wouldn't mind being stricken from setlists forever ("Older," "Particle Man," "Fingertips"...although they did cut out the "darkened corridors" part from the latter, instead going right into "Birdhouse In Your Soul"), but I guess there are bound to be a few of those every time. Actually, at the only other show I saw at the Stone Pony, they played almost everything I was tired of hearing, and maybe one or two songs that I hadn't already heard. So the mostly new material in this set was a refreshing change. Oh, and regarding older songs, they did a fast-forward version of "Istanbul," which was amusing.
Last night's show was Sloan at the World Cafe Live, to which I was accompanied by both Beth and Dorothea. The opening act was a band called Small Sins, who were pretty good, but not amazingly great. At one point, the tambourine player threw off his hat, and it ended up landing right in Beth's hand. I wondered if she was going to get to keep it, but no such luck, as he asked for it back after the song. Sloan mostly played songs from their newest album, Never Hear the End of It, but they also represented their back catalog pretty well (much better than TMBG or Weird Al did at their recent shows, certainly, although admittedly they haven't been around for anywhere near as long). In addition to some of the earlier stuff that they played at all three shows I've been to ("Money City Maniacs," "Everything You've Done Wrong," "The Lines You Amend"), they also threw in "Chester The Molester" and "The Marquee And The Moon."
So yeah, that's my concert-filled weekend. After posting this, I should probably go to bed, even though it's quite a bit earlier than I usually do so.
bethje and I left for the show around 5:30, and had made it almost as far as the New Gretna toll plaza on the Garden State Parkway before realizing that we'd forgotten something. Anyone who guessed "the tickets" can stay after the post and clean the erasers. Fortunately, there was a nearby police station where we could turn around, and we headed back to get them. By the time we'd reached the venue, the opening act (a DJ called Nighttime Gallagher) was winding down. It wasn't too much longer before TMBG came out and started their set with "Damn Good Times." After that, they admitted that they'd be playing mostly new stuff, and made their typical joke about how they don't know how to play the new songs. It was actually pretty exciting for me, because although this was my twenty-first TMBG show (I believe; I haven't kept an especially close count), it was my first pre-album concert. The others I've seen were all AFTER the release of an album, or else when they didn't really have anything to promote. Of the new material, I enjoyed "The Shadow Government" and "Climbing The Walls" the most. "The Mesopotamians" was also pretty cool, but I have to say it sounded like it should be a sitcom theme. Not that that's a bad thing, just not what I was expecting when I saw the title. I guess when you do enough TV theme and commercial music, it starts to seep into your "regular" songs. "I'm Impressed" and "Upside Down Frown" were decent, but somewhat lackluster. I'll be interested in finding out whether they sound better or worse on the actual album. The funniest comment of the night occurred when the Johns couldn't remember which track on the new album a song was, and Linnell asked if anyone had illegally downloaded it. Flansburgh then said that that was a sting operation, and "the guy from MSNBC" was waiting outside to talk to the people who had admitted to it.As far as older material goes, they did "Don't Let's Start," which was cool. I think it was only the third time I've heard it live. They introduced another song by dedicating it to everyone who wasn't celebrating a birthday, and I was kind of hoping against hope that it would be "It's Not My Birthday," which they've introduced that way before. No, it was actually "Memo To Human Resources." But hey, that's a great song too, so no real harm done. They did play a few of the songs that I definitely wouldn't mind being stricken from setlists forever ("Older," "Particle Man," "Fingertips"...although they did cut out the "darkened corridors" part from the latter, instead going right into "Birdhouse In Your Soul"), but I guess there are bound to be a few of those every time. Actually, at the only other show I saw at the Stone Pony, they played almost everything I was tired of hearing, and maybe one or two songs that I hadn't already heard. So the mostly new material in this set was a refreshing change. Oh, and regarding older songs, they did a fast-forward version of "Istanbul," which was amusing.
Last night's show was Sloan at the World Cafe Live, to which I was accompanied by both Beth and Dorothea. The opening act was a band called Small Sins, who were pretty good, but not amazingly great. At one point, the tambourine player threw off his hat, and it ended up landing right in Beth's hand. I wondered if she was going to get to keep it, but no such luck, as he asked for it back after the song. Sloan mostly played songs from their newest album, Never Hear the End of It, but they also represented their back catalog pretty well (much better than TMBG or Weird Al did at their recent shows, certainly, although admittedly they haven't been around for anywhere near as long). In addition to some of the earlier stuff that they played at all three shows I've been to ("Money City Maniacs," "Everything You've Done Wrong," "The Lines You Amend"), they also threw in "Chester The Molester" and "The Marquee And The Moon."
So yeah, that's my concert-filled weekend. After posting this, I should probably go to bed, even though it's quite a bit earlier than I usually do so.
