Its beauty must then be placed on a stage

[vovat]

After work yesterday, I drove to Philadelphia for the They Might Be Giants show at the TLA. bethje and Dorothea were already there, and they saved me a spot on the balcony. It was cool to be able to sit down for the show. I know there are people who apparently have legs and backs of cast-iron who say things like, "How can you possibly SIT DOWN during a rock show? It means you're not into it!" Actually, though, I was more into this show than many other TMBG concerts I've seen, and I think the fact I didn't have to stand up the whole time helped. It wasn't the only factor, though, as you'll soon see.

There were two openers for the show. The first was Michael Leviton, a dude with a ukelele, who was better than that description makes him sound. I liked the first song he did, which had a lot of interesting wordplay. Unfortunately, I missed a lot of his set because I was frantically searching for my ticket from the parking garage, which I never did manage to find. When I'm having trouble with one thing, I have a lot of trouble concentrating on anything else, which means that Michael didn't get as much attention from me as he should have. I still came away with a basically positive opinion on him, though, which is more than I can say for most openers.

The second opener was The Last Car, and my opinion on them was a lot better than "basically positive." They were super-excellent. Beth and I had seen them before in New York, and they did a lot of the same songs, as well as the three numbers about Mr. T that had appeared on the podcast. I bought their CD, every copy of which has a different picture on the front. I really should have gotten another one, so that Beth I could each have our own, but oh well. Anyway, what's really awesome is that, after their set, Amy Miles and Chris Anderson came up to the balcony, and I got them to sign the CD. I didn't get an autograph from Robin Goldwasser, unfortunately, but you can't win 'em all. She DID walk behind us at one point, but it was during TMBG's set, so it really wasn't a good time to try to talk to her. That now makes two occasions when Robin walked right by me in a situation where I couldn't say anything. Maybe the third time will be the charm.

TMBG's own set was one of the better ones I've heard. The entire setlist can be found here, so I won't bother reproducing it, but I will mention the highlights (of which there were many) and the lowlights (of which there were refreshingly few). Although I've probably seen them upwards of twenty times by now, I don't think I'd ever been to a show when a new album was actively in the works. They did "Why Did You Grow A Beard?" and "We Live In A Dump," both of which I knew from the podcasts (and the latter of which was apparently co-written by Chris Anderson); as well as three songs that I'd never heard at all before: "Careful What You Pack" (during which John Flansburgh had everyone in the audience hold up their cell phones), "The Cap'n" (or possibly "The Cap'm"; I think my spelling makes more sense, but then, when has John Linnell been known for making sense?), and "Bee Of Bird Of Moth." There was also "This Damn Band," a new song for introducing the band (bet you never could have guessed THAT one, huh? :P). There were also quite a few old songs in the set. Even if the rest of the show had sucked, getting "Number Three," "Nothing's Gonna Change My Clothes," AND "Purple Toupee" at the same concert would have made it all worthwhile. No "Everything Right Is Wrong Again," which I understand they'd been playing at other shows on the tour, but once again I feel compelled to point out that you can't win 'em all. There were fewer overplayed songs than usual, and even the ones that I've heard live so many friggin' times that I normally groan inwardly when they show up in the set ("James K. Polk," "Fingertips," "New York City," "Istanbul") weren't that bad. While I think it's probably time for the band to give "Fingertips" a rest (it was interesting as a novelty at first, but it really doesn't strike me as something that belongs in the set for all eternity), I do still love Flans's spoken-word bits during the "I'm having a heart attack" bit, and last night was no exception. I had heard that Dan Miller was back to playing extended guitar solos before "Istanbul," and I was kind of dreading it, but I ended up actually liking it a lot. I'm not sure if it was because I got to sit down during it, or because I hadn't heard it in a while, or it was just better than usual, or what. I kind of wish he'd start doing the solos to introduce a better song, though. It sounds like he's building up to something, and then, finally, here it comes...a song that we've all heard eighty zillion times! Oh, well. There was no "Particle Man" or "Older," for which I'm thankful. I mean, those songs are short, so they're not THAT big of a deal, but I'm still sick of hearing them.

There were several Venue Songs in the show. They did the Los Angeles and Anaheim ones early in the set, and I was wondering if they'd do the TLA one (since, you know, they were AT the TLA). Not only did they play it, but they played TWO DIFFERENT VERSIONS. The first one sounded like it does on the album, and was accompanied by the crew dressed in weird white hooded garments and forming the letters "YMCA" style. The other one, which was the last song of the night, was a mellow, keyboard-heavy version without the techno beats. They also did the Stone Pony song as part of the encore.

There was a lot of amusing banter and activity from the Johns, not all of which I can remember that well, but a few of my favorite parts were:

• Flans pushing Dan Miller out of the way of during the solo in "Birdhouse In Your Soul."
  
• The following exchange, which I reproduce to the best of my memory:
  
  Linnell: How's it going?
  The audience screams unintelligibly, as audiences are wont to do.
  Linnell: That's right! It's going "waaaaah!"
  Flans: You know, "waaaah" is a gateway answer to "mwahahaha!"
  
• When Flans accidentally started singing the wrong verse of "Meet James Ensor," so they started the song over again, but with an introduction.
  
• A comment from Flans about how they like the podcasts because they're so cheap, they don't even like to think about paying for their OWN music.
  

So, yeah, great show overall. After the concert, we ate at Denny's, where I had the Moons Over My Hammy, along with lousy fries that I didn't finish. And that's about it, really. I wonder when the next TMBG album will be coming out. I'm definitely looking forward to it. But that pretty much goes without saying, doesn't it?

Comments

[espions.livejournal.com]

Great recap of a great show. I've only seen Them twice before at free show and this was definitely among the top 3 shows I've been to in my life, and i do go to a whole assload of shows. :)

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Great recap of a great show.

Thanks! I do my best. {g}

[3x1minus1.livejournal.com]

>>I know there are people who apparently have legs and backs of cast-iron who say things like, "How can you possibly SIT DOWN during a rock show?<<

aaugh. i hate those people. sitting is vastly underrated. :)

[obsessical.livejournal.com]

AUUGGGHHHH YOU MET CHRIS ANDERSON I HATE YOU.

Okay, okay. I don't *hate* you. I'm just INSANELY JELAOUS because I LOOOOVE Chris Anderson. I was right in front of him and I almost died. Of happiness.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I guess that's about the best way to die, isn't it? {g}

[listenesmerelda.livejournal.com]

michael leviton! i couldn't remember his name. i thought he was pretty fun. no corn-mo, but they can't all be corn-mo...

and i've never heard new york city live before. they played it for our second encore and i about peed myself.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I thought pretty early on that Michael Leviton was like Corn Mo with a ukelele instead of an accordion, but he's hardly as crazy. Michael's shtick seemed to be mostly that he was really self-deprecating.

I can't recall when the last time was when I saw TMBG and they DIDN'T play "New York City." I've been to more shows that didn't include "Particle Man."

[listenesmerelda.livejournal.com]

well, i guess statistically you're more likely to have seen the same songs a lot compared to me because i've only seen them four times now.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

True, but I'm somewhat inclined to think you might have attended the only three TMBG shows in the past decade that DIDN'T include NYC. Maybe they figure people in Ohio won't be interested in hearing a song about New York written by Canadians. {g}

Actually, were any of those four concerts shortened sets, like in-stores or multi-artist events?

[dragonxbait.livejournal.com]

I saw TMBG today in Albany! It was an excellent outdoor concert (although I *am* one of those people who hate to sit at a rock concert...I want to dance!). There were a lot of young kids there who turned dancing into something more closely resembling a street brawl, though.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

although I *am* one of those people who hate to sit at a rock concert...I want to dance!

Hey, I have no problem if people WANT to stand up throughout the show, but there are so many venues that don't even give you the choice, and then make you wait forever between sets on top of that. And people are usually packed in so tightly that there's no room to dance, unless you don't mind stomping on the surrounding people's feet.

There weren't any young kids at this show, since there was a sixteen-and-up age restriction. That cutoff really doesn't make much sense to me, but whatever.

[little-octagon.livejournal.com]

In my mid-late teens, the TLA was all about the art movies. I dearly loved the place and was bitterly disappointed to hear they were changing their format. Glad to hear the TLA is hosting some decent music these days.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

A lot of bands I like have played at the TLA. I kind of wish they'd play other venues, since South Street is kind of out of the way of both public transportation and the parking places that I know about (although I DID see a garage on Third Street right near the venue, which I might check out next time there's a show there). I don't think they show movies there at all anymore, though, although the Trocadero still does.

[onib.livejournal.com]

A lot of art movies get played now at the Prince Music Theater, up by City Hall.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's where Beth and I saw Gigantic, actually.

[onib.livejournal.com]

I had a feeling you'd like the show with so many new songs and so few constant standards. I couldn't hear Michael Leviton at all, which, I'm guessing was only a few feet behind you. The general din of talking drowned out his voice and uke entirely. The "waaaaah" bit was hillarious to me. They seemed in general like they were having a lot of fun that night. I appreciated that the band intros did not have long-ass solos that you could leave for the bathroom and be back before they ended. Like you said, the solo before Istanbul was really enjoyable and did not make me want to yell for him to hurry up and finish. It's nice to have so few complaints afterwards.

When I drive there, I've gotten in the habit of parking in one of the two lots by South and 4th. They're both about a $15 flat fee for parking at night though, so I'd be happy to find someplace else that wasn't too far of a walk.

I enjoyed sitting down during most of the show. I stood up after a while because a giant group migrated in front of us, blocking all possible views of the stage while seated. When I saw them at the Harrisburg Science Center (around when they released the "They Got Lost" compilation), the whole venue had seats, which was a terrific change and didn't stop my enjoyment in the least. Both the Johns actually commented on the fact that it was so interesting/fun/different to play in someplace that was more of a theater than a bar.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Where were you at the show?

I appreciated that the band intros did not have long-ass solos that you could leave for the bathroom and be back before they ended. Like you said, the solo before Istanbul was really enjoyable and did not make me want to yell for him to hurry up and finish.

Yeah, I'm generally not a big fan of extended solos, but they kept them under control at this particular concert. I think that, when they're really long, they become totally self-indulgent. Like, "I love to listen to myself play guitar! Aren't I cool? I don't care if the audience would rather hear some actual songs!"

I ended up paying $20 for parking because I'd lost the ticket. Otherwise, I think it would have cost me $15. I haven't found any cheaper places where you can stay past midnight, but then, I haven't really looked. When I'm driving in the city, my goal is usually to get out of the car as soon as I possibly can. {g}

The Johns seem to prefer it when the audience stands up, even when there are seats. I guess it looks more impressive and appreciative. It's usually either really small or really big venues that have seats. At medium-sized ones (i.e., where most of the bands I like play), it's often standing room only. It strikes me as pretty cheap, but what are you going to do?

[onib.livejournal.com]

Where were you at the show?

You know how (ignoring the long side balcony over the bar) there's a lower balcony, a middle balcony, and an upper area next to the secondary bar. We were at the back of the center of the middle balcony where there were seats around tables. We wanted to get seats for the people we were with and all the seats in the front sections were already taken.

I think, in general, I prefer parking in a garage, because if you can't park next to a wall in a flat lot, you have to leave your keys with the attendant. Call me paranoid, but I'm always a little bothered doing that, so I'd rather find someplace I can come and go as I wish.