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Gonzo Report: TMBG plays 10 tunes from Apollo 18
A natural fit at a venue called The Observatory
They Might Have Been Podcasters?
New York City's They Might Be Giants (TMBG) rolled into town recently for a two-night stand at The Observatory in North Park. I caught the second night’s performance (May 14) which featured an (un-announced) heaping helping of songs from their 1992 album Apollo 18.
But of course, before I got to the show, I had to dock my own vehicle in No Park. In what had to be a good omen for the evening, I got lucky and found a spot near the theater, then trekked a couple extra blocks to meet up with some friends at North Park Beer Company for a pre-concert drink. I was pleasantly surprised by the abundance of pilsners and lagers they had on tap. Maybe the days of IPA domination are finally behind us. Long live crispy session beers!
We made it into The Observatory about 15 minutes before the 8 pm showtime. The venue was probably about three-quarters full and would remain at that level throughout the night. For a band that has been kicking around since the mid-'80s the crowd had a surprisingly large share of 20-somethings in attendance. Many of the MTV 120 Minutes alternative bands of yore play to graying 40 to 50 year-olds these days, TMBG seems to have a knack for keeping things youthful. Their grab bag of weird, often ultra-catchy pop nuggets draws new recruits the same way that Nirvana and The Beatles continuously get discovered by new generations.
The core of TMBG is the two Johns (Flansburgh and Linnell), who started as a duo but were touring and recording as a four-piece unit by the mid-'90s. Their longtime band (drummer Marty Beller, guitarist Dan Miller, and bassist Danny Weinkauf) got beefed up on this tour by a three-piece horn section. The extra musicians worked wonders for this gig, as the added brass gave many of the songs a bombastic energy that drums, keys, and guitars alone could never achieve.
The band launched into the festivities with Apollo 18’s opening track, “Dig My Grave,” and they would populate the majority of the first set with ten more selections from the same album. My friend Matt (a newbie) told me after the show that he enjoyed the second set far more than the first, primarily because the second set featured more of the band's recognizable singles. “I just found it difficult to get into their tunes,” he said regarding the first set. “I think one of the things about them is they don't really establish much of a groove or anything. All the songs are a little different. Their tempos are different, and I feel like it's one of those shows where, if you don't know it, it's just hard to really get into it.”
One song in the first set, “Fingertips,” may have played a large role in his assessment of the material. The track is a collection of 21 micro-songs that range from 4 to 61 seconds in length. If you are familiar with the song, you know it comes across as psychotic, but in a fun way. If you don’t know the song and are suddenly bombarded in a live setting with “PLEASE PASS THE MILK. PLEASE PASS THE MILK PLEASE,” or five seconds of “HEY NOW EVERYBODY, HEY NOW EVERYBODY, HEY NOW EVERYBODY NOW!” it’s likely just straight-up insanity.
Video:
TMBG: "Fingertips"
One enduring feature of the band’s live shows is the banter between the two Johns, which has only improved over the years. Flansburgh is the more gregarious of the two, and serves as the band’s hype man, while Linnell is more subdued but has a knack for coming up with dry comebacks to Flansburgh’s musings. On this night, some choice lines included “This is a song off one of our worst-selling albums,” “There’s some tough news I have to break to you guys; the horns have to leave. We’d like them to stay, but they insisted,” and “My dad used to always say ‘Don’t put the best part of the show in the middle of the first set.’ This is a huge disagreement between me and my father.”
If the music thing had fizzled out decades ago, one could imagine them as a popular podcast duo in the present day. At their current live gigs, you get the banter humor in shorter bursts, as it’s sprinkled in amongst heaping helpings of oddball pop. And that seems just fine with their fans.
Here's something you might be interested in.
Gonzo Report: TMBG plays 10 tunes from Apollo 18
A natural fit at a venue called The Observatory
Gonzo Report: TMBG plays 10 tunes from Apollo 18
A natural fit at a venue called The Observatory
They Might Have Been Podcasters?
New York City's They Might Be Giants (TMBG) rolled into town recently for a two-night stand at The Observatory in North Park. I caught the second night’s performance (May 14) which featured an (un-announced) heaping helping of songs from their 1992 album Apollo 18.
But of course, before I got to the show, I had to dock my own vehicle in No Park. In what had to be a good omen for the evening, I got lucky and found a spot near the theater, then trekked a couple extra blocks to meet up with some friends at North Park Beer Company for a pre-concert drink. I was pleasantly surprised by the abundance of pilsners and lagers they had on tap. Maybe the days of IPA domination are finally behind us. Long live crispy session beers!
We made it into The Observatory about 15 minutes before the 8 pm showtime. The venue was probably about three-quarters full and would remain at that level throughout the night. For a band that has been kicking around since the mid-'80s the crowd had a surprisingly large share of 20-somethings in attendance. Many of the MTV 120 Minutes alternative bands of yore play to graying 40 to 50 year-olds these days, TMBG seems to have a knack for keeping things youthful. Their grab bag of weird, often ultra-catchy pop nuggets draws new recruits the same way that Nirvana and The Beatles continuously get discovered by new generations.
The core of TMBG is the two Johns (Flansburgh and Linnell), who started as a duo but were touring and recording as a four-piece unit by the mid-'90s. Their longtime band (drummer Marty Beller, guitarist Dan Miller, and bassist Danny Weinkauf) got beefed up on this tour by a three-piece horn section. The extra musicians worked wonders for this gig, as the added brass gave many of the songs a bombastic energy that drums, keys, and guitars alone could never achieve.
The band launched into the festivities with Apollo 18’s opening track, “Dig My Grave,” and they would populate the majority of the first set with ten more selections from the same album. My friend Matt (a newbie) told me after the show that he enjoyed the second set far more than the first, primarily because the second set featured more of the band's recognizable singles. “I just found it difficult to get into their tunes,” he said regarding the first set. “I think one of the things about them is they don't really establish much of a groove or anything. All the songs are a little different. Their tempos are different, and I feel like it's one of those shows where, if you don't know it, it's just hard to really get into it.”
One song in the first set, “Fingertips,” may have played a large role in his assessment of the material. The track is a collection of 21 micro-songs that range from 4 to 61 seconds in length. If you are familiar with the song, you know it comes across as psychotic, but in a fun way. If you don’t know the song and are suddenly bombarded in a live setting with “PLEASE PASS THE MILK. PLEASE PASS THE MILK PLEASE,” or five seconds of “HEY NOW EVERYBODY, HEY NOW EVERYBODY, HEY NOW EVERYBODY NOW!” it’s likely just straight-up insanity.
Video:
TMBG: "Fingertips"
One enduring feature of the band’s live shows is the banter between the two Johns, which has only improved over the years. Flansburgh is the more gregarious of the two, and serves as the band’s hype man, while Linnell is more subdued but has a knack for coming up with dry comebacks to Flansburgh’s musings. On this night, some choice lines included “This is a song off one of our worst-selling albums,” “There’s some tough news I have to break to you guys; the horns have to leave. We’d like them to stay, but they insisted,” and “My dad used to always say ‘Don’t put the best part of the show in the middle of the first set.’ This is a huge disagreement between me and my father.”
If the music thing had fizzled out decades ago, one could imagine them as a popular podcast duo in the present day. At their current live gigs, you get the banter humor in shorter bursts, as it’s sprinkled in amongst heaping helpings of oddball pop. And that seems just fine with their fans.
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