They Might Be Giants, the twin quasars of rock, triumphantly returned to The Majestic Theatre in Detroit for back-to-back sold out shows a few weeks ago, and as they always do, left their adoring fans thoroughly satisfied and buzzing on a concert high for days after.
In full disclosure, along with Nirvana, TMBG are my favorite band ever, and these shows were my 29th and 30th times seeing them, respectively. Some might think there’s nothing new to be gained from continuing to see an act over and over like that, but Giants fans around the world know their unique brand of arty new wave and ironic alternative rock more than warrants repeat engagements. Now in the project’s 42nd year and continuing to barrel forward, TMBG will release a new studio album later this year and are treating their faithful followers in the Midwest to a string of special shows highlighting some key, fan-favorite albums from their incredible catalog. Each night features a focus on highlights from either Apollo 18 (1992), John Henry (1994), or Mink Car (2001), but the audience doesn’t know which until a few songs into the concert. This must certainly be a welcome change of pace after a somewhat doomed tour celebrating the 30th anniversary of their breakthrough LP, Flood (1990), which was interrupted many times by everything from COVID to car accidents, where the band played through the entirety of that album nightly. Considering it is so lauded among their fans, they continue to feature a handful of songs from it in spite of moving forward from it being the theme of the tour.
Instead of playing a different city every night, TMBG are also setting up camp for two-to-three-night stands in each city and venue. Detroit was graced with two nights of music at the famous Majestic Theatre, a venue that’s hosted the band more than any other in Michigan over their many years of touring. Sold out crowds both nights made for an exciting atmosphere, and TMBG delivered four great sets of hits and deep cuts alike, with tracks from their first album next to tracks from their 23rd, and a chance for longtime fans to enjoy focused mini-sets of material that hasn’t been featured in many years or possibly ever in a few cases. Detroit’s first show featured songs from Apollo 18, the Giants’ final release as a duo prior to expanding to include a supporting band. What a treat for fans young and old, many of whom were either very young or unborn when the band toured to support the album in 1992 and ’93. The time devoted to songs from that album was evenly distributed to include the three biggest hits from it (“I Palindrome I,” “The Statue Got Me High,” and “The Guitar"), a few fan favorites (“Spider” and “Fingertips”) and a couple deep cuts (“Turn Around” and the mega-rare “Narrow Your Eyes”) all of which was already more than worth the price of admission, and yet these songs only accounted for about 40% of Friday’s show. The audience for night #1 were also treated to songs from their latest LP, 2021’s BOOK, old favorites from TMBGs first two albums, including "Where Your Eyes Don't Go" and the triumphant return of “the stick” on the classic “Lie Still, Little Bottle,” and choice cuts from the other two albums in the featured rotation (most notably, the super-rare "Out of Jail"), sort of a consolation prize for audience members who were only attending one performance to ensure they still got a taste of John Henry and Mink Car. The audience was also treated to a new song from the band’s upcoming album entitled “The Glamour of Rock” which discussed doing laundry on a show day. The first night ended with a string of hits to round out the main show and the encores which included a show-stopping rendition of “Istanbul,” an enthusiastic romp through “Birdhouse in Your Soul,” and a celebratory blast with “Doctor Worm” to end the night, which was just a bit stronger both on stage and in the crowd than night two would turn out to be.
The musicians themselves all performed brilliantly throughout the weekend and co-founders John Linnell and John Flansburgh continued to entertain with comical banter between songs on top of their amazing vocal harmonies and skilled work on keyboard, accordion, and guitar. Drummer Marty Bellar shined during a brief solo in “She’s Actual Size” that replaced the longer solo section some fans may remember from previous drummer, Dan Hickey. Longtime bassist, Danny Weiknauf, and guitarist, Dan Miller are comfortably at home playing any of the band’s countless songs and added their own touches of flare throughout that punctuated many of the tracks’ most exciting elements. For the past six years, the quintet have also been writing, recording, and touring with an impressively skilled, three-piece horn section made up of Mark Pender on trumpet (formerly of Conan O’Brien’s TV band), longtime collaborator Dan Levine, primarily on trombone, and saxophonist Stan Harrison all of whom added volume and intensity to songs that feature great horn parts on the band’s albums but often lack those accents in their live shows.
Night 2 focused on Mink Car for most of the first set and included a similar mix of hits, fan favorites, and deep cuts from that album, most notably, the rarely-performed, “Hovering Sombrero.” Other popular favorites like “Cyclops Rock,” “Working Undercover for the Man,” and “Drink!” were a fun throwback to the band’s shows in 2001 and 2002. "Man, It's So Loud in Here" continues to be performed in the rock arrangement of it's demo recording rather than the disco overload version featured on Mink Car, which was only briefly included live around the time of the album's release. The crowd was enthusiastic throughout, but the vibe and the energy peaked-and-valleyed a bit at times, which may have also hastened the delivery of the second set. Five songs in each of the two sets on night 2 were also performed on night 1, which was great for those who only came to the second show but may have been less-engaging to fans who attended both nights. The band also brought back many songs that had not been performed in years but left some of the audience participation or otherwise scripted add-on bits out at times. For example, the use of the stick remained on “Lie Still, Little Bottle,” and the audience participation call-and-response during “Drink!” (drink! drink!) continued, but the phone call bit that interrupts "Older" has been dropped, and the traditionally, mandatory conga line jam was not included at the start of “No One Knows My Plan.” Prior to the intermission, the band confounded the crowd and flexed a bit by performing Flood’s “Sapphire Bullets of Pure Love” sonically backwards (a piece they call “Stellub”) which is filmed and played back in reverse to open the second set, allowing the audience to hear the song essentially as written but while watching a reversed film of a performance they just saw. This was punctuated by a rollicking run through BOOK’s “Brontosaurus,” one of the strongest performances of the night.
The second set on night 2 moved much faster than the previous three sets of the weekend even though it featured more songs than the others. Where the new song, “The Glamour of Rock,” had been included at almost every other show on the tour, it was not performed the second night in Detroit. Hardcore fans hoped in vain for a potential live debut of “Say Nice Things About Detroit,” but perhaps on the next tour. What fans got instead were a lovely sampling of songs, old and new, that all fit well together and often segued directly into one another, as TMBG kept things moving with less banter between songs during the final set (though they notably and comically called back to an anecdote about Courtney Love several times throughout the night). Favorites from John Henry, such as “Subliminal” and “Meet James Ensor” sounded great next to newer songs like “Underwater Woman” and “When Will You Die?” Hits like “Particle Man,” “The Mesopotamians,” and “Doctor Worm” were sprinkled in to balance out the more deep-cut leaning set of the weekend, and a continued highlight of material from the ‘80s was a welcome element as a second time each for “Lie Still, Little Bottle” and “Number Three” were accompanied by “The Famous Polka” and “Don’t Let’s Start.” The night ended with more deep cuts in the encores rather than ending with big hits like night 1 did. The 90-second, tongue twister, “Letterbox,” was followed by an especially impressive and extended performance of “Spy” which was possibly the most musically interesting portion of the whole weekend (with respect to the intricately-arranged "Darlings of Lumberland" on night 1), with both Linnell and eventually also Flansburgh controlling the members of the band (and briefly the audience as well) during the improvised argument, if you will, between the instruments that exists as the song’s free form bridge. A final encore of the John Henry fan favorite, “No One Knows My Plan” ended the two-night stand on an up note, and with little other fanfare, the Johns and co. were off the stage and headed home for the break between the two legs of the tour, which resumes in mid-June.
In 30 times of seeing They Might Be Giants, I still haven’t seen a bad show. Each of them were memorable and special for many reasons, and the combination of the uniqueness of their material, the creativity of their performance, and the attention to including a rotation of songs in their set lists makes almost every show an opportunity to see them perform songs you’ve never seen them play, even for obsessive fans. Attending a TMBG show is unlike a concert by any other artist and is most certainly not to be missed. I’m already looking forward to #31!
Friday,
May 17th set list:
Stompy
Intro (intro tape)
---------
Synopsis for Latecomers
Dig My
Grave
Turn
Around
Narrow
Your Eyes
Mammal
I
Palindrome I
Fingertips
(pts. 1-21)
Number
Three
Moonbeam
Rays
Shoehorn
with Teeth
She’s
Actual Size
The Statue
Got Me High
Spider
The Guitar
---------------------
*intermission*
--------------------
Godzilla Intro (intro tape)
----------
Man, It’s So Loud in Here (demo)
Out of
Jail
Bills,
Bills, Bills (Destiny’s Child)
Where Your
Eyes Don’t Go
Lie Still,
Little Bottle
Drown the
Clown
The
Glamour of Rock
Particle
Man
The
Darlings of Lumberland
Older
2082
Istanbul
(The Four Lads)
--------------------
Damn Good Times
Birdhouse in Your Soul
------------------------
Doctor Worm
--------------------------------
*********************************
Saturday,
May 18th set list:
Stompy Intro
(intro tape)
---------------
Synopsis for Latecomers
Birdhouse
in Your Soul
Moonbeam
Rays
Bangs
Man, It’s
So Loud in Here (demo)
Hovering
Sombrero
Drink!
Wicked Little Critta
Mink Car
Cyclops
Rock
Older
Working
Undercover for the Man
Let Me
Tell You About My Operation
Stellub
Brontosaurus
------------------------
*intermission*
-----------------------
Sapphire Bullets of Pure Love (video)
---------------
Godzilla Intro (intro tape)
----------
Subliminal
Particle
Man
Spider
Underwater
Woman
Meet James
Ensor
The Famous
Polka
The
Mesopotamians
Lie Still,
Little Bottle
When Will
You Die?
Cloisonne
Number
Three
Don’t Let’s
Start
Doctor
Worm
---------------------
Letterbox
Spy
-----------------
No One Knows
My Plan
-----------------------------
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