New wave/alt-rock legends They Might Be Giants recently wrapped an ambitious two-year tour that saw them performing two-to-four shows in select cities across the country, spotlighting a generous portion of a different album each night and showcasing their amazingly tight three-piece horn section. These shows were a delight to hardcore fans and newcomers alike and allowed the band more variety in song selection each night while also making travel from city to city a bit easier to tolerate. Even as this review is (finally) being written, the band is already teasing a new round of dates for 2026.
For a legacy act like TMBG, there's an abundance of material to choose from when preparing for any performance. While some may only know the band's four or five most popular songs (which they dutifully include almost every night), their dedicated followers usually celebrate any combination of material they may choose to perform, one of many elements that makes them unique among their peers and successors. Fans who have seen 50 shows may be standing next to younger fans attending for only the first or second time, yet everyone is still invited to join in on the fun and to be engaged by the clever delivery, creative wordplay, and impressive musical arrangements in their songs. The final two shows of 2025 saw the band visiting Cleveland, Ohio (a staple city from their many years on the road) with performances at two different venues on consecutive nights, just before Thanksgiving.
Friday night's show at the Agora Theatre featured songs from the 1994 album John Henry throughout the first set, and while TMBG have been rotating through spotlighting one of three particular albums over the last two years, it's notable that some of the songs that have been performed from these albums has also changed from 2024 to 2025. Where someone who saw them near the beginning of the tour might have been treated to a rendition of "A Self-Called Nowhere," seeing them later in the tour may have seen that song replaced by "Dirt Bike," for example. "No One Knows My Plan" continues to be featured without the traditional conga line intro, and "Spy" still engages with a lengthy free form section that has even more room to stretch out due to the added horns on stage. In the case of this show, a few other deep cuts and fan-favorites ("The Famous Polka," "You Probably Get That a Lot," and others) were sprinkled in throughout the first set, and nothing else from John Henry was included following the intermission.
All eight members of the touring band were in fine form all night, with Mark Pender, Dan Levine, and Stan Harrison, primarily on trumpet, trombone, and saxophone, respectively, each getting extra love from the crowd (and often hamming it up, adding even more humor to the show). Bassist Danny Weinkauf sported a T-shirt from his daughter Kai's musical project, and guitarist Dan Miller surprised a few lucky audience members who were seated in a second-level box by stepping out to rip his ending guitar solo from "Damn Good Times" right next to them thanks to modern wireless technology. Founding members and co-band leaders John Linnell and John Flansburgh peppered the night with their usual, comical observations, ranging in topic from how they've turned down invitations for induction to The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame several times because The Monkees have yet to be inducted to encouragement to celebrate Black Friday at the merch table (though that consumer event was still one week away).
The second set presented a number of fan favorites ("Can't Keep Johnny Down," "Shoehorn with Teeth" featuring drummer Marty Beller on the glockenspiel, and "Lie Still, Little Bottle," featuring "the stick") as well as highlights of newer songs like "Brontosaurus," "Moonbeam Rays," and "The Darlings of Lumberland," all of which have grown in reputation from their inclusion in recent years. After closing the first set with a showstopping, horn-heavy "Istanbul," TMBG saved their other biggest hits for the end of the show, including "Particle Man," "Birdhouse in Your Soul," and "Doctor Worm" among the final five songs of the evening. The Friday show felt more traditional because of the age and style of the venue, and fans old and new exited with buzzing energy that would find itself across town in front of a different stage about 20 hours later.
Saturday's performance was at The Globe Iron, a much newer club with a much smaller capacity that made for a very different atmosphere compared to Friday's show. Fans in line passed out TMBG stickers and made album-specific beaded bracelets for others also waiting to get inside. Venue staff seemed to range in age from teenagers still in high school to the elderly and retired, and they seemed less familiar or comfortable with the process of lining up the crowd, checking IDs, and scanning tickets once doors opened. Inside, the much-lower ceiling and deeper distance to the back of the performance area removed the component of half the audience looking down from a balcony but meant the last fans to arrive were pretty far from the stage, with early birds packing the GA floor tightly ahead of the performance.
The second Cleveland show featured songs from TMBG's 4th album, 1992's Apollo 18, and seemed to engage the audience a bit better than the Friday show, though the band themselves seemed to have had a slightly better experience during the first show than the second. All players were sharp as usual, and aside from technical issues with monitor mixing, everything seemed to go off without a hitch. After opening with a rousing "Synopsis for Latecomers," one of only 10 songs that were performed both nights, the band ripped through a dense set of 10 songs in a row from Apollo 18, including hits like "The Statue Got Me High" and "The Guitar" along with live staples like "She's Actual Size," "I Palindrome I" and "Fingertips (pts. 1-21)" to the delight of the energetic audience. Slight changes in arrangements continued to appear in some of these songs compared to versions performed in previous years, much like some of the John Henry songs the night before, and segments that once included more jamming and interplay between instruments reverted to their original formats, all more similar to their recorded versions. These extensions once seemed to pad the runtime of the show a bit and now seem to have been removed in order to keep the show barreling forward, even if the overall length of the concert is slightly lessened.
The brilliance of "Stellub" was included both Friday and Saturday, where the band learned how to play and sing the Flood deep cut "Sapphire Bullets of Pure Love" backwards, which is filmed and played back to the audience in reverse, allowing them to hear the song performed as written, as a video introduction to the second set of the night. No other band would ever try such a thing, and one might argue no other band ever should! Drummer Marty Beller shined throughout renditions of older hits ("Ana Ng" and "New York City"), newer favorites ("Stuff Is Way" and "Call You Mom") and even deeper deep cuts ("Wearing a Raincoat," "Withered Hope," and "Number Three), all of which featured added accents by the horn section and had fans gleefully singing along, with the 1988 B-side "I'll Sink Manhattan" benefitting from the horns most of all.
This time around, the band closed the first set with "Doctor Worm" and shuffled "Istanbul" to the end of the show along with "Particle Man" and "Birdhouse in Your Soul," though one could argue swapping one out for the other on the consecutive nights might have allowed for another great oldie to be included at the second show. Linnell and Flansburgh were in a celebratory mood as this was the final show of the year prior to traveling back to New York for the holiday break, but with an EP of new songs coming out later this week and a new LP due in the late spring, fans are anticipating how the live show might change in 2026 following two years of The Big Tour.
They Might Be Giants (Agora Theatre, Cleveland OH, 11/21/25):
Stompy (intro tape)
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Subliminal
Snail Shell
Out of Jail
Unrelated Thing
Meet James Ensor
The Famous Polka
Stuff Is Way
Synopsis for Latecomers
No One Knows My Plan
Spy
Dirt Bike
You Probably Get That a Lot
Stellub
Istanbul (The Four Lads)
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*(intermission)*
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Sapphire Bullets of Pure Love ("Stellub" reversed on video)
What Nut (intro tape)
-------------
Dead
Memo to Human Fingertips (error!)
Memo to Human Resources
Can't Keep Johnny Down
Shoehorn with Teeth
Brontosaurus
Lie Still, Little Bottle
Let Me Tell You About My Operation
The Darlings of Lumberland
Where Your Eyes Don't Go
Moonbeam Rays
2082
Damn Good Times
Particle Man
Birdhouse in Your Soul
-------------------------
Twisting
When Will You Die
--------------------------
Doctor Worm
---------------------------------
***********************************************
They Might Be Giants (Globe Iron, Cleveland, OH, 11/22/25):
Stompy (intro tape)
--------------
Synopsis for Latecomers
The Statue Got Me High
Turn Around
She's Actual Size
Narrow Your Eyes
Mammal
I Palindrome I
Spider
The Guitar
Dinner Bell
Fingertips (pts. 1-21)
Stellub
Doctor Worm
--------------------------
(intermission)
--------------------------
Sapphire Bullets of Pure Love ("Stellub" reversed on video)
What Nut (intro tape)
--------------------
Stuff Is Way
Moonbeam Rays
Ana Ng
New York City (Cub)
Brontosaurus
I'll Sink Manhattan
Call You Mom
Withered Hope
Cloisonne
Wearing a Raincoat
Number Three
Birdhouse in Your Soul
---------------------------
Let Me Tell You About My Operation
Particle Man
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Istanbul (Four Lads)
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