If I thought it has been cold in Atlanta waiting for the first show, it was nothing compared to the second. Low 40s. Windy Just generally unpleasant and not at all what I was excepting from Atlanta, even in February. The front of our line was pretty much the same people as the previous night, all huddled together, drinking coffee, trying to stay warm. My feet were entirely frozen by the time I got inside. (Note to self: Converse offer no warmth what so ever.)
Once inside, I went for the opposite side of the stage as the previous night to get a change of scene. Probably the oddest thing about this show was that the news of Whitney Houston's death hit while we were all waiting for the show to start. I found out by back tracking someone's comment that they had made to Marty on Twitter asking whether he was all right. I didn't get it at first until I realized it was a reference to him really being "Whitney Houston on the drums." I could hear the news travel across the crowd like a wildfire which was a very odd thing to experience. I couldn't decide if it was funny or sad that people kept making Twitter enquiries on Marty's well being. The girl standing next to me didn't get it at all, having not yet heard Marty Beller Mask. I had a brief few moments of fear that the band would not have heard the news prior to hitting the stage, and would go on playing the song, blissfully unaware of recent events and potentially get themselves in hot water. But I was relieved to see that they were following the news and took appropriate action. I was sad because it is a great song, but I think they made the right move retiring it and I was glad I got so many opportunities to hear it live. This whole incident also resulted in me getting one of my all time favorite text messages which read: "Don't worry, I found Marty. He's okay."
Once again, I don't have anything to report from the JoCo set except the setlist itself: Code Monkey - Stinking It To Myself - Big Bad World One - Good Morning Tucson - Still Alive - Nemeses - Skullcrusher Mountain - Re: Your Brains - I Feel Fantastic
TMBG setlist: Atlanta - Pencil Rain - Can't Keep Johnny Down - Mr. Me - Santa's Beard - They'll Need A Crane - Snowball in Hell - Purple Toupee - Piece Of Dirt - Stand On Your Own Head - New York City - When Will You Die - Spy - Lie Still, Little Bottle - Pandor Jingle - Shoehorn With Teeth - Kiss Me Son Of God - Memo To Human Resources - Meet James Ensor - Cowtown - Where Your Eyes Don't Go - Ana Ng - The Mesopotamians Encore - Birdhouse In Your Soul - Damn Good Times Encore 2 - Clap Your Hands - Everybody Conga - No One Knows My Plan - Istanbul
This was another Lincoln show, in an effort to keep the set different from the previous night. While both nights were excellent I think I would say that night one was better performance-wise and night two had funnier situational banter. This was largely due to a number of errors that occurred throughout the evening.
The first was during Mr. Me. As the rest of the band started to play the song, Linnell accidentally started playing Memo to Human Resources and they had to stop. Linnell claimed that without his glasses "Mr. Me" on the setlist looked like "Memo." Then followed some hilarious banter between Flans and Linnell about playing two different songs at the same time.
Then Flans accidentally introduced Cowtown when he was supposed to be announcing Purple Toupee. Linnell declared that the score was now 1-1 Flansburgh to Linnell. Flans said they were going to start fining each other $25 per mistake. And then he deliberately said the name of the song was Cowtown again before starting Purple Toupee which amused me greatly.
As they were preparing for They'll Need A Crane, Flans asked Marty if he would count them off and then looking over to realize Marty was just finishing stuffing food in his mouth. Flans was kind of amazed and said that while he had heard people say that Marty occasionally ate food on stage to keep his energy up, he had never seen it happen in all the years they had been playing together. Marty tried to play it off like it hadn't really happened and he didn't know what Flans was talking about, even opening his mouth to show there was nothing in it, but Flans' mind was already blown.
I really enjoyed the beginning of the Avatars' Snowball bridge. After Paul asked Joe how long he had been drinking coffee and got an estimated response, Paul informed him that he had been in the coffee shop for 9 hours and 37 minutes. "I just happen to know that." Joe said he liked to drink coffee. Paul's response: "I know that as well." And after Joe told Paul that he was, in fact, making a huge, steaming pile of income, he said "Why'd you ask?" Paul responded, that is was a rhetorical question as he had known the answer to that too. Which prompted Joe to say "You know Paul, sometimes you really kind of creep me out. Speaking for my wife and kids, I wish you'd stop following us around." Paul: "I know that as well." Joe: "Do you have any sense of decency, Paul?" And then followed Paul going off on another long rant about staring into the window of Joe's house and not being able to see the television.
I have neglected to mention in the last couple of recaps, that this was the trip that they started using the 1-2-3 band intro. This involves the audience clapping three times every few seconds. I had the hardest time getting the hang of this routine, always coming in on the wrong beat with the claps. It found myself having to count the beats between the claps. And I realized that part of my problem was a lack of consistency. At one show it would be six beats, then seven, then five. I don't know what they have finally settled on, because I've finally just gotten the hang of the rhythm, but I felt pretty dumb that I couldn't get it right the first few rounds.
This was also one of the very few shows I have ever seen where Flans was successful in getting the conga line going before No One Knows My Plan. I've been to shows where he just didn't bother and shows where he tried but no one really did it. And just a few where the conga line developed in full force, like this one. Personally, I think it helped that it was at the end of the show, so people didn't really care about losing their spots. It was super fun to see.
And once again, that is all I remember but here are some pictures.
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