Today's song is...
Destroy The Past
Of all the short little songs on Nanobots, this is the one that most reminds me of a Fingertips snippet. It just sounds like it would fit into that song set seamlessly. It is also, probably the one I would be most interested in hearing turned into a longer song. And it was the first song on the album that my brain started anticipating as soon as the previous song was over. It usually takes a while for that kind of auto-memory to set in, but not in this case.
Saturday, March 9, 2013
Friday, March 8, 2013
Wrong And Strong
February 28, 2013 - Higher Ground - Burlington, VT
Thankfully, it was warmer and the weather was nicer in Vermont. At nearly 40 it was practically balmy. As the first person to arrive at Higher Ground, I got to initiate the line. But first I went in to get my ticket from will call. Right as the band was sound checking Twisting, so I was greeted by a blood curdling scream from Flansburgh. Both startling and funny. It was nice to get to hang out with my friend, Emily, in line once again as well. It really is nearly getting to a point where I know someone everywhere I go.
I made a point of stopping at the merch stand first this time, so I could get a copy of Nanobots before they sold out. I was very excited to finally get to see my own name printed in the liner notes as a Super President. I also picked up the new tour shirt, which I had initially mistaken for the Drinky Crow New Years shirt I already own. It is the same design, except on purple instead of black, and it says TMBG under the birds instead of 4-3-2-1. And then all the tour dates are listed on the back.
Vandaveer did a slightly different set this time. Adding in a tune from their upcoming album of murder ballads. They joked that there management had advised them that they should be advertising that they have a new album coming out. The song was morbidly depressing, about a man who murdered his entire family and then himself. But then I suppose that is what murder ballads are usually about. I also got a much better look at the pedal guitar tonight and realized it has a whole other system of pedals that are operated by the knees in addition to the foot pedals. Really must look up how that thing works.
The smoke machine in this place emitted a foul smell when it was turned on. It smelled like something was burning though it did fade with time, thankfully. Oh, and a thank you to the couple next to me who gave me a poster from the show! It is now hanging on my bedroom door.
The setlist tonight was identical to the night before, except that they successfully executed the Avatar segment and they performed They Might Be Giants in the second encore as originally planned.
TMBG setlist: You're On Fire - When Will You Die - Memo To Human Resources - Celebration - Call You Mom - Fingertips - Cloisonné - Whistling In The Dark - Doctor Worm - Puppet Head - Where Your Eyes Don't Go - The Guitar - Battle for the Planet Of The Apes - They'll Need A Crane - Insect Hospital - He's Loco - Nanobots - Birdhouse In Your Soul - 123 Band Intro - The Mesopotamians - Istanbul Encore - Alphabet Of Nations - New York City - Ana Ng Encore 2 - They Might Be Giants - Twisting
Keeping with the trend of wearing winter gear on stage this week, Danny arrived on stage for this show wearing a scarf with his blazer. It looked rather dapper, though I think it may have been to combat the fact that he was feeling under the weather. I heard him say something to Linnell at one point and he sounded like he had a frog in his throat.
After When Will You Die, Flans joked that he was trying to figure out who had finished first. He introduced the new album and said it would be in record stores in a few days, if there were still any record stores. Linnell pointed out that they were on day 2 of their 40,000 day tour. Flans joked that they were waiting for their totally computerized light show to boot up. Linnell said that they were doing all the same jokes as they did the day before, so now they were better rehearsed but they sounded like they didn't care anymore. And Flans added that they referred to stunned silences as jokes.
Before Memo to Human Resources, Flans counted off the song, 1-2-3-4, except he shouted "Four!" just as they started. I was so confused for a bit, because I couldn't understand why. I suddenly thought I was on a golf course.
Watching Marty do Call You Mom from directly in front of him was even more amazing than it was from across the stage. I was so impressed by his control. He would just explode all over the kit and then come to a complete stand still during the breaks in the song, only bouncing slightly to keep the beat. And then explode back out all over the place. He never even seemed out of breath. That man is a machine. My favorite part of this performance was during the last little beat of silence at the end of the song, Marty let out this spontaneous shout that fit in so beautifully with his performance. During one of the particularly impressive bits, Danny caught my eye for just a second and we had this brief shared moment of "hot damn, Marty is on fire! Are you seeing this?!" When they finished, Danny started bowing down to Marty, giving much deserved praise. And fortunately it is all captured on video for you to enjoy :-)
Flans did his usual routine about stealing bass clarinets again before Cloisonné. Linnell made a point of returning to the mic during this to point out "it's for the kids."
Prior to Drink!, Flans gave a shout out to a couple of their crew members who were from Burlington: Jon Carter, and their long time, though not current, tour manager Chris Bailey (or possibly Dailey, hard to tell since I don't really know who he was talking about). I can't remember if it was at this show or Rochester where Flans gave the Drink! instructions but forgot to tell the crowd to repeat the word and on the first test, everyone just went "Drink!" and that was it. Flans blamed himself for giving improper instructions.
During the solo on Doctor Worm, Flans came over and crouched down on the stage right in front of me with Danny, provided what should have been a perfect photo op. But sadly, I blew it. I just wasn't fast enough getting the camera up. This picture is all I could salvage. Lost moments like that always make me sad.
When Flans introduced Dan on the keyboard for Puppet Head, Dan leaned back and shouted "keyboards!" into the sky. It sounded like a battle cry and was very entertaining.
Jon Carter came on stage to fix something before Where Your Eyes Don't Go and Linnell said that they made a whole movie about Jon Carter... "and no one saw it." Over on the side of the stage, Dan raised his hand to indicate that he had actually seen the movie, but I don't think anyone was paying attention. Poor Dan. The Johns riffed a bit on their previous night's performance of The Rockford Files and said they thought it had gone pretty well, until they realized that no one in the audience had been born with The Rockford Files was one. Flans said they were entering the Smothers Brothers casino era of their career and Linnell made some dated jokes about Anita Eckberg and Henry Kissinger.
When Flans started the explanation of Battle for the Planet of the Apes, Dan suddenly disappeared from the stage. He just put down his guitar and walked back stage. The boys were looking after him confused, and Mr. Brunette briefly went to check on him. He came back a couple of minutes later and Dan gave him an "everything alright?" look which Dan responded to by pointing out that the timing of his return was perfect. I assume he either just needed to pee, or remove a layer of clothing, as there didn't seem to be anything wrong.
This was a one of a kind people vs apes battle as after each team had had a turn and the people were just starting up again, Flans called the whole thing to a halt. It seemed he had neglected to give the part of the instructions that said that the two teams do not continue chanting while the other team chants. I had tried to get my "people" team to stop this and I think I unfortunately frightened a guy behind me by waving my hands at him telling him to stop. Hopefully he figured out I was trying to be helpful and wasn't criticizing his chanting. Anyway, Flan declared a do over and made it clear that "this is only a competition. There is no larger point." And then we made another attempt at doing it properly, which the "people" won. I have to assume that the halted Battle is, if not a first, than a very rare occasion, as I have certainly never seen it happen. And the dialogue in between attempts while Flans explained what had gone wrong was absolutely hilarious, at least for me. I couldn't stop laughing. Afterward, Flans thanked everyone for participating and said they would never forget it.
Linnell did his "accenting the wrong syllable" thing again after Crane. The Avatars didn't do anything especially notable. Actually, they didn't do much more than sing He's Loco. Afterward, Linnell complained that they eat all the snack and come out and do one song. "I don't know why we put up with those little shits." Flans pointed out that they work cheap. And Linnell added that they live in a suitcase.
Flans had the robot effect on his mic for Nanobots and told the audience he had taken on a new robot affect that he was going to maintain for the remainder of the performance. "It might seem a little heavy handed right now, but you get used to it over the fullness of time. In fact I'm already quite fond of it. It makes you speak in short sentences. *Pause* This is a brand new song. *Pause* Please talk, John." The last was said with a note of laughter and desperation in his voice. Linnell apologized and said he was mesmerized. He then pointed out that this was the title track of their new album. Flans came back in to say, "I don't know if I can work with this portion of the show." Linnell told him he just need to embrace it. "It's just not working for me," said Flans. "Wrong and strong," said Linnell. "Please begin," begged Flans. And they did.
When when Dan went to start the Istanbul introduction, he still had his wah-wah pedal on from doing the band intro, and thus the intro came out in a different key than usual, until he went over to use the pedal again to play with the intro.
This has got to be one of my all time favorite pictures of Flans, I have managed to get, and it was a total accident.
Flans pointed out that their new album was on sale at the merch booth and said they were trying out a new business model, which was to actually sell their music. He also mentioned the app again.
I don't recall there being anything else particularly notable about the encores. Flans and Marty came out and handed out stickers after the show (I got mine from Marty :-)). And Scott joined them to sell copies of Nanobots off the front of the stage. I am sorry to say, that this show busted my perfect setlist retention streak that I have maintained for over a year, but it was a duplicate of the previous night so I can't be too fussed about it. The stage area was pretty chaotic with the stickers and CDs and what not and I eventually gave up.
Super fun show :-)
Thankfully, it was warmer and the weather was nicer in Vermont. At nearly 40 it was practically balmy. As the first person to arrive at Higher Ground, I got to initiate the line. But first I went in to get my ticket from will call. Right as the band was sound checking Twisting, so I was greeted by a blood curdling scream from Flansburgh. Both startling and funny. It was nice to get to hang out with my friend, Emily, in line once again as well. It really is nearly getting to a point where I know someone everywhere I go.
I made a point of stopping at the merch stand first this time, so I could get a copy of Nanobots before they sold out. I was very excited to finally get to see my own name printed in the liner notes as a Super President. I also picked up the new tour shirt, which I had initially mistaken for the Drinky Crow New Years shirt I already own. It is the same design, except on purple instead of black, and it says TMBG under the birds instead of 4-3-2-1. And then all the tour dates are listed on the back.
Vandaveer did a slightly different set this time. Adding in a tune from their upcoming album of murder ballads. They joked that there management had advised them that they should be advertising that they have a new album coming out. The song was morbidly depressing, about a man who murdered his entire family and then himself. But then I suppose that is what murder ballads are usually about. I also got a much better look at the pedal guitar tonight and realized it has a whole other system of pedals that are operated by the knees in addition to the foot pedals. Really must look up how that thing works.
The smoke machine in this place emitted a foul smell when it was turned on. It smelled like something was burning though it did fade with time, thankfully. Oh, and a thank you to the couple next to me who gave me a poster from the show! It is now hanging on my bedroom door.
The setlist tonight was identical to the night before, except that they successfully executed the Avatar segment and they performed They Might Be Giants in the second encore as originally planned.
TMBG setlist: You're On Fire - When Will You Die - Memo To Human Resources - Celebration - Call You Mom - Fingertips - Cloisonné - Whistling In The Dark - Doctor Worm - Puppet Head - Where Your Eyes Don't Go - The Guitar - Battle for the Planet Of The Apes - They'll Need A Crane - Insect Hospital - He's Loco - Nanobots - Birdhouse In Your Soul - 123 Band Intro - The Mesopotamians - Istanbul Encore - Alphabet Of Nations - New York City - Ana Ng Encore 2 - They Might Be Giants - Twisting
Keeping with the trend of wearing winter gear on stage this week, Danny arrived on stage for this show wearing a scarf with his blazer. It looked rather dapper, though I think it may have been to combat the fact that he was feeling under the weather. I heard him say something to Linnell at one point and he sounded like he had a frog in his throat.
After When Will You Die, Flans joked that he was trying to figure out who had finished first. He introduced the new album and said it would be in record stores in a few days, if there were still any record stores. Linnell pointed out that they were on day 2 of their 40,000 day tour. Flans joked that they were waiting for their totally computerized light show to boot up. Linnell said that they were doing all the same jokes as they did the day before, so now they were better rehearsed but they sounded like they didn't care anymore. And Flans added that they referred to stunned silences as jokes.
Before Memo to Human Resources, Flans counted off the song, 1-2-3-4, except he shouted "Four!" just as they started. I was so confused for a bit, because I couldn't understand why. I suddenly thought I was on a golf course.
Watching Marty do Call You Mom from directly in front of him was even more amazing than it was from across the stage. I was so impressed by his control. He would just explode all over the kit and then come to a complete stand still during the breaks in the song, only bouncing slightly to keep the beat. And then explode back out all over the place. He never even seemed out of breath. That man is a machine. My favorite part of this performance was during the last little beat of silence at the end of the song, Marty let out this spontaneous shout that fit in so beautifully with his performance. During one of the particularly impressive bits, Danny caught my eye for just a second and we had this brief shared moment of "hot damn, Marty is on fire! Are you seeing this?!" When they finished, Danny started bowing down to Marty, giving much deserved praise. And fortunately it is all captured on video for you to enjoy :-)
Flans did his usual routine about stealing bass clarinets again before Cloisonné. Linnell made a point of returning to the mic during this to point out "it's for the kids."
Prior to Drink!, Flans gave a shout out to a couple of their crew members who were from Burlington: Jon Carter, and their long time, though not current, tour manager Chris Bailey (or possibly Dailey, hard to tell since I don't really know who he was talking about). I can't remember if it was at this show or Rochester where Flans gave the Drink! instructions but forgot to tell the crowd to repeat the word and on the first test, everyone just went "Drink!" and that was it. Flans blamed himself for giving improper instructions.
During the solo on Doctor Worm, Flans came over and crouched down on the stage right in front of me with Danny, provided what should have been a perfect photo op. But sadly, I blew it. I just wasn't fast enough getting the camera up. This picture is all I could salvage. Lost moments like that always make me sad.
When Flans introduced Dan on the keyboard for Puppet Head, Dan leaned back and shouted "keyboards!" into the sky. It sounded like a battle cry and was very entertaining.
Jon Carter came on stage to fix something before Where Your Eyes Don't Go and Linnell said that they made a whole movie about Jon Carter... "and no one saw it." Over on the side of the stage, Dan raised his hand to indicate that he had actually seen the movie, but I don't think anyone was paying attention. Poor Dan. The Johns riffed a bit on their previous night's performance of The Rockford Files and said they thought it had gone pretty well, until they realized that no one in the audience had been born with The Rockford Files was one. Flans said they were entering the Smothers Brothers casino era of their career and Linnell made some dated jokes about Anita Eckberg and Henry Kissinger.
When Flans started the explanation of Battle for the Planet of the Apes, Dan suddenly disappeared from the stage. He just put down his guitar and walked back stage. The boys were looking after him confused, and Mr. Brunette briefly went to check on him. He came back a couple of minutes later and Dan gave him an "everything alright?" look which Dan responded to by pointing out that the timing of his return was perfect. I assume he either just needed to pee, or remove a layer of clothing, as there didn't seem to be anything wrong.
This was a one of a kind people vs apes battle as after each team had had a turn and the people were just starting up again, Flans called the whole thing to a halt. It seemed he had neglected to give the part of the instructions that said that the two teams do not continue chanting while the other team chants. I had tried to get my "people" team to stop this and I think I unfortunately frightened a guy behind me by waving my hands at him telling him to stop. Hopefully he figured out I was trying to be helpful and wasn't criticizing his chanting. Anyway, Flan declared a do over and made it clear that "this is only a competition. There is no larger point." And then we made another attempt at doing it properly, which the "people" won. I have to assume that the halted Battle is, if not a first, than a very rare occasion, as I have certainly never seen it happen. And the dialogue in between attempts while Flans explained what had gone wrong was absolutely hilarious, at least for me. I couldn't stop laughing. Afterward, Flans thanked everyone for participating and said they would never forget it.
Linnell did his "accenting the wrong syllable" thing again after Crane. The Avatars didn't do anything especially notable. Actually, they didn't do much more than sing He's Loco. Afterward, Linnell complained that they eat all the snack and come out and do one song. "I don't know why we put up with those little shits." Flans pointed out that they work cheap. And Linnell added that they live in a suitcase.
Flans had the robot effect on his mic for Nanobots and told the audience he had taken on a new robot affect that he was going to maintain for the remainder of the performance. "It might seem a little heavy handed right now, but you get used to it over the fullness of time. In fact I'm already quite fond of it. It makes you speak in short sentences. *Pause* This is a brand new song. *Pause* Please talk, John." The last was said with a note of laughter and desperation in his voice. Linnell apologized and said he was mesmerized. He then pointed out that this was the title track of their new album. Flans came back in to say, "I don't know if I can work with this portion of the show." Linnell told him he just need to embrace it. "It's just not working for me," said Flans. "Wrong and strong," said Linnell. "Please begin," begged Flans. And they did.
When when Dan went to start the Istanbul introduction, he still had his wah-wah pedal on from doing the band intro, and thus the intro came out in a different key than usual, until he went over to use the pedal again to play with the intro.
This has got to be one of my all time favorite pictures of Flans, I have managed to get, and it was a total accident.
Flans pointed out that their new album was on sale at the merch booth and said they were trying out a new business model, which was to actually sell their music. He also mentioned the app again.
I don't recall there being anything else particularly notable about the encores. Flans and Marty came out and handed out stickers after the show (I got mine from Marty :-)). And Scott joined them to sell copies of Nanobots off the front of the stage. I am sorry to say, that this show busted my perfect setlist retention streak that I have maintained for over a year, but it was a duplicate of the previous night so I can't be too fussed about it. The stage area was pretty chaotic with the stickers and CDs and what not and I eventually gave up.
Super fun show :-)
Song of the Day - Day 844
Today's song is...
Sometimes A Lonely Way
I find this song quite pretty and sad. The arrangement is wonderful with the keyboard, accordion, bass and bongos. Yay, bongos! (You all know my fondness for Marty playing bongos by now right?) I also like the "bah, bah, bah, bah" backing vocals which compliment the tone of the lyrics well. The song feels like it's about self realization and starting over alone. Though the Jumbotron and trophy references always make me think about sports too. Flans has a knack for the sad ballad. If they were looking to add a new slow song into their live set, I think this would be a contender. But only if they bring the bongos ;-)
Sometimes A Lonely Way
I find this song quite pretty and sad. The arrangement is wonderful with the keyboard, accordion, bass and bongos. Yay, bongos! (You all know my fondness for Marty playing bongos by now right?) I also like the "bah, bah, bah, bah" backing vocals which compliment the tone of the lyrics well. The song feels like it's about self realization and starting over alone. Though the Jumbotron and trophy references always make me think about sports too. Flans has a knack for the sad ballad. If they were looking to add a new slow song into their live set, I think this would be a contender. But only if they bring the bongos ;-)
Free Snow Shovel With Every Ticket
February 27, 2013 - Port City Music Hall - Portland, ME
Holy disgusting weather, Batman. I've been in line for shows in extreme cold and extreme heat and torrential rain, but I think this show may win the prize for most disgusting weather I have ever had to wait it. The drive up to Maine got progressively worse the further north I got, and the roads got scarier to travel on. Somewhere along the way, a chunk of ice hit my windshield and put a serious crack in it. After finally parking and checking into the hotel, the walk to the venue was nasty, with the sidewalks covered in slush and freezing rain pelting my face.
Once at the venue, and meeting up with Megan, we actually had to get out of the way as a truck drove down the sidewalk, plowing as it went. Classy. The upside to it taking so long getting to Portland, was that the wait wasn't that long, despite them opening the doors a half hour later than was stated on the ticket.
I've been to Port City before, and remembered the stage being small, but I am not sure I accurately remembered just how small the stage actually is. It may very well be one of the tiniest stages I have been at, at least for a full show anyway. After some debate, I ended up selecting a position that was actually in front of a barrier off the end of the stage, and not really even in front of the stage at all. But it was better than having tall people's heads in front of me in the second row.
The opening act, Vandaveer, was pretty good. Folk rock, heavier on the folk. The lead singer's voice is reminiscent of Dylan. The band consisted of him, Mark Charles Heidinger, on guitars and vocal, Rose Guerin on vocal and J. Tom Hnatow on guitar and pedal steel guitar. Apparently, Mark is the only truly consistent member of the band, though Rose usually joins him. And Tom was a special guest for this tour. They had a few songs I like more than others. Mostly, I was just fascinated by the pedal guitar. I had never seen one in action before and even after watching it played for three days, I still don't understand how it works. But the guy playing it was very talented and it sounded really cool.
When the Giants hit the stage, there were two things that I immediately noticed. The first was they they kicked things off immediately with the premiere of You're On Fire. And I must say, that is an excellent show opener, just as it is an excellent album opener. And it sounds awesome live, though I think they were still adjusting the mix at little at that early point in the show and the vocal was a tad washed out. The second thing I noticed was that Linnell arrived on stage wearing snow boots. Serious, clompy snow boots. This was too funny to appreciate alone and I had to immediately share this fact on Twitter. It was too good not too. So NOT a rock star look :-)
I had actually already noticed that Flans had a new guitar on stage as well. The odd thing was he never played it at this show. It was hooked up with one of those serious coiled guitar cables that looks like a spring, but I think they were having issues with it, because I think he was going to play it at one point and then changed his mind because it wasn't working.
Back to You're On Fire for a minute though. I was thrilled to see Dan joining Flans on the backing vocals on "combustible head" making his signature silly faces while he sings. Perhaps the very best of these is the one he makes while singing "oh damn" near the end. Classic.
They played straight into When Will you Die before pausing for some banter. Flans thanked us all for coming out in the snow and announced there would be a free snow shovel for every member of the audience after the show. He commented that people were making a big deal out of the weather and they were like "It snows in Maine, dude. We've spent some time in New England. It's not the fucking end of the world. It's snow. It's Maine. It's February. There is going to be snow. We'd worry if there isn't snow."
Linnell pointed out that this was the first show of their tour and that they had already premiered a song. He said that that, plus the snow shovel should be the value of our ticket right there. Flans said that the first song had already been viewed 200 times at Ask Jeeves. "My preferred search engine." Linnell replied, "Jeeves is grateful that you asked him. He's like, 'what is it, John?! What do you want?!'" Poor Jeeves.
Then followed a run of Memo to Human Resources, Celebration and Call You Mom. Flans screwed up the lyrics to one of the choruses of Celebration and even Linnell chuckled at his mistake, good naturedly, of course. I was very curious how they were going to handle Call You Mom without the horns since the song is so horn heavy. The solution is just to let Marty lose his shit all over the drums. It is phenomenal. Even better than watching him do Judy if you can believe it. He just explodes but in such a perfect, tightly controlled way. Damn.
After the song, Flans said that by the end of the tour they would have orchestrated a bow for the end of that song. Linnell suggested the sort of bow where you aren't really bowing, which he then demonstrated by just leaning over slightly. Flans said he was thinking more of an awkward one footed puppet curtsey, which Linnell referred to as "the marionette bow." Flans said they were going to Australia and asked if they liked the Thunderbirds in Australia. Linnell said they LOVED the Thunderbirds in Australia, so Flans thought the marionette bow would go over well. Linnell said they actually weren't going to Australia, they were going to send marionettes instead. Flans said that their management had been looking forward to that third stage in their career. "The marionette stage."
Flans explained that the last song was off of their new album and then made some jokes about how brilliant their marketing strategy was, promoting an album that wasn't actually out yet. Flans mentioned that they did have CDs of the album at the merch stand, if you were feeling nostalgic about CDs, and Linnell had to ask him if the album was actually out yet, which I thought was very silly. Linnell joked that they were selling bootlegs of their album. Flans said if we acted quickly the album could make us a tremendous amount of money on eBay.
Fingertips followed. The best part of this was I Don't Understand You. Flans started just muttering his backing vocals into the mic and Linnell responded by making a series of "ah-ah-ah-ah" vocals into his own mic. They went back and forth like this at least three times for well over a minute while the rest of the band stopped playing entirely. It was one of those great jokes where you were wondering how long they could keep it up and have it still be funny, and each time you discovered that, yup, if was still funny. And they stopped at the perfect time not to lose the humor. Comedy genius.
Flans went back to the old joke about stealing bass clarinets from high schools to give back to the schools later, in his Cloisonné introduction. He noted how easy it was to bribe a high school custodian.
They once again shut off most of the lights for Whistling in the Dark. And as a result, I got some of the best pictures of the whole show. It really says something about how unconducive the new lighting is to photography when I can get better photos with them shut off than on. (It's also a great advertisement for the low light setting on my camera.) I also noted that they had turned the bass drum around so that the Join Us hearse that is stuck on one side, was facing the back of the stage. I guess they didn't want to be advertising their old album that blatantly while on tour for the new one. After the song, Flans apologized to Marty that he couldn't hear the high hat during the song and was thus off on some of his bass drums beats.
At a couple of points in the show, they turned on what they called a "drum cam." This seemed to be a camera positioned somewhere behind Marty that displayed, what was essentially, his view on the screen. Thinking back on it, I am not sure I remember them using it at any of the later shows this week, which is odd in retrospect.
Flansburgh commented that he had gone back to review the setlist from the last time they played Portland before the show and found that in the time since then, they had gone very far away from that setlist and then come right back to it. So he said they were going to play something he didn't think they had played since that show. I got very excited thinking maybe it would be something cool, because they played a few things at that show that I haven't heard much since (mostly I was hoping for Thunderbird.) But I should have know better than to trust Flans because it turned out it was just Drink!, which I have most definitely heard since the last time they were in Portland. And I really should have known not to get my hopes up because I heard Dan test the opening chord when he picked up the acoustic and then second guessed myself when I heard what Flans was saying. Silly me. Flans gave the audience full out instructions for doing the drink call backs. And had a big debate with the crowd on whether we were to say the "word drink, drink" or the "words drink, drink."
Linnell got into a bit of trouble during this one as he bent down to pick up a bottle of water during a verse in which he didn't play. He got the strap of his accordion caught on the end of the bass clarinet while he was bending over and it came off his shoulder. He did manage to stand back up without knocking the accordion over, but then he was left holding the accordion with one hand and the water with the other, with no free hand to fix the strap. Danny offered to give him a hand, but he indicated that he was okay. He ended up deciding to just leave the strap dangling while he opened the water and drank and then set the bottle down before readjusting the accordion. And yes, this kind of misadventure is the sort of thing I pay attention to :-P
Next up, Doctor Worm! Yet another opportunity for me to fail to get a good picture of Danny's leap off the drum riser. On the plus side I believe I have finally established the most effective setting on my camera to eventually achieve my shot. The rest is all up to my timing now. Humorously, as the moment approached in the song, Dan was encouraging Danny to get into position. I believe Danny was concerned about there being enough room and Dan pointed that he should drum in the direction behind him and he himself would get out out the way. Which is exactly what happened. I am very entertained that Dan now seems to be as fond of Danny's jumping as I am.
Then they really did surprise me by breaking into Puppet Head. Now that is one I don't hear very often but it seems to have been incorporated into the regular set for this tour. Can't complain about that :-) Linnell was being especially goofy in his "dancing" around while playing the accordion, leaning over and jumping around a little.
After the song, Flans joked about their debut album being available in record stores and then introduced a new song....off of Lincoln. And they started to play Where Your Eyes Don't Go. Except Linnell still had an effect on the keyboard on that wasn't the right one for the song and he stopped them. He said it just didn't feel like they were in 1988. Flans said he thought Linnell was gonna start playing The Rockford Files. Linnell agreed that that was what he thought too. Then Flans asked when they _were_ going to learn how to play The Rockford Files. Linnell declared that he already knew it. Or he thought he did. Flans said that Dan knew it. "He knows the first season version. He knows the second season version. He knows the fourth season re-recorded version." Linnell agreed that Dan knew it, he himself knew it and Marty knew it. And then he asked Dan how it started. Dan played a couple of chords. Linnell asked what key in was in. Dan said G. And then, in one of those "I can't believe that actually just happened" moments, they played The Rockford Files. It wasn't perfect, but it wasn't bad. (I am ashamed to admit, I had not heard The Rockford Files theme prior to this and only afterward listened to it for comparison.)
Afterward, Flans declared that there were things you could do with samples that you just couldn't do with analog. And then made some joke about Kanye telling someone to "suck my dick" except I couldn't understand what he said to get the reference. A lot of people laughed though. Linnell reminded Flans that they had met Jim Post one time. Flans said that it was at the Grammys. Danny's pointed out that the man's name was actually Mike Post. Linnell joked that clearly they had cared a lot about meeting him. Flans said that Jim Post was the composer in Friends and Lovers. Linnell asked, "Didn't he draw Garfield?""No," said Flans, very matter-of-factly. "He wrote the song 'I Think It's So Groovy Now People Are Finally Getting Together." Linnell, getting back to his story, said that they had told Mike Post (who is, apparently, the composer of The Rockford Files) that they loved the song and were thinking about learning it. And he responded with "Key of A!!!" Linnell did relayed this impression very forcefully, pointing emphatically at Flans and then added "or whatever it was he said." Flans didn't seem to recall this. Linnell said it was like Mike Post was prepared for them to ask about it. "Don't fuck it up!" said Flans, continuing the Post impersonations. Linnell suggested that perhaps he had a chip on his shoulder about bands performing his TV theme songs. "First season, long version." said Flans. "Okay, alright," said Linnell, pretending to back away. "We just wont play it." "Nice guy," added Flans, to conclude the story. "Anyway, that's our story," added Linnell. And then they just went immediately back to what they were doing, playing Where Your Eyes Don't Go, while I attempted to catch my breath from laughing so hard my sides hurt.
During The Guitar, Flans did an introduction to the bass solo before the third bridge. And then a strange squealing sort of sound appeared in the background behind what Danny was playing. Dan attempted to figure out what it was and turned to Jon Carter to see if he could identify it. He had no idea. Dan looked across at Marty questioningly and Marty gave him this eyebrow raise, which Dan took to mean that Marty was making the noise, which he then relayed to Jon Carter. But then he looked back at Marty, who indicated that no, it wasn't him, it was Flansburgh, at the back of the stage playing around with a very subtle sound on his little electronic do-hicky he uses for the band intros and Lie Still, Little Bottle. He clearly had everyone confused.
Flans did his usual routine with the flashlight to separate the crowd for Battle for the Planet of the Apes. He informed everyone that they needed a means of egress for the band to roll down. I keep waiting for the day when one of the members of the band runs off stage down the means of egress but it hasn't happened yet. While Flans explained the rules, Marty and the Dans held a strategy meeting about where to best place the drum sticks for the Dans to use and how many they wanted. During this, Marty sat there with fists full of sticks. He had at least three in each hand. And they were ultimately placed in convenient places, to be taken up and used to inspire the "people" to victory. Flans told us that competition was the only purpose of this exercise. The only goal was to win. But sadly, my "ape" team was defeated by the "people."
Afterward, Flans made some comments about the apes infiltrating the people to rise again later. This brought some renewed ape chanting from the crowd. Flans said he had waited fifty minutes into "that movie" for the apes to rise. Linnell asked him is he had actually seen the movie. Flans admitted that he had not and had been lying. "Everything I've said on stage is a lie actually." "Including that," added Linnell, who then mimed his head exploding with sound effects. Flans pretended to be being blown over. Flans did say that he had recently seen Less Than Zero, which was fantastic. "If you guys are into New Wave movies about freebasing cocaine." Some members of the audience started chanting "people, people." Flans continued, "Featuring a very young, very attractive Robert Downey Jr. He's a person."
Flans asked "Whose next? And by who, I meant what." Linnell said that they personalize their songs. That they are their friends. "Oh, it's Mr. Crane," said Flans. "That's right," Linnell said. "Bob Crane." And then they started They'll Need A Crane. Which is rapidly going from a song I never thought I would hear to one I hear frequently. Afterward, Linnell did this thing he has been doing frequently, where he said the name of the song with the accent of the wrong syllables. Which he followed by saying "accenting the wrong syllable" with the accent on the wrong syllable.
Insect Hospital has now become the go-to Avatar lead in song, except this time, Flans couldn't get the camera working. The band stalled for a bit, letting the song play on a little long, but they eventually gave up and the Johns came back to the front of the stage while the crew came out to try to get the camera working. Flans did a round of band introductions including pointing out that Danny had two pairs of red pants "but he only wears one." Danny did actually have on reddish pants, but they were really more orange. Not sure if they were just his old faded ones, or simply a different shade of red, because he did have the real red ones on later in the week. Flans also did a little advertisement for their "Motion Pro" camera, stating some of its features, including, apparently, "an automatic off switch that is perfectly in sync for fucking up our show which was going really good until now."
Linnell suggested they just play Nanobots while the crew worked on the camera and Flans made some jokes about giving the crew about 45 minutes to fix it and letting them know when it was ready. He also commented that after 25 years of touring they have realized that they only remember the stuff that went wrong. And Linnell added that that is some people's favorite part. Flans impersonated someone fondly remembering a show where the ceiling caved in. "Four people were hospitalized. It was awesome!" Right about then, the camera started working and they moved to try the puppet show again. Poor Danny got very confused. He had left the stage when they first started to do the puppets, but then came back when they were going to play Nanobots. And then Marty and Dan started to play the end of Insect Hospital again to walk the Johns back over to the camera, and Danny was looking back and forth trying to figure out what was going on and what they were playing, before he caught on to what they were doing. And then the camera died again.
Flans told Jon Carter that he thought a wire was too tight and when the camera was turned around to face the audience, "it's perfect...and off." Flans declared that they should just skip this portion of the show. "I know I'm riddled by self doubt." Then the camera briefly started to work. Linnell said, "it's a big tease." Flans started to say "Is there any..." in a big rock start voice... and then the camera died. And they gave up on it. Linnell told us people later in the tour weren't going to get to see this part and we should be excited. Jon Carter could be heard declaring "Video guy's fired." Flans said he was going to pretend he was in Memento and everything was moving backward. Then he pretended to introduce Insect Hospital again. And they finally played Nanobots instead. God, I love that song.
Then Birdhouse. And the 123 Band Intros. And the distribution of nicknames. Someone was dubbed "Honey Nut." A girl was called "Can't Stop, Won't Stop." And a guy in the front row was nicknamed "Rusty." He got several shout outs over the last few minutes of the show.
The closed the main portion of the set with The Mesopotamians and finally Istanbul, with Dan doing Miller Time on the electric guitar. No fake endings. I think the camera failure was a bit of a mood dampener for Flans.
The returned for the first encore with Alphabet of Nations. While Linnell was doing his best crazy arm movements, Danny was fooling with Dan, playing notes of the end of the keyboard while he played. Linnell actually ran back over to the keyboard to do something to it early on in the song too, though I don't know what. But Danny was definitely being a goof.
Then followed New York City. And Ana Ng. Flans briefly mentioned their iPhone app during the intro to Ana. But brought it up again when they returned for the second encore. He pointed out a man holding up an iPhone, except it was actually a beer can. Flans declared it to be the iPhone 6. Which was kind of buggy but they liked the red, white and blue motif. And then he pointed to another guy with a beer and called it a prototype for the iPhone 7. He asked Linnell if they had anything else they needed to share. Linnell responded with "Don't be careful driving home. It doesn't matter. Just close your eyes and hit the accelerator." Flans told him he was starting to sound like him. And then they closed with Twisting.
After collecting a setlist and saying hi to Mr. Brunette, who has grown a beard, (and incidentally, I think his name may actually be Burnett but I am going to continue to call him Brunette because that is how I think of him, from a year of hearing him called that) I went to the merch stand to get a copy of Nanobots. Only to find Anna had sold the last one to someone just in front of me. I was sad. But I got a new Nanobots hoodie and the yellow cryptids shirt anyway, so my trip was not in vain. And then finally, back through the crappy weather and a very large puddle, to the hotel for much needed sleep.
(They skipped They Might Be Giants in the encore, in addition to the Avatar stuff)
And finally, I will leave you with this picture where it looks like Dan has replaced his nose with a microphone. You're welcome.
Holy disgusting weather, Batman. I've been in line for shows in extreme cold and extreme heat and torrential rain, but I think this show may win the prize for most disgusting weather I have ever had to wait it. The drive up to Maine got progressively worse the further north I got, and the roads got scarier to travel on. Somewhere along the way, a chunk of ice hit my windshield and put a serious crack in it. After finally parking and checking into the hotel, the walk to the venue was nasty, with the sidewalks covered in slush and freezing rain pelting my face.
Once at the venue, and meeting up with Megan, we actually had to get out of the way as a truck drove down the sidewalk, plowing as it went. Classy. The upside to it taking so long getting to Portland, was that the wait wasn't that long, despite them opening the doors a half hour later than was stated on the ticket.
I've been to Port City before, and remembered the stage being small, but I am not sure I accurately remembered just how small the stage actually is. It may very well be one of the tiniest stages I have been at, at least for a full show anyway. After some debate, I ended up selecting a position that was actually in front of a barrier off the end of the stage, and not really even in front of the stage at all. But it was better than having tall people's heads in front of me in the second row.
The opening act, Vandaveer, was pretty good. Folk rock, heavier on the folk. The lead singer's voice is reminiscent of Dylan. The band consisted of him, Mark Charles Heidinger, on guitars and vocal, Rose Guerin on vocal and J. Tom Hnatow on guitar and pedal steel guitar. Apparently, Mark is the only truly consistent member of the band, though Rose usually joins him. And Tom was a special guest for this tour. They had a few songs I like more than others. Mostly, I was just fascinated by the pedal guitar. I had never seen one in action before and even after watching it played for three days, I still don't understand how it works. But the guy playing it was very talented and it sounded really cool.
When the Giants hit the stage, there were two things that I immediately noticed. The first was they they kicked things off immediately with the premiere of You're On Fire. And I must say, that is an excellent show opener, just as it is an excellent album opener. And it sounds awesome live, though I think they were still adjusting the mix at little at that early point in the show and the vocal was a tad washed out. The second thing I noticed was that Linnell arrived on stage wearing snow boots. Serious, clompy snow boots. This was too funny to appreciate alone and I had to immediately share this fact on Twitter. It was too good not too. So NOT a rock star look :-)
I had actually already noticed that Flans had a new guitar on stage as well. The odd thing was he never played it at this show. It was hooked up with one of those serious coiled guitar cables that looks like a spring, but I think they were having issues with it, because I think he was going to play it at one point and then changed his mind because it wasn't working.
Back to You're On Fire for a minute though. I was thrilled to see Dan joining Flans on the backing vocals on "combustible head" making his signature silly faces while he sings. Perhaps the very best of these is the one he makes while singing "oh damn" near the end. Classic.
They played straight into When Will you Die before pausing for some banter. Flans thanked us all for coming out in the snow and announced there would be a free snow shovel for every member of the audience after the show. He commented that people were making a big deal out of the weather and they were like "It snows in Maine, dude. We've spent some time in New England. It's not the fucking end of the world. It's snow. It's Maine. It's February. There is going to be snow. We'd worry if there isn't snow."
Linnell pointed out that this was the first show of their tour and that they had already premiered a song. He said that that, plus the snow shovel should be the value of our ticket right there. Flans said that the first song had already been viewed 200 times at Ask Jeeves. "My preferred search engine." Linnell replied, "Jeeves is grateful that you asked him. He's like, 'what is it, John?! What do you want?!'" Poor Jeeves.
Then followed a run of Memo to Human Resources, Celebration and Call You Mom. Flans screwed up the lyrics to one of the choruses of Celebration and even Linnell chuckled at his mistake, good naturedly, of course. I was very curious how they were going to handle Call You Mom without the horns since the song is so horn heavy. The solution is just to let Marty lose his shit all over the drums. It is phenomenal. Even better than watching him do Judy if you can believe it. He just explodes but in such a perfect, tightly controlled way. Damn.
After the song, Flans said that by the end of the tour they would have orchestrated a bow for the end of that song. Linnell suggested the sort of bow where you aren't really bowing, which he then demonstrated by just leaning over slightly. Flans said he was thinking more of an awkward one footed puppet curtsey, which Linnell referred to as "the marionette bow." Flans said they were going to Australia and asked if they liked the Thunderbirds in Australia. Linnell said they LOVED the Thunderbirds in Australia, so Flans thought the marionette bow would go over well. Linnell said they actually weren't going to Australia, they were going to send marionettes instead. Flans said that their management had been looking forward to that third stage in their career. "The marionette stage."
Flans explained that the last song was off of their new album and then made some jokes about how brilliant their marketing strategy was, promoting an album that wasn't actually out yet. Flans mentioned that they did have CDs of the album at the merch stand, if you were feeling nostalgic about CDs, and Linnell had to ask him if the album was actually out yet, which I thought was very silly. Linnell joked that they were selling bootlegs of their album. Flans said if we acted quickly the album could make us a tremendous amount of money on eBay.
Fingertips followed. The best part of this was I Don't Understand You. Flans started just muttering his backing vocals into the mic and Linnell responded by making a series of "ah-ah-ah-ah" vocals into his own mic. They went back and forth like this at least three times for well over a minute while the rest of the band stopped playing entirely. It was one of those great jokes where you were wondering how long they could keep it up and have it still be funny, and each time you discovered that, yup, if was still funny. And they stopped at the perfect time not to lose the humor. Comedy genius.
Flans went back to the old joke about stealing bass clarinets from high schools to give back to the schools later, in his Cloisonné introduction. He noted how easy it was to bribe a high school custodian.
They once again shut off most of the lights for Whistling in the Dark. And as a result, I got some of the best pictures of the whole show. It really says something about how unconducive the new lighting is to photography when I can get better photos with them shut off than on. (It's also a great advertisement for the low light setting on my camera.) I also noted that they had turned the bass drum around so that the Join Us hearse that is stuck on one side, was facing the back of the stage. I guess they didn't want to be advertising their old album that blatantly while on tour for the new one. After the song, Flans apologized to Marty that he couldn't hear the high hat during the song and was thus off on some of his bass drums beats.
At a couple of points in the show, they turned on what they called a "drum cam." This seemed to be a camera positioned somewhere behind Marty that displayed, what was essentially, his view on the screen. Thinking back on it, I am not sure I remember them using it at any of the later shows this week, which is odd in retrospect.
Flansburgh commented that he had gone back to review the setlist from the last time they played Portland before the show and found that in the time since then, they had gone very far away from that setlist and then come right back to it. So he said they were going to play something he didn't think they had played since that show. I got very excited thinking maybe it would be something cool, because they played a few things at that show that I haven't heard much since (mostly I was hoping for Thunderbird.) But I should have know better than to trust Flans because it turned out it was just Drink!, which I have most definitely heard since the last time they were in Portland. And I really should have known not to get my hopes up because I heard Dan test the opening chord when he picked up the acoustic and then second guessed myself when I heard what Flans was saying. Silly me. Flans gave the audience full out instructions for doing the drink call backs. And had a big debate with the crowd on whether we were to say the "word drink, drink" or the "words drink, drink."
Linnell got into a bit of trouble during this one as he bent down to pick up a bottle of water during a verse in which he didn't play. He got the strap of his accordion caught on the end of the bass clarinet while he was bending over and it came off his shoulder. He did manage to stand back up without knocking the accordion over, but then he was left holding the accordion with one hand and the water with the other, with no free hand to fix the strap. Danny offered to give him a hand, but he indicated that he was okay. He ended up deciding to just leave the strap dangling while he opened the water and drank and then set the bottle down before readjusting the accordion. And yes, this kind of misadventure is the sort of thing I pay attention to :-P
Next up, Doctor Worm! Yet another opportunity for me to fail to get a good picture of Danny's leap off the drum riser. On the plus side I believe I have finally established the most effective setting on my camera to eventually achieve my shot. The rest is all up to my timing now. Humorously, as the moment approached in the song, Dan was encouraging Danny to get into position. I believe Danny was concerned about there being enough room and Dan pointed that he should drum in the direction behind him and he himself would get out out the way. Which is exactly what happened. I am very entertained that Dan now seems to be as fond of Danny's jumping as I am.
Then they really did surprise me by breaking into Puppet Head. Now that is one I don't hear very often but it seems to have been incorporated into the regular set for this tour. Can't complain about that :-) Linnell was being especially goofy in his "dancing" around while playing the accordion, leaning over and jumping around a little.
After the song, Flans joked about their debut album being available in record stores and then introduced a new song....off of Lincoln. And they started to play Where Your Eyes Don't Go. Except Linnell still had an effect on the keyboard on that wasn't the right one for the song and he stopped them. He said it just didn't feel like they were in 1988. Flans said he thought Linnell was gonna start playing The Rockford Files. Linnell agreed that that was what he thought too. Then Flans asked when they _were_ going to learn how to play The Rockford Files. Linnell declared that he already knew it. Or he thought he did. Flans said that Dan knew it. "He knows the first season version. He knows the second season version. He knows the fourth season re-recorded version." Linnell agreed that Dan knew it, he himself knew it and Marty knew it. And then he asked Dan how it started. Dan played a couple of chords. Linnell asked what key in was in. Dan said G. And then, in one of those "I can't believe that actually just happened" moments, they played The Rockford Files. It wasn't perfect, but it wasn't bad. (I am ashamed to admit, I had not heard The Rockford Files theme prior to this and only afterward listened to it for comparison.)
Afterward, Flans declared that there were things you could do with samples that you just couldn't do with analog. And then made some joke about Kanye telling someone to "suck my dick" except I couldn't understand what he said to get the reference. A lot of people laughed though. Linnell reminded Flans that they had met Jim Post one time. Flans said that it was at the Grammys. Danny's pointed out that the man's name was actually Mike Post. Linnell joked that clearly they had cared a lot about meeting him. Flans said that Jim Post was the composer in Friends and Lovers. Linnell asked, "Didn't he draw Garfield?""No," said Flans, very matter-of-factly. "He wrote the song 'I Think It's So Groovy Now People Are Finally Getting Together." Linnell, getting back to his story, said that they had told Mike Post (who is, apparently, the composer of The Rockford Files) that they loved the song and were thinking about learning it. And he responded with "Key of A!!!" Linnell did relayed this impression very forcefully, pointing emphatically at Flans and then added "or whatever it was he said." Flans didn't seem to recall this. Linnell said it was like Mike Post was prepared for them to ask about it. "Don't fuck it up!" said Flans, continuing the Post impersonations. Linnell suggested that perhaps he had a chip on his shoulder about bands performing his TV theme songs. "First season, long version." said Flans. "Okay, alright," said Linnell, pretending to back away. "We just wont play it." "Nice guy," added Flans, to conclude the story. "Anyway, that's our story," added Linnell. And then they just went immediately back to what they were doing, playing Where Your Eyes Don't Go, while I attempted to catch my breath from laughing so hard my sides hurt.
During The Guitar, Flans did an introduction to the bass solo before the third bridge. And then a strange squealing sort of sound appeared in the background behind what Danny was playing. Dan attempted to figure out what it was and turned to Jon Carter to see if he could identify it. He had no idea. Dan looked across at Marty questioningly and Marty gave him this eyebrow raise, which Dan took to mean that Marty was making the noise, which he then relayed to Jon Carter. But then he looked back at Marty, who indicated that no, it wasn't him, it was Flansburgh, at the back of the stage playing around with a very subtle sound on his little electronic do-hicky he uses for the band intros and Lie Still, Little Bottle. He clearly had everyone confused.
Flans did his usual routine with the flashlight to separate the crowd for Battle for the Planet of the Apes. He informed everyone that they needed a means of egress for the band to roll down. I keep waiting for the day when one of the members of the band runs off stage down the means of egress but it hasn't happened yet. While Flans explained the rules, Marty and the Dans held a strategy meeting about where to best place the drum sticks for the Dans to use and how many they wanted. During this, Marty sat there with fists full of sticks. He had at least three in each hand. And they were ultimately placed in convenient places, to be taken up and used to inspire the "people" to victory. Flans told us that competition was the only purpose of this exercise. The only goal was to win. But sadly, my "ape" team was defeated by the "people."
Afterward, Flans made some comments about the apes infiltrating the people to rise again later. This brought some renewed ape chanting from the crowd. Flans said he had waited fifty minutes into "that movie" for the apes to rise. Linnell asked him is he had actually seen the movie. Flans admitted that he had not and had been lying. "Everything I've said on stage is a lie actually." "Including that," added Linnell, who then mimed his head exploding with sound effects. Flans pretended to be being blown over. Flans did say that he had recently seen Less Than Zero, which was fantastic. "If you guys are into New Wave movies about freebasing cocaine." Some members of the audience started chanting "people, people." Flans continued, "Featuring a very young, very attractive Robert Downey Jr. He's a person."
Flans asked "Whose next? And by who, I meant what." Linnell said that they personalize their songs. That they are their friends. "Oh, it's Mr. Crane," said Flans. "That's right," Linnell said. "Bob Crane." And then they started They'll Need A Crane. Which is rapidly going from a song I never thought I would hear to one I hear frequently. Afterward, Linnell did this thing he has been doing frequently, where he said the name of the song with the accent of the wrong syllables. Which he followed by saying "accenting the wrong syllable" with the accent on the wrong syllable.
Insect Hospital has now become the go-to Avatar lead in song, except this time, Flans couldn't get the camera working. The band stalled for a bit, letting the song play on a little long, but they eventually gave up and the Johns came back to the front of the stage while the crew came out to try to get the camera working. Flans did a round of band introductions including pointing out that Danny had two pairs of red pants "but he only wears one." Danny did actually have on reddish pants, but they were really more orange. Not sure if they were just his old faded ones, or simply a different shade of red, because he did have the real red ones on later in the week. Flans also did a little advertisement for their "Motion Pro" camera, stating some of its features, including, apparently, "an automatic off switch that is perfectly in sync for fucking up our show which was going really good until now."
Linnell suggested they just play Nanobots while the crew worked on the camera and Flans made some jokes about giving the crew about 45 minutes to fix it and letting them know when it was ready. He also commented that after 25 years of touring they have realized that they only remember the stuff that went wrong. And Linnell added that that is some people's favorite part. Flans impersonated someone fondly remembering a show where the ceiling caved in. "Four people were hospitalized. It was awesome!" Right about then, the camera started working and they moved to try the puppet show again. Poor Danny got very confused. He had left the stage when they first started to do the puppets, but then came back when they were going to play Nanobots. And then Marty and Dan started to play the end of Insect Hospital again to walk the Johns back over to the camera, and Danny was looking back and forth trying to figure out what was going on and what they were playing, before he caught on to what they were doing. And then the camera died again.
Flans told Jon Carter that he thought a wire was too tight and when the camera was turned around to face the audience, "it's perfect...and off." Flans declared that they should just skip this portion of the show. "I know I'm riddled by self doubt." Then the camera briefly started to work. Linnell said, "it's a big tease." Flans started to say "Is there any..." in a big rock start voice... and then the camera died. And they gave up on it. Linnell told us people later in the tour weren't going to get to see this part and we should be excited. Jon Carter could be heard declaring "Video guy's fired." Flans said he was going to pretend he was in Memento and everything was moving backward. Then he pretended to introduce Insect Hospital again. And they finally played Nanobots instead. God, I love that song.
Then Birdhouse. And the 123 Band Intros. And the distribution of nicknames. Someone was dubbed "Honey Nut." A girl was called "Can't Stop, Won't Stop." And a guy in the front row was nicknamed "Rusty." He got several shout outs over the last few minutes of the show.
The closed the main portion of the set with The Mesopotamians and finally Istanbul, with Dan doing Miller Time on the electric guitar. No fake endings. I think the camera failure was a bit of a mood dampener for Flans.
The returned for the first encore with Alphabet of Nations. While Linnell was doing his best crazy arm movements, Danny was fooling with Dan, playing notes of the end of the keyboard while he played. Linnell actually ran back over to the keyboard to do something to it early on in the song too, though I don't know what. But Danny was definitely being a goof.
Then followed New York City. And Ana Ng. Flans briefly mentioned their iPhone app during the intro to Ana. But brought it up again when they returned for the second encore. He pointed out a man holding up an iPhone, except it was actually a beer can. Flans declared it to be the iPhone 6. Which was kind of buggy but they liked the red, white and blue motif. And then he pointed to another guy with a beer and called it a prototype for the iPhone 7. He asked Linnell if they had anything else they needed to share. Linnell responded with "Don't be careful driving home. It doesn't matter. Just close your eyes and hit the accelerator." Flans told him he was starting to sound like him. And then they closed with Twisting.
After collecting a setlist and saying hi to Mr. Brunette, who has grown a beard, (and incidentally, I think his name may actually be Burnett but I am going to continue to call him Brunette because that is how I think of him, from a year of hearing him called that) I went to the merch stand to get a copy of Nanobots. Only to find Anna had sold the last one to someone just in front of me. I was sad. But I got a new Nanobots hoodie and the yellow cryptids shirt anyway, so my trip was not in vain. And then finally, back through the crappy weather and a very large puddle, to the hotel for much needed sleep.
(They skipped They Might Be Giants in the encore, in addition to the Avatar stuff)
And finally, I will leave you with this picture where it looks like Dan has replaced his nose with a microphone. You're welcome.
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Song of the Day - Day 843
Today's song is...
Stone Cold Coup D'État
I admit that I am not as enamored of this song as most people I talk to seem to be. It's not that I don't like it, because I do, but several of my acquaintances are going ga-ga over it and I've even heard a few people say it is their favorite song on the album. I'll totally concede that it is one of the stronger tracks and one of the more traditional rock songs. I just wouldn't rank it so highly compared with other songs on the album. I really enjoy the word play in the lyrics. And it has a great bass part and drum/percussion part. Heck, there are even some awesome guitar riffs in there. But I can't help but be disturbed by the verse about the kids plotting to kill their parents. I know I shouldn't be as a) it's just a song, and b) it is hardly the first time a TMBG song has referenced killing one's parents. But I just find it unsettling enough that it affects my enjoyment of the song. I think maybe if that verse wasn't there, I would totally love it. Because I find most of the other lyrics fantastic. I'll probably get over it sooner or later. And I still hope this is one of the ones they pick to play live, because I think it is well suited to live performance. *crosses fingers*
Stone Cold Coup D'État
I admit that I am not as enamored of this song as most people I talk to seem to be. It's not that I don't like it, because I do, but several of my acquaintances are going ga-ga over it and I've even heard a few people say it is their favorite song on the album. I'll totally concede that it is one of the stronger tracks and one of the more traditional rock songs. I just wouldn't rank it so highly compared with other songs on the album. I really enjoy the word play in the lyrics. And it has a great bass part and drum/percussion part. Heck, there are even some awesome guitar riffs in there. But I can't help but be disturbed by the verse about the kids plotting to kill their parents. I know I shouldn't be as a) it's just a song, and b) it is hardly the first time a TMBG song has referenced killing one's parents. But I just find it unsettling enough that it affects my enjoyment of the song. I think maybe if that verse wasn't there, I would totally love it. Because I find most of the other lyrics fantastic. I'll probably get over it sooner or later. And I still hope this is one of the ones they pick to play live, because I think it is well suited to live performance. *crosses fingers*
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Song of the Day - Day 842
Today's song is...
Sleep
There is kind of a fantastical element to this song. But then again maybe not? Maybe it is just describing someone with a weird relationship to sleep. Either way, it is an interesting song. The honking noise really punctuates the lyrics. I was rather expecting it to be longer than it ended up being. I guess I haven't really made up my mind about this one yet, but the lyrics are definitely interesting.
Sleep
There is kind of a fantastical element to this song. But then again maybe not? Maybe it is just describing someone with a weird relationship to sleep. Either way, it is an interesting song. The honking noise really punctuates the lyrics. I was rather expecting it to be longer than it ended up being. I guess I haven't really made up my mind about this one yet, but the lyrics are definitely interesting.
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Happy New Year
December 31, 2012 - Music Hall Of Williamsburg - Brooklyn, NY
Cold, cold, cold. That is my primary memory of waiting for this show. Something like 9 hours waiting outside on the sidewalks of Brooklyn in slightly sub-freezing temperatures. I don't recommend it.
The conclusion of the band parking saga was both funny and sad. Jim managed to commandeer a cone which he used to reserve a parking space for which ever member of the band happened to get there first. But first someone stole the space. And then after a new space was acquired, not a single one of the driving members of the band realized that the spot was available for parking in and all passed it by. It was an excellent, though failed effort to be helpful.
This was another example of a show where things going wrong really affected my enjoyment of the show. It was two fold. When they let us in, they let the beginning of the line in but stopped them at the bar. Meanwhile, they opened the door directly to the stage just behind me and let the people behind me in that way. As a result the front of the line got into the venue after a good chunk of the people who had been behind them. Some serious arguments ensued between fans and while I benefited once again from friends saving me a spot, it was a rather ugly way to start. Making things worse, an extremely drunk man began causing trouble in the midst of our crowd on the left side of the stage and was so offensive I eventually had to go get security to deal with him.
The other problem was entirely my own and pretty stupid. I had needed to go to the bathroom when we went in, but due to all the arguments regarding the line, I was too afraid to leave my spot to use the facilities lest it not be there when I returned. As a result, by the end of the show, I was in so much pain that I could barely stand up straight and was just wishing the show would wrap up. It may be the only time I have ever wished a show would end rather than wishing it would continue. Apologies if that was a little TMI, but it was one of the primary reasons my memories of this show are a bit less than ideal.
The opener for this show was Moon Hooch, a trio of young men with a powerful sound. Two saxophones and a drummer playing dubstep, a genre I was previously unfamiliar with. I was very impressed. It was lively and dancey and their time went by surprisingly quickly. They even wrapped up early and were given the go ahead to play for five more minutes. These are the guys that are opening for most of the spring tour and I am looking forward to seeing them again. I have been pretty lucky with my repeat openers I must say. I bought their CD after the show and was entertained to find one of the saxophonists chomping on a crown of raw broccoli at the merch table.
r
TMBG setlist: Older - The Guitar - When Will You Die - Celebration - Why Does The Sun Shine? - The Mesopotamians - Circular Karate Chop - Hey, Mr. DJ - Call You Mom - Doctor Worm - Birdhouse In Your Soul - Withered Hope - Auld Lang Syne - Nanobots - Damn Good Times - James K. Polk - Insect Hospital - He's Loco - Ana Ng - Battle For The Planet Of The Apes - We Live In A Dump - Dr. Evil - 123 Band Intro - Mr. Me Encore - New York City - Istanbul - Whistling In The Dark Encore 2 - Cloisonné - Where Your Eyes Don't Go
Prior to the show starting, the audience was bouncing large white balloons around in the air. A couple of times they bounced onto the stage and the crew bounced them back into the crowd. I was worried that one was going to bounce into and knock over the bass clarinet, but fortunately, it never happened. The one time I tried to bounce a balloon back off the stage, I accidentally bounced it further on to the stage and I avoided any contact with them after that. They continued to bounce about even once the show started and several of the guys had to bop them back into the crowd. Until eventually, Linnell picked one up and put it at the back of the stage out of reach. I would assume they were a bit distracting from the band's perspective.
I thought Older was the perfect start to a New Year's Eve show. The strategy seemed to be to pack as many big rockers in as they could fit before the clock struck twelve.
Pretty much the first thing I noticed when the band hit the stage, were the insane pants Danny was wearing. Loud, yellow and brown plaid pants that were so ugly they were awesome. Pretty sure he is the only man alive who could make those pants look good. On anyone else, they would only be suitable for a golf course or pajamas. He manages to make anything into rock star style. Near the end of the show I caught his eye and said "nice pants." He just laughed at me.
The nuclear reactions of the sun were caused by "progesterone, the Pontiac Aztec, the all-new Ford Taurus and many others." Flans took a long pause before saying Pontiac Aztec. After the song, Linnell said it almost didn't matter what the other things were after progesterone. Flans explained that he was trying to remember whether the Aztec was made by the Pontiac or a sub-division of Chrysler. Linnell reminded him that it was a new year and they has promised "no fuck ups." Flans agreed and said he didn't want to be the first one in the penalty box. He also made a reference to Pontiac being the car your mother gave you. Then Linnell pointed out that it wasn't actually the new year yet and they were still free to fuck-up.
As they got closer to midnight, Flans attempted to find a clock on his phone that had seconds so they could count down. He eventually gave up and asked a member of the audience to find the atomic time and let him know when they were close. When they were within minutes of midnight and Flans gave the go ahead to start Withered Hope, he made me extremely nervous that they were going to miss midnight entirely. But he had it well timed and they finished with near perfect timing to begin the countdown.
They had the lyrics to Auld Lang Syne displayed on the video screen for the audience to sing along, but fairly shortly into the song it got a slide ahead and we could no longer follow along. They attempted to do the second verse, but by that point the lyrics were too out of sync and no one new that verse so they gave up. Robin came out with a champagne bottle and poured champagne into plastic cups for the boys. Flans also poured a cup and handed it to my friend, Kathy, standing next to me. Eventually, the rest of the bottle was brought back to the crew back stage. A while later Danny went back looking for it only to find it empty. Happy New Year, everybody!
Many of the fans, including most of my crew, had noisemakers to blow at midnight. There was a point later on when Flans asked us to pull them all out again. During Planet of the Apes maybe? I'm not really sure. I just remember being instructed to blow them.
A few songs into the new year, Linnell commented that the new Mayan baktun was way better than the last Mayan baktun. "Those are 492 years I just want to forget."
The ape battle was a tie despite Flans desire to start the year off with lots of negative energy. He did admit that it was fixed, and that while they knew who the real winner was, they would never tell.
When Robin came out to do Dr. Evil, she announced that she was making a New Year's revolution instead of a resolution.
Before Cloisonné, Flans said this was probably the last time bass clarinet would ever be heard at the Music Hall. Linnell pointed out that he thought the opening band had had one. They didn't that they actually played, but they had some instruments on stage that they didn't use so it wouldn't surprise me if they had actually brought one.
After the show, I had a minor adventure getting my car out of my parking space, as I had very nearly been completely blocked in. It took many small shifts forward and backward with Kathy and a kind stranger spotting me to get unstuck. And then I drove all the way home to Massachusetts so I could be at work the next day. Oh, the things I do for this band :-) Well worth it though, even with the issues at this show.
Cold, cold, cold. That is my primary memory of waiting for this show. Something like 9 hours waiting outside on the sidewalks of Brooklyn in slightly sub-freezing temperatures. I don't recommend it.
The conclusion of the band parking saga was both funny and sad. Jim managed to commandeer a cone which he used to reserve a parking space for which ever member of the band happened to get there first. But first someone stole the space. And then after a new space was acquired, not a single one of the driving members of the band realized that the spot was available for parking in and all passed it by. It was an excellent, though failed effort to be helpful.
This was another example of a show where things going wrong really affected my enjoyment of the show. It was two fold. When they let us in, they let the beginning of the line in but stopped them at the bar. Meanwhile, they opened the door directly to the stage just behind me and let the people behind me in that way. As a result the front of the line got into the venue after a good chunk of the people who had been behind them. Some serious arguments ensued between fans and while I benefited once again from friends saving me a spot, it was a rather ugly way to start. Making things worse, an extremely drunk man began causing trouble in the midst of our crowd on the left side of the stage and was so offensive I eventually had to go get security to deal with him.
The other problem was entirely my own and pretty stupid. I had needed to go to the bathroom when we went in, but due to all the arguments regarding the line, I was too afraid to leave my spot to use the facilities lest it not be there when I returned. As a result, by the end of the show, I was in so much pain that I could barely stand up straight and was just wishing the show would wrap up. It may be the only time I have ever wished a show would end rather than wishing it would continue. Apologies if that was a little TMI, but it was one of the primary reasons my memories of this show are a bit less than ideal.
The opener for this show was Moon Hooch, a trio of young men with a powerful sound. Two saxophones and a drummer playing dubstep, a genre I was previously unfamiliar with. I was very impressed. It was lively and dancey and their time went by surprisingly quickly. They even wrapped up early and were given the go ahead to play for five more minutes. These are the guys that are opening for most of the spring tour and I am looking forward to seeing them again. I have been pretty lucky with my repeat openers I must say. I bought their CD after the show and was entertained to find one of the saxophonists chomping on a crown of raw broccoli at the merch table.
rTMBG setlist: Older - The Guitar - When Will You Die - Celebration - Why Does The Sun Shine? - The Mesopotamians - Circular Karate Chop - Hey, Mr. DJ - Call You Mom - Doctor Worm - Birdhouse In Your Soul - Withered Hope - Auld Lang Syne - Nanobots - Damn Good Times - James K. Polk - Insect Hospital - He's Loco - Ana Ng - Battle For The Planet Of The Apes - We Live In A Dump - Dr. Evil - 123 Band Intro - Mr. Me Encore - New York City - Istanbul - Whistling In The Dark Encore 2 - Cloisonné - Where Your Eyes Don't Go
Prior to the show starting, the audience was bouncing large white balloons around in the air. A couple of times they bounced onto the stage and the crew bounced them back into the crowd. I was worried that one was going to bounce into and knock over the bass clarinet, but fortunately, it never happened. The one time I tried to bounce a balloon back off the stage, I accidentally bounced it further on to the stage and I avoided any contact with them after that. They continued to bounce about even once the show started and several of the guys had to bop them back into the crowd. Until eventually, Linnell picked one up and put it at the back of the stage out of reach. I would assume they were a bit distracting from the band's perspective.
I thought Older was the perfect start to a New Year's Eve show. The strategy seemed to be to pack as many big rockers in as they could fit before the clock struck twelve.
Pretty much the first thing I noticed when the band hit the stage, were the insane pants Danny was wearing. Loud, yellow and brown plaid pants that were so ugly they were awesome. Pretty sure he is the only man alive who could make those pants look good. On anyone else, they would only be suitable for a golf course or pajamas. He manages to make anything into rock star style. Near the end of the show I caught his eye and said "nice pants." He just laughed at me.
The nuclear reactions of the sun were caused by "progesterone, the Pontiac Aztec, the all-new Ford Taurus and many others." Flans took a long pause before saying Pontiac Aztec. After the song, Linnell said it almost didn't matter what the other things were after progesterone. Flans explained that he was trying to remember whether the Aztec was made by the Pontiac or a sub-division of Chrysler. Linnell reminded him that it was a new year and they has promised "no fuck ups." Flans agreed and said he didn't want to be the first one in the penalty box. He also made a reference to Pontiac being the car your mother gave you. Then Linnell pointed out that it wasn't actually the new year yet and they were still free to fuck-up.
As they got closer to midnight, Flans attempted to find a clock on his phone that had seconds so they could count down. He eventually gave up and asked a member of the audience to find the atomic time and let him know when they were close. When they were within minutes of midnight and Flans gave the go ahead to start Withered Hope, he made me extremely nervous that they were going to miss midnight entirely. But he had it well timed and they finished with near perfect timing to begin the countdown.
They had the lyrics to Auld Lang Syne displayed on the video screen for the audience to sing along, but fairly shortly into the song it got a slide ahead and we could no longer follow along. They attempted to do the second verse, but by that point the lyrics were too out of sync and no one new that verse so they gave up. Robin came out with a champagne bottle and poured champagne into plastic cups for the boys. Flans also poured a cup and handed it to my friend, Kathy, standing next to me. Eventually, the rest of the bottle was brought back to the crew back stage. A while later Danny went back looking for it only to find it empty. Happy New Year, everybody!
Many of the fans, including most of my crew, had noisemakers to blow at midnight. There was a point later on when Flans asked us to pull them all out again. During Planet of the Apes maybe? I'm not really sure. I just remember being instructed to blow them.
A few songs into the new year, Linnell commented that the new Mayan baktun was way better than the last Mayan baktun. "Those are 492 years I just want to forget."
The ape battle was a tie despite Flans desire to start the year off with lots of negative energy. He did admit that it was fixed, and that while they knew who the real winner was, they would never tell.
When Robin came out to do Dr. Evil, she announced that she was making a New Year's revolution instead of a resolution.
Before Cloisonné, Flans said this was probably the last time bass clarinet would ever be heard at the Music Hall. Linnell pointed out that he thought the opening band had had one. They didn't that they actually played, but they had some instruments on stage that they didn't use so it wouldn't surprise me if they had actually brought one.
After the show, I had a minor adventure getting my car out of my parking space, as I had very nearly been completely blocked in. It took many small shifts forward and backward with Kathy and a kind stranger spotting me to get unstuck. And then I drove all the way home to Massachusetts so I could be at work the next day. Oh, the things I do for this band :-) Well worth it though, even with the issues at this show.
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