Two Bosoms Walk Into A Bar

January 25, 2015 - Music Hall of Williamsburg - Brooklyn, NY

I have not done a particularly good job at keeping up with concert write ups in the last couple of years. Some how it was a manageable thing when I was seeing 20-30 shows a year but got very unmanageable when I was seeing 50+. And once I stopped, I wasn't exactly sure how to start again. But I am going to try to at least write up the MHoW shows this year as they seem destined to be really special ones.

Arrived at MHoW around noon, just slightly beating the crew to the venue for load in. Kind of fun to see that they can unload an entire stage set-up in 20 minutes flat. Also lovely to see all my band buddies again after such a long hiatus. I ducked out for a bit to make a dash into Manhattan to see Danny play a kids show at the Jewish Museum. He was sick as a dog and yet still managed to get the kids dancing and hopping around. Prime example of "the show must go on" and he powered through it admirably, with a little help from his band. They debuted a new song I hadn't heard yet called Only One You, which was really fun. It features bass player Tina Kenny on lead vocals and I am definitely looking forward to hearing it on a future recording.

There are pictures from that gig on Flickr if anyone is curious: https://www.flickr.com/photos/mynameisbluecanary/sets/72157650065986597/

Dashed back down to Brooklyn for several more hours in the cold as soon as the gig was done. Met lots of lovely new people in line. Hi, new people! I hope to see you all again in February! I admit, I feel like I cheated skipping out on being out in the cold while I was at the other gig but I am sure I'll make up for it in February.

We overheard an extended soundcheck from outside. Almost more of a rehearsal as they ran through probably close to a dozen songs and it went on for over an hour. My guess is that they didn't get a lot of chance to rehearse with the full group prior to the show.

Once inside, checked out the new selection of merch. I highly approve of the new hoodie (which I am currently wearing) but am undecided on the new "tuxedo" T-shirt, largely because the cartoon figure whose head you become when wearing it, is so hairy and appears to inexplicably be digging worms. I'll probably end up getting it later just out of a sense of completeness but I can't really see myself wearing it.

There was a slight misadventure while we were waiting for the show to start when one of the lights on the ceiling appeared to spontaneously break, showing the stage with something, though whether it was broken glass or water or gel from the filter we could never quite tell. It appeared to stump the crew too, who stood staring at it for a bit and couldn't really seem to determine what had happened. It didn't seem to affect anything during the show, however.

The "Evening with" aspect of the MHoW shows means no opener and an early 8pm start time, which is kind of refreshing. They kicked off the show with a recording of No Cops as an intro and projected the video on the ceiling, then the band started right up with Damn Good Times. Flans had the boys play very softly during the quiet verse, giving his performance a little extra pizazz. Must say that Flans was in top form throughout the night, though he was struggling with some technical issues.

When they paused to greet the crowd, Linnell asked everyone how it was going and when everyone cheered he said "that's how I felt that it's going!" Flans introduced the last Sunday of every month concept and then joked about the tall people in the crowd standing at the side due to their tremendous height and considerateness, a subtle joke at the expense of a very tall fan standing right in front, I believe. Flans said they had a fantastic show that they had been rehearsing for a day and joked about  it being an adult crowd so the swear words would come later. Linnell added in that bawdy language and adult humor were also coming. "We're very risqué when it's an adult show." To which Flans replied, "Bosoms." Just that. Linnell said they had a lot of bosom jokes prepared if we could handle it. "Old timey bosom jokes," added Flans.

After playing Number Three, Linnell re-started the banter with a joke, "So these two bosoms walk into a bar.... I don't remember the punch line of that one." Flans comment on the "kick ass" three part harmonies on the previous song and complimented Dan "the undisputed king of stage left.""When will his hegemony be threatened?" queried Linnel. "It will not!" stated Flans. Flans strummed on his guitar a bit and then said he was thinking about all the opening acts. Someone in the audience shouted that they had sucked. Linnell disagreed and said they were all good. Flans said that they had opened before. Someone asked if it had sucked. "We sucked," said Flans. Linnell added that according to the response they had sucked, which Flans demonstrated by displaying double middle fingers in a "rainbow motion" which he then flipped over to demonstrate a windshield wiper. "No, thank you," he intoned. "It's raining now. The windshield wipers are on." And then he noticed that someone was taking his picture and said that was going to be hard to explain to his mom. "No, it's not both fingers, Mom."

Linnell introduced Letterbox as being a hearty "Yo!" from Flood and they certain performed it with a bit of "yo!," so much so that Dan's acoustic guitar got knocked over at the end of the song. Whoops.  Flans introduced the fact that they were going to be be playing tracks from the new Dial-A-Song, by way of introducing Erase. In my opinion, this is one of the strongest songs they have yet released on DAS and it is a good rocker when performed live.

They slipped back into familiar territory with The Mesopotamians, but Linnell forgot to sing the verse about sharing gum. He noted this afterward and that is "wasn't a good verse anyway." They followed this with Older, which I actually haven't heard in a while, and then We're the Replacements which I always love hearing live.

Prior to the show, Flans had tweeted that they would be playing five songs they had never played live before and I guess he must have been counting Hate the Villanelle, even though they have played it live twice. He introduced it saying that they had played it once before in a public forum but would now being playing it without so many fuck ups. Apparently he doesn't consider the Ask Me Another performance to be a "public forum." Linnell said that whatever they played tonight would be the correct version, and Flans told the audience to get their paper wikipedias out. To be honest, I thought the last performance of it was stronger, but not having heard a recorded version yet, I can't really say which is definitive.

Linnell introduced the next song as an old one which turned out to be Spiraling Shape. We'd heard them sound checking it from outside, so not a total surprise, but man it sounded great. Danny really nailed the bass part and the whole thing just sounded spectacular.

Flans explained the Dial-A-Song concept more thoroughly, adding that the telephone number was now toll free. He said that if anyone knew the people who have the old 718 number to please tell them there were no hard feelings, "we just don't want to talk about it in a public forum." He introduced the next song as the next upcoming DAS, Music Jail, Pt. 1 & 2, and said that it could have been called Music Jail "parts" one and two but there was a typo. Linnell joked that that name was taken. Flans said the guys that had that name would give it back because it meant a lot to them.

I really love Music Jail. It is my favorite of the DAS tracks thus far and it sounds awesome live. So much going on musically. The constant switches in beat and the inserted pauses. And the swap from one song into another mid song is a little reminiscent of With the Dark.

They followed this with Fingertips, this time without any of the silly add-ons or messing about that they tend to do. Just a straight up performance.

Flans said he had recently watched a video of Oliver Reed arguing with Shelley Winters and realized retroactively, that the next song, Madam, I Challenge You to A Duel, was written about that video. Linnell made some jokes about it, commenting that he was more in a position to agree with Flans' assessment since he knew what the song was, unlike the audience. This song is a little slow for my taste but I can appreciate the irony of it.

The band left the stage while Flans and Linnell did the duo version of Istanbul, though they were a little slow to depart as both Dans stopped to tune. Flans teased them about this and said they were tuning now so that they could make a stronger impression when they returned.There was much humorous back and forth on the "take me back/no" interlude of Istanbul. That never gets old.

Another surprise that was tipped off by being outside the venue early was the presence of the Tricerachops Horns, who joined the band for Turn Around. And then they played Man, It's So Loud In Here again to my everlasting delight. Still adjusting to the new arrangement but I like the way they have fit the horns into it and I will take it any way I can get it after waiting so gosh darn long to hear it. I'll be curious to see if it stays in the set when they don't have the horns with them.

They followed this with Cloisonné with the horns, in a version much closer to the original arrangement on the album. Linnell played on his contra bass clarinet that he had debuted at Mohegan Sun. Flans introduced the instrument in a humorous way that I don't quite recall, unfortunately. Linnell seemed to be having a little trouble getting it situated for comfortable playing during the performance, but the song still sounded wonderful.

They introduced Doctor Worm as a song about a worm who was a doctor and when the audience cheered, Linnell added "no, not that song, a different one." Dan Levine really hammed this one up, running up onto the drum riser and playing his big trombone note straight up in the air on a bass trombone. And despite illness, Danny still managed a seriously impressive leap off the drum riser, launching right out of the frame of my photo. The show must go on and upwards, it would seem!

One of the nicest parts of having the horns is always getting to hear Museum of Idiots, almost without fail. But the last several times I have seen them play this there has been this funny moment at the beginning where Linnell seems to forget that Danny starts the song and Danny has to remind him, which happened again. Silly.

Flans put on his robot Flansburgh voice again for Nanobots. Linnell some point in here had a problem with his earpiece and had to go backstage to have one of the wires reattached. I'm going to claim that as my explanation for why I don't remember any of what Robot Flans was talking about.

Flans also was experiencing some guitar trouble at this point and left the stage for a portion of the song, returning at just the right moment to sing. There was some ugly feedback that kept recurring for several minutes after this point which I think they did finally manage to get under control but it took while.

At some point in here, Linnell also went on a tangent about how the wire on his earpiece kept hitting his neck and making him think it was a bug even though he knew there couldn't be any bugs at this time of year and he did a very humorous miming of his freaked out reaction to thinking there was a bug on him. Flans pointed out that he could tighten the wires and Linnell said no, he was fine, he was enjoying the sensation, though he did then tighten the wire.

Marty turned in another spectacular drumming performance on Call You Mom. I hope that's one of the Nanobots songs that sticks around once they really head into new material.

For me, the best moment of the night was the performance of Authenticity Trip. I knew it was coming because we had heard them soundcheck it but that didn't prepare me for how spectacular a performance it was going to be. I once told someone that I didn't think they would ever successfully be able to play this song live because Flans would never be able to remember all the words, but he nailed it. He totally and absolutely nailed it. I was a little blown away by how good it was.

At the end of the song, Flans asked the boys to start playing it again and used that as background music while introducing the horns. After Dan's solo Flans commented on how nice it was to hear the trombone all by itself, "truly alone in the universe." Flans invited Stan to play a bit more after his first short riff, giving Stan a real opportunity to jam out. And Curt did a lovely solo ending with just silently blowing into the trumpet which was a surprisingly effective ending, though maybe not heard past the first few rows. It always impresses me that these guys are willing to come back and play with TMBG year after year. Curt spends half his year on the road with Bruce Springsteen, and Dan and Stan sit in on sessions with some seriously big names, and yet they still come back whenever they can and gig with the Giants. It has to be something they do just out of sheer enjoyment of playing with them and it's evident in how joyous they are when they are performing.

They finished up the main set with Birdhouse, and another horn staple, Mr. Me. And then the first encore was just a horn powerhouse. While Linnell twiddled with something on the keyboard he told Flans to do some talking and Flans made some jokes about Final Cut Pro, stating that he'd been having Final Cut Pro dreams lately which weren't as much fun as Tetris dreams because you don't win. When Linnell indicated that he was ready, Flans said he was only just getting started on the Final Cut Pro thing, but they proceeded on to With the Dark. Somewhere in this encore I believe, Linnell was also squinting heavily at his setlist and Flans teased him asking "How's that vision working out for you?" Linnell replied that Flans didn't get it since he had his eyes fixed.

They blasted through Hey Mr. DJ, and When Will You Die, and when they returned for the second encore it was just Flans and Linnell. They played How Can I Sing Like A Girl? but Linnell forgot to go to the watchtower verse. He kept playing for a minute while Flans stared and the audience sang the lyrics, and then Flans started talking, saying something about how he usually thought that talking in the middle of a song was phony but in this case it was called for and they joked for a minute or so before Flans told Linnell he wanted to go back to the watchtower verse and they restarted the song (though Linnell had still been playing the accordion the whole time).

Then the band rejoined them for a not recently heard performance of Cyclops Rock, finally ending on a classic with Ana Ng. Marty and Flans came out with stickers, though not new ones, and many of them seemed to be stuck together in wads.

I collected a setlist and picked up the hoodie and the first of a set of five posters that have been created for these shows. And then walked out feeling like the Giants had made a spectacularly triumphant return for 2015. Can't wait to do it again next month!

Photos from the show can be found here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/mynameisbluecanary/sets/72157650418141676/

Here's A Good One That We've Been Ignoring For Too Long

October 17, 2014 - Wolf Den at Mohegan Sun - Uncasville, CT

I haven't done one of these recaps in forever but this show was so notable I feel I have to.

This was my first concert since moving to New York City as a permanent resident and I set out for Mohegan with a whole car full of likeminded fans, blasting TMBG (and others) from the stereo as we crawled through NYC traffic.

Every show involves this line waiting and fan bonding experience but for some reason the Mohegan shows always seem special. Maybe because of the sheer number of fans who turn out. Maybe it's something about the environment of waiting in line all day in the middle of a casino. Whatever it is, the hours melt away in good company.

One of the best parts of Mohegan Show line waiting is getting to watch soundcheck and this concert was no exception. Marty pounded away on his drums for quite a while before the rest of the band turned up. Linnell appeared on stage in stocking feet, testing out a tiny symphony of clarinets (okay it was just two, but that is one more than usual). Soundcheck began with the very end of S-E-X-X-Y complete with the Tricachops horns, which we all spent an embarrassingly long amount of time trying to identify. This was followed by the majority of Doctor Worm and some When Will You Die and possibly some other little bits of things that I am forgetting. Mostly there was a lot of noodling.

Met some lovely new people in line. If any of them happen to be reading this, hello! Danny came out and handed out flyers to everyone in line for his next kids concert in NYC, but he told me I didn't need one. It's like he just knows I'm going to show up no matter what.....oh, wait.... ;-)

Our rather enormous group got split up once we entered the Wolf Den due to the majority of the floor tables being reserved. Pretty sure there were only four tables that were available on the whole first level. That part was a bit frustrating but out of our control. The tasty drinks almost made up for it.

The challenge of the Wolf Den is in knowing when to anticipate the stage rush. I'm not sure it has been the same any two years I have been there. Some years we have remained seated. One year it happened so early I was in the bathroom and missed it entirely. This time, we were ready, and with one signal from our line leader, the entire group stood up en masse. It happened so fast that someone else who came up behind us asked what the signal had been because they hadn't been ready and couldn't figure out how everyone knew to go.

The show began with the seldom heard Orff Intro and let straight into the duo version of Istanbul. My favorite part of the back and forth "take me back" yes/no banter in the bridge was Flans begging Linnell to reconsider because the venue had a curfew. Linnell remained unmoved.

The rest of the band, including the horns, joined the Johns for a semi-rare performance of With the Dark. Now THAT is a song made for a horn section. They followed it up with Birdhouse and a horn-tastic rendition of Withered Hope.

Flans paused to say that they had a whole bunch of songs he didn't know how to play tonight. Linnell chimed in to say there was a variety of "don't know how to play songs". "High, low, fun, not fun." And then Flans announced "a good one that we've been ignoring for too long."

Now let me pause a moment. Any one who has been reading my blog for any length of time, or knows me at all, knows that I have been waiting my entire show going history to hear Man, It's So Loud In Here live. It was last played in 2003, a good five years before I started going to shows regularly. And it is my absolute favorite TMBG song. But I had actually managed to attend 164 shows without ever hearing it live. I'd almost given up hope.

But the previous night, Susan had handed me her phone with a series of tweets from Flansburgh on it. I started reading at the top and was scrolling down wondering what exactly I was supposed to be looking at when she told me to read the last one."@tmbg: Tomorrow night we'll perform Man It's So Loud in Here with our 8 piece band. Exciting!" I think I starred in dumb shock for a minute and then just said "really?" several times before sharing a number of expletives. Susan, can probably elaborate more on my amusing reaction, but suffice it to say I was shocked and elated and actually maybe just a tiny bit disappointed that it wasn't going to be a surprise at the show because that would have been the ultimate in epicness.

But suffice it to say, I was prepared for Flans to introduce Man, It's So Loud in Here but no less enthusiastic for the performance. They changed up the arrangement of the song a bit to incorporate the horns and it was kind of part way between the old rock version they played long ago and the super dancy/disco version on Mink Car. But HOLY CRAP they played the song I've been waiting years for! I'm still kind of reeling from it. It is the main reason I felt the need to recap this show, because I feel like it is sort of the culmination of years of touring and blogging and the ultimate example of good things come to those who wait.



Thanks to Victor for this video. I feel compelled to comment on something that I only noticed after the fact when reviewing the various videos of the performance (probably because I was just a teeny bit excited at the time). I am really impressed with Marty's ability to replicate the essence of the drum machine beat from the recording live on the kit. Especially since, just as I had never heard the song live, Marty had never played it before, in any version. High five, Marty!

After the song Flans made a crack about Marty being the "best theatrical drummer in show business" which he then explained he had a recording of Frank Sinatra saying. But he always suspected that Frank meant it as kind of a dig. "Everything was provisional with Frank. That was the kind of guy he was.

And THEN, because my brain wasn't already melting, Flans made some cracks about songs about the government and I was sure they were going to play Shadow Government or maybe Black Ops, but they played Working Undercover for the Man! ANOTHER song off of my bucket list that I've never heard. This might not seems like such a big deal to some people, but short of a new album coming out (or one offs like the Pink Shows), it is really rare that I hear anything I've never heard live before, so a double header is just unheard of. Damn. Someone please tell me what I did to deserve it so I can keep doing it!

Round about this point, give or take a song or two, Linnell paused and said he remembered what he had been meaning to say and then howled into the mic like a wolf, the traditional Wolf Den greeting.

With my head still spinning, the show marched on to Call You Mom which Marty knocked out to the friggin park...er, casino. And then Flans moved to the back of the stage for Whistling In the Dark. He didn't actually have a bass drum this time around and I think he just moved because he was conscious of not having much of a part in the song. Linnell later teased him about being so far away.

Before the next song, Linnell made a comment about something and I believe howled into the mic again just being a goof and Danny asked him if he was ready to start. Linnell asked him if he was in a hurry for some reason and Danny looked amusingly chastised. Linnell then made a point of stating that Danny started the next song and asked him to proceed into Museum of Idiots. After the song, the rest of the band left the stage and Flans said Danny was the glue that was holding the band together and keeping them on track, :-)

Somewhere in here, Flans noted on the setlist that he had neglected to include any audience participation in the show. I feel like him made an amusing joke about it which I've now forgotten.

They performed the duo version of How Can I Sing Like A Girl? and then Flans made some cracks about asking the audience to clap along to the next song except he couldn't because there was absolutely no audience participation in this set. Pretty sure some of the audience clapped along with We're the Replacements anyway.

Flans made some jokes about fake New England accents that I can't really remember the context of, but I did enjoy the fact that his analogy for a broad New England accent was "Saturday Night Live levels of broad." He declared that there was nothing quite as fake as a fake New England accent, but Linnell begged to differ. Though he didn't offer an alternative. Just the next song, Hate the Villanelle.

Afterwards Linnell declared the benefit of playing new songs. "New songs. Most people don't know that we're fuckin' em up. You can't tell!" Flans added that they had that kind of transparency with their audience. "Full disclosure," said Linnell. "That was wrong, and if you liked it, you were wrong." Flans said if they messed the next one up, we would know. It was Letterbox, but Linnell declared it was a perfect performance.

Flans pulled out his robot vocal for Nanobots and carried on some humorous banter about the horn players. I swear they keep that song in the set just because Flans has so much fun doing the robot voice.

They played S-E-X-X-Y with Linnell chiming in on the outro on the clarinet (the normal sized one, not the bass). Linnell and Flans riffed on Jonathan Letham whom Linnell credited with writing the lyrics to the next song "but then I just took the title and wrote new lyrics. I hope he's okay with that." Flans mistook him for a podcaster and Linnell expounded on the fact that Lethem is a MacArthur genius, though Flans said Linnell would never know if he was angry about Linnell stealing the title of his song because he wouldn't return his calls. The song in question was the also seldomly played Bee of the Bird of the Moth. Not actually one of my favorites but it's still nice to hear something I don't hear often.

For Cloisonné, Linnell pulled out not the bass clarinet, but the contra bass clarinet, a truly deep clarinet. And a huge one. The thing was almost as tall as he is. Jokes were made, as the should be.

They closed out the main portion of the show with Turn Around and Mr. Me with the horns, who got a lot of play time in this show, though I could not see them due the keyboard.

During the encore Flans announced both the return of Dial-A-Song (yay!) and their gig in Brooklyn in January (double yay!). This will actually be the first show occurring in a town where I am currently living, that I can commute to via subway. Of course Danny's got a gig in Manhattan earlier in the day so I'll be hopping about town, but at least it gives me an excuse to not stand in the freezing cold line until a bit later in the day.

The encore consisted of Number Three, The Mesopotamians, When Will You Die and Doctor Worm. For whatever reason I was not anticipating the Doctor Worm leap, possibly because the drum riser was only about six inches high and I missed my once a show opportunity to attempt the jump shot. Good thing there will be others.

It was, at the end of the day, a truly epic show, and a day spent in the company of all my favorite people. We finished it with a pancake dinner with pancakes the size of our heads and wound our way out of the casino with hundreds of teenagers just exiting a Demi Lovato concert in the Arena. How's that for a juxtaposition?

Pictures can be found here if you are so inclined. Thank you all for sticking with me through to this point. I know I have kind of dropped off the face of the earth where this blog is concerned, but I really wanted to share this show of all shows with all of you.

Happy Birthday - I Was On Your Bus

Once again, I have run into a situation where I started writing this recap close to a year ago, immediately after the show, and then never followed through and finished it. There are parts I can still fill in vividly, and others have completely faded. But the story of this show is the kind that really needs to be told, so I couldn't just let it go unheard. I'll note where the break in the recap is, and any ommissions after that point are due to faults in my own memory and the fact that I have seen like forty shows since this one.

April 3, 2013 - Paradise Rock Club - Boston, MA - Flood Show

When I first saw that TMBG were playing Boston on my birthday, I knew it would be memorable and a rocking good time. I just didn't know it would be _this_ kind of memorable.

My friend John and I arrived at the Paradise around 3:00 and were the first people there. There wasn't much going on. We saw Flans walk by and retrieve something from a car. It should also be noted that, due to it being my birthday, I had elected to wear a cheap novelty tiara that I picked up at iParty that said "Happy Birthday" on it. Yes, it was a little ostentatious, but if you can't be a princess of your birthday, then when can you, right? Anyway, Flans walked into the venue with Scott, and, noting my tiara, said "happy birthday" as he passed. Birthday win, thought I! Then a few minutes later, he poked his head back out of the venue and said "I don't know if it's really your birthday..." "It is, I swear!" I said. And he handed me a signed vinyl copy of Nanobots and a poster. I think I remembered to say thank you before he disappeared again. :-)

Shortly after this, my friend Kathy arrived and joined us on the sidewalk. Dan walked by on his way into the venue, and said hi. So did Curt. Then things started to get weird. This strange guy appeared and started drawing on the sidewalk with blue chalk. It was a little unclear if he was drunk, on drugs, generally disturbed or some combination there of. He drew a big semi circle from one side of the venue to the other and down at the bottom, wrote KARMA. Between his graffiti endeavors, he would sit on the trailer hitch on the back of the tour bus, which was parked in front of the venue, and drink out of a large plastic pitcher. Like the sort you put lemonade in. It looked like he was drinking water, but who knows for sure. Then he'd get up and do some more drawing, eventually decorating the sidewalk in front of the building next door too. Then back to sitting on the trailer hitch. He made all of us nervous enough that John wasn't comfortable leaving us alone to go put some stuff in the car until the dude had wandered away. Of course, no sooner had John gone to the car than Crazy Dude returned.

After a little more sitting on the trailer hitch, Crazy Dude walked over to where I was sitting with Kathy on the sidewalk and asked if it was my birthday. "Yeah," I said reluctantly. I couldn't exactly say no, since I was wearing the tiara. It was kind of obvious. He asked how old I was turning, which I foolishly told him. "You know what that means?" he asked, excitedly. "32 years ago today, you were born!" I didn't exactly have a response to that. And then he asked why I was going to the concert. "Why not?" I replied, trying to get him to go away. He apparently found this answer very exciting, as he walked away hollering about it and doing a little jump dance. He disappeared once again, but the next time he returned he REALLY made his presence known.

John returned from the car. The band started soundcheck which we could vaguely hear through the walls. Then I got distracted as some members of one of the bands family exited the club, saying something to the guy at the door about being "spooked by some guy inside." And then the next thing I knew, there was a lot of shouting and Crazy Dude was causing a big commotion over by the bus. Members of club security, Brunette, Scott and Flans were all standing on the sidewalk, as Crazy Dude sat on the trailer hitch, screaming at them. One of the security guys was trying to get the dude to leave and he absolutely refused, yelling about how he had every right to be there, and screaming obscenities. Flans headed back into the venue, where more security folks were coming out the door. "You got a phone?" asked Flans. The guys nodded. "Call the cops." said Flans. While one of the security people spoke to the police on his cell phone, Brunette and the other security guy continued their attempts to get Crazy Dude to leave. He started running laps around the tour bus, hollering the whole time and trying to get the guys to chase him, while a venue employee gave a description of the proceedings to the cops on the phone. Then Crazy Dude ran out in the middle of the sidewalk. He started screaming about how it was my birthday and how he wanted to see "the musicians" (he repeatedly referred to the band in this manner), and something about them signing my album (he apparently thought I had brought the record I was holding with me to be signed, not realizing the band had given it to me already signed). It briefly looked like there was going to be a fight, but Crazy Dude just laid down in the middle of the sidewalk and dared the guys to try to move him. And then, eventually, the dude just wandered away. The cops never did show up (apparently, they went to the wrong address). Crazy Dude came back a while later but turned around before he got to the venue. Security guys remained by the bus for the rest of the evening, making sure the dude didn't return and cause more trouble. The story was recounted multiple times as more members of staff arrived, and we eventually filled the security guys in on what we had seen earlier to kind of fill in the blanks.

Somewhere in all this, I said something to one of the crew about not having anything to do with the crazy guy screaming about my birthday. I didn't want them to think I was somehow responsible. The response I got was not encouraging. "Oh, he was in here [here being inside the venue]. He made sure _everyone_ knew about your birthday." Oh crap. This was the point at which I really started to panic. I was sure the band, or at least Flans, was going to be pissed and my reputation as the "good fan" was going to be forever spoiled.

After they finished sound check, various members of the band and crew made trips to and from the bus. Marty walked over to me carrying a small keyboard, and started talking to me about a picture of mine I had let him use. No mention of the incident with the crazy guy. But then as he went to walk away, he looked at my tiara and started to ask if we were celebrating someone's birthday, and then stopped himself, with a look of realization. "Oh it's _your_ birthday. Happy Birthday," he said as he walked away.

Danny walked by shortly after, and also wished me a happy birthday. And then we spent the last 45 minutes or so before we got to go in, listening to members of security regale each other with the story of Crazy Dude, and freezing our butts off since the sun had gone down. Doors were late because Moon Hooch was still sound checking. Seems Crazy Dude had delayed things by a good twenty minutes.

Inside, we took up a position on the left side of the stage, and were joined by our friend Stacy and one of her friends. Crazy Dude story was related once again. Nothing like a good story to pass the time. Moon Hooch came on and did their typically rocking set. We had a brief but heated dispute with some girl in the crowd who insisted on putting her empty drink on the stage in front of us. I mention this only as context for why, by this point I was fairly paranoid and stressed out.

TMBG setlist: Hey Mr. DJ - Theme from Flood - Damn Good Times - Lost My Mind - Drink - Call You Mom - Nanobots - Doctor Worm - Twisting - Letterbox - Sapphire Bullets of Pure Love - Women and Men - Lucky Ball and Chain - Whistling In The Dark - Hot Cha - Hearing Aid - Minimum Wage - He's Loco - Particle Man - We Want A Rock - Someone Keeps Moving My Chair - They Might Be Giants - Dead - Your Racist Friend - Birdhouse in Your Soul   Encore - Road Movie To Berlin - Istanbul Encore 2 - Tesla - When Will You Die - Mr. Me

Can we talk about how awesome Hey, Mr. DJ is with the horns? Cause it REALLY rocks. Totally explosive start to a show. Sooooo good.

There was a young girl in the front row who leaned across the stage to touch Linnell's leg under the keyboard. He gave her a "don't do that" look. Flans called her out on it and told her not to touch the band. "There are so many potentially career ending things I could say right now," he quipped. Flans then explained that they would be performing Flood, but that they would not be playing it in order and there would be commercial interruptions and pledge breaks. He said they had a new tote bag that they would be offering during the pledge breaks. And he joked about how, when they did their first Flood show, they realized that if they only played a 42 minute set, the audience would feel ripped off, so they had decided to supplement the set. They also mentioned their new album and said they would be playing some songs from that, but that the next one wasn't one of them.

Flans joked about not having his note ready for Theme from Flood and Linnell gave it to him again. And then away they went. Except they played right into Damn Good Times afterward instead of Birdhouse, which just sounds odd.

Before one of the new songs, I think it was Lost My Mind, but it could have been Call You Mom, Flans called over to me. "Hey, birthday lady, er, birthday girl. Hope you aren't offended that I called you lady." I wasn't, but I was nervous to the point where I was sure that Flans was about to ask me to remove the tiara because it was distracting him or something.  "Do you have that album I gave you?" Flans then explained to the crowd that it was my birthday and they had given me a copy of their new album. Meanwhile, I was digging around for where I had tucked it under that stage. I briefly panicked when I couldn't lay my hands on it immediately, but I pulled it out and held it up, for the crowd to see, while Flans discussed the vinyl. He said they had gone to a new company in the Czech Republic to have this one manufactured and they were really impressed with the vinyl itself. He said the actual vinyl was as impressive as the packaging. He made a joke about how there were lots of people who were audio-philes but there weren't many Czech-ophiles. Then someone else held up their vinyl, while "wooing" and Flans declared that person to be a Czech-ophile. I had a brief internal debate with myself about how long I needed to hold up my own vinyl, but was relieved after this episode, that Flans did not seem to hold any ill will towards me.

I love watching Marty do Lost My Mind, cause he does this thing where he whips out both his hands to stop the cymbals on either side of him, during the chorus. Its so rhythmic, and it looks so cool. Actually, I picked the left side of the stage tonight, mostly so I could watch Marty, because there are so many of the Flood songs that are fun to watch him play. Sapphire Bullets, Road Movie, Hot Cha. I honestly don't think I will ever get tired of watching that man play.

Flans gave us chanting instructions for Drink! and told us we needed to chant in waltz time. A number of jokes were made about this. I think we did pretty well as a crowd. Good chanting, team!

Another rousing performance of Call You Mom, once again with horns. God damn, that song plays well live.

Flans once again did his Robot Flansburgh routine before Nanobots.

Flans: "Things are about to change."

Linnell: "Things have already changed."

Flans: "Things are really about to change."

Linnell: "I'm scared, man."

Flans: "You should be scared."

Linnell: "I've got a question Robot John Flansburgh."

Flans: "Yeah, what's your question?"

Linnell: "How did you become Pope Robot The First."

Flans: "It's a complicated story."

Linnell: "We got time."

Flans: "You see, there was a conclave. 

Linnell: "Go on."

Flans: "There was a conclave. The band and the crew met in the back lounge of the tour bus, just three weeks ago. There was a small box. And members of the conclave decided who would represent them. White smoke poured out of the back lounge windows and it was determinded that I, Pope Robot Flansburgh The First would take over for the dearly departed Pope Robot Zero."

Linnell: "That is a hell of a story."

Flans: "We will miss him. He only spoke in modem. *modem noises*"

Linnell: "We're gonna miss that guy."

Flans: "No one speaks in modem anymore, but it was a beautiful sound. Only sometimes when somebody puts an iPhone near a machine, I remember Pope Robot Zero. No more modems."

Side note: This is the point where I stopped writing the recap originally, so much of what happened after this is completely gone or very hazy.

At some point in the middle of the show, the Johns told a story about being at the Paradise at as show as teenagers. They were talking about some guy in the crowd at that show who kept shouting something at the band on stage (I seem to recall that the guy may have been shirtless in the story too). They clearly both remembered this incident some 30 years later, but unfortunately, I can't even remember what it was the guy was shouting. Which is a shame because it was funny and became somewhat of a running joke for the rest of the show. But I've asked every single person I knew who was there and not one of us remembers. Regardless, it was a funny and nostalgic tale about the longevity of the Paradise.

One of my favorite visual moments of the show was provided by the horn players. Tucked off in the far corner of the stage, it wasn't convenient for them to come and go from the stage for every song they didn't play on, so at one point all three of them just sat down on the floor cross legged behind their music stands and were just hanging out watching the show. Gotta say, that has got to be a pretty great life!

If I am not mistaken, this was the Flood show where Marty missed on one of the beats of Sapphire Bullets while he was doing that cool spotting trick that he does. And from this point on in the tour, he changed how he played it and used the electronic drum pad instead. It's a shame because I loved watching him do it the other way, but maybe the risk of missing was too high. Or perhaps it was just time for a change.

The Avatars did most of their bit pretending that they were reading from a prepared statement. And they lamented that they spend most of their time in a suitcase. Blue accused Green of smoking menthols. Green shot back that the schedule said it was a day off. Blue replied that the schedule said Days Inn. And then he made a joke about the car not going to the Courtyard, which he claimed was a "thinker." And then they did their bit about collaborating with Axl Rose on the next song, before doing He's Loco.

I'm going to make a completely fangirly comment here too and point out that for this, my birthday show, not only was it a red pants day, but Linnell was also wearing my favorite shirt, making this a practically perfect visual experience.

Somewhere is the middle of the Flood portion of the show, Flans paused to tell a story. It went something like this (I'm paraphrasing a little but this is pretty close). "So earlier today we're on stage doing soundcheck and this guy comes in and starts talking to us. And we just thought he was one of the local crew, you know. He starts saying how there's this girl outside who is celebrating her birthday and we may want to sell stuff but today should be all about her, and by the way, I've been on your bus for an hour! And that was the point at which we realized we needed to call the cops." Flans then made some remarks about how crazy this guy was, and then turned to me and was like, "You saw him right? He was nuts!" And I confirmed that, yes, the guy was really crazy.

So that's the other half of the story that I didn't witness. Apparently the guy busted into soundcheck, started yelling at the band about my birthday and then declared that he had been on the bus. They didn't realize that he had only been sitting on the trailer hitch and thought he had actually been inside their bus, which was why Flans and Scott had gone outside when security pitched Crazy Dude out of the venue. Since there wasn't actually any real harm done, the whole thing just became a pretty funny story and the line "I've been on your bus for an hour" became a running joke for the rest of the show. So much so that it popped up again during the Avatar segment in Philadelphia two days later.

Apparently, though, after all the joking about the absurdity of the incident, Flans did want to make sure there were no hard feelings. Because when they came back on stage for one of the encores, he made a point of leaning around Linnell's back to address me and said "And we did want to wish you a happy birthday." I said thank you. It was both thrilling and a bit embarrassing to have so much attention focused on me during a show. But boy it was a birthday I won't forget for a while!

I don't remember much of the specifics of the back half of the show, but I do remember thinking it was a particularly good one. The horns always add a little extra something and as many times as I have seen them play Flood, it's always fun because there are songs they play at a Flood show that they don't play otherwise.

After the show, Brunette handed me the setlist, and then both he and Victor were standing there pointing at it and indicating that I needed to look at it. It took me a minute to figure out what they were talking about, until I finally looked down at the setlist to see that, written across the top of the setlist it said "Happy Birthday - I Was On Your Bus." I laughed pretty hard at that. The incident forever immortalized in setlist form.

I hung around for a little bit because I wanted to have Marty sign my vinyl, while he was out signing things. He had had Brunette bring him his drum head to doodle on, and I was standing off to the side waiting for him to finish. I assumed he was fixing up the drum head for the girl that was standing in front of him, but when he was satisfied with his work, he looked up and held it out to me. I've never actually gotten one of the drum heads before and I'm sure Marty knew it. He keeps pretty good track of who he has given them to and who he hasn't. And this one, he clearly intended to be mine, because instead of just the usual caricature of himself and his signature imbedded in the middle of TMBG, that he usually writes on them, he inscribed this one for me. It has the date written on it, and then below he wrote "The best fan of the best fans." I was so touched, I didn't even know what to say besides "thank you." And he graciously signed my vinyl as well. I walked out of the club in such a daze I actually lost the people I was with.

It was, without a doubt, one of the most bizarre, incredible, memorable days of my life and probably the most interesting birthday I have ever had. I have a feeling I will be hard pressed to ever top it.

A Year On The Road With TMBG

They Might Be Giants played exactly 100 shows in 2013, more than they've played in any single year since the Mink Car tour in 2001. Prior to this year, my own record for show attendance was 32 shows in a year, in 2009 (largely thanks to a number of "double feature" days with a family show in the afternoon and a rock show in the evening). But this year I blew that record out of the water attending 52, or just slightly more than half the shows they played.

To put this in perspective, I saw shows in 45 cities, 26 states (plus DC), 3 countries, and traveled a somewhat staggering 25,432 miles following the band between February 27 and November 21. Counting travel days, I spent slightly over two months following these guys around.

I think Dan Miller put it best. He told me, at my last show, that I had been on a year long scavenger hunt, locating the band in cities around the globe. And it definitely felt like that some days, wandering around unfamiliar cities, looking for venues, parking, doors, lines, etc, etc.

And a particularly amusing fact for me, I actually attended as many or more shows than at least four members of the band's regular crew this year. And I'm not even on the payroll!

I'm sure many of you noticed that I stopped posting recaps after the March tour ended. There were a number of factors influencing this, but the biggest one was, simply, time. Traveling alone, usually driving, and seeing shows back to back to back, left little to no time in between to write recaps and the more shows I saw, the less I remembered the ones back at the beginning of the tour. I actually got about half way through the recap for the first show in Boston (which was where my recaps left off), but never finished it because I've never been able to recall the punch line to a very amusing story that was told on stage and I always felt the recap was incomplete without it.

So, by way of making up for the lack of recaps, please enjoy this "year in review", recalling the highlights of 2013, on the road with TMBG.

February 27, 2013 - Port City Music Hall - Portland, ME
The tour begins in disgusting sleety weather, in my home state. Linnell appears on stage in snow boots. The band kicks off the tour with the live premiere of You're On Fire. And spontaneously plays a cover of the Rockford Files Theme halfway through the show.

March 14, 2013 - The Blue Note - Columbia, MO
I am re-introduced to Moon Hooch, who begin their set with 20 minutes of meditation on stage. And I have the pleasure of hearing the Columbia venue song live, even if Linnell did mess up the lyrics.

March 16, 2013 - The Vic - Chicago, IL
John Linnell performs a keyboard solo using only his head. The results are....interesting.

March 17, 2013 - Beachland Ballroom - Cleveland, OH
Dan sports a "My Other Truck Is They Might Be Giants" hat on stage, while Marty realizes the full potential of the Marty Cam and strikes the first and, without a doubt, the most terrifying of many triumphant/threatening poses for the camera at the end of his solo.

March 22, 2013 - The Paramount - Huntington, NY
The final show of the first leg of the tour coincides both with a Sweet Sixteen party at the venue and the final Song of the Day post on my blog. Needless to say, this performance of Birdhouse (the final song of the day), was rather emotional for me.

April 3, 2013 - Paradise Rock Club - Boston, MA
My 32nd birthday turns out to be my most memorable when a legit crazy man breaks into the band's soundcheck and starts yelling at the band about my birthday, among other topics. After a truly bizarre sidewalk screaming match between the guy and security, this incident eventually leads to my birthday being mentioned on stage three times over the course of the show. The line "I've been on your bus for an hour!" is entered into our official fandom lexicon and I walk away with, hands down, the most insane story I've collected in all of my 161 shows.

April 5, 2013 - World Cafe Live - Philadelphia, PA
One of the most unique shows I have ever seen. The band appears on stage for a short live radio set looking like they just rolled out of bed and found themselves on stage. Marty plays a drum kit constructed out of an upside-down recycling bin and various equipments cases, and just for radio, we participate in a Battle of Passengers vs Drivers.

April 7, 2013 - The National - Richmond, VA
Unexpected pre-show band member encounter leads to me being introduced to band family members as "one of our primary photographers." While outwardly I think I turned several shades of pink, inwardly, I was beaming with pride :-)

April 9, 2013 - Jefferson Theatre - Charlottesville, VA
CREPES!!!

April 10, 2013 - Cat's Cradle - Carrboro, NC
Still haunted by the terrifying image of Gitmo Elmo in the junk shop across the street. *shudder* After weeks of watching others do the honors, I am afforded the honor of playing Flans' guitar for the Famous Polka solo. Plus the "zipper incident" (if you know, you know).

April 11, 2013 - Music Farm - Charleston, SC
My first show in South Carolina! Best tour cupcakes of the whole year. And for being first in line, Susan and I are presented with chairs, bottled water and our very own potted plant to keep us company. Plus, Charleston venue song!

April 13, 2013 - Variety Playhouse - Atlanta, GA
There is a story from this day that I've sworn not to tell, but suffice it to say, it was memorable. Very memorable.

April 16, 2013 - Academy Records Annex - Brooklyn, NY
Fourth official signing with the Johns, following a neat little in-store performance that I couldn't see at all from where I was standing.

May 30, 2013 - The Vogue - Indianapolis, IN
Fresh off the Australian tour, the boys are back to conquer the remainder of the good old US of A.

May 31, 2013 - Turner Hall - Milwaukee, WI
Hilarious soundcheck version of 9 Secret Steps precedes show plagued by tech issues, on a comically slanted stage.

June 2, 2013 - Englert Theatre - Iowa City, IA
This show should get some sort of prize for prettiest lighting of the tour.

June 5, 2013 - Slowdown - Omaha, NE
First visit to exciting Nebraska! Live goal achieved - hug from Dan Miller :-)

June 6, 2013 - Crossroads - Kansas City, MO
Beautiful outdoor show. Live premiere of Icky (sans melodica)! Duo Istanbul!

August 10, 2013 - Prospect Park - Brooklyn, NY
And another beautiful outdoor show, this time with horns! Highlights include Dan's interpretive dance during soundcheck and Flans sneaking up on Dan, on all fours (the image of that just made me crack up while writing this).

September 7, 2013 - Penn's Landing - Philadelphia, PA
Combining two of my favorite things. TMBG and tugboats!

October 11, 2013 - World Cafe Live at The Queen - Wilmington, DE
They Day! Never have so many foreheads been decorated in one place! Plus, the band actually managed to surprise me by unexpectedly pulling out Rhythm Section Want Ad before the Pink Shows. Pretty sure I watched the entire song wearing a stupid grin.

October 12, 2013 - 9:30 Club - Washington, DC
The legend of the boa is born. Also, the delightful experience of the DJ Flans dance party complete with glowsticks, a contortionist, and a dancing ice cream sandwich lady.

October 13, 2013 - Ziggy's - Winston-Salem, NC
More beautiful lighting. What is it about these specific venues that transform the same lighting set up it something so gosh darn pretty?

October 25, 2013 - Marquee Theatre - Tempe, AZ
If any show was a Pink Show preview it was this one. Quite possibly the coolest setlist of the tour (outside of the Pink Shows themselves). And some truly hilarious/adorable antics from some guys named Dan.

October 26, 2013 - Royce Hall - Los Angeles, CA
CONFETTI! Marty dancing, Danny singing, construction hats, and that was just the first show! Did I mention the full performance of the Pink Album in the evening? Songs I pretty much never thought I'd get to see live. Spectacular doesn't even begin to cover it. Only slightly marred by Danny scaring the crap out of me (and himself) by nearly taking a header off the front of the stage.

October 27, 2013 - Rio Theatre - Santa Cruz, CA
Stop the presses. Linnell said hi to me. Voluntarily. Year=made. Extremely nice venue staff let me wait for this show inside once it got cold too, making this one of my favorite pre-show experiences of the year.

November 1, 2013 - Wolf Den at Mohegan Sun - Uncasville, CT
Awwwwoooooooooo! Let's be honest, the pre-show cocktails made this show pretty entertaining, even if I was watching it from under the keyboard. The ridiculously enormous post-show pancake didn't hurt either :-)

November 2, 2013 - Terminal 5 - New York, NY
Pink Album show in NYC. A thousand TMBG fans singing along with The Day will forever remain a live show highlight. And I walked away with the gift of a thoroughly soaked setlist, because who else would appreciate such a weird gift?

November 15, 2013 - The Queen's Hall - Edinburgh, UK
Surprise! This fangirl is international! My plan to surprise the band didn't go exactly as expected but I sure surprised Brunette!

November 18, 2013 - Vicar St - Dublin, Ireland
This show makes it onto my all time top ten. Killer jokes, hilarious banter, high energy, and an Irish crowd that was starved for some TMBG. So. Much. FUN!

November 19, 2013 - O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire - London, UK
I've got a lot of pretty cool souvenirs from my years on tour, but nothing quite as special as the guitar pick I was gifted at this show. Still stunned.

November 20, 2013 - Manchester Academy 2 - Manchester, UK
End of the tour. Happy day and sad day at the same time. But for the first time ever, I actually got to say goodbye to all three of the boys when I left, giving a valuable sense of closure to a year unlike any other.


One of the best things about traveling the country/the world to see the band, is all the wonderful and interesting people I get to meet along the way. And this year I got to spend a lot of time with friends I already love, and make a lot of new friends in places near and far. Thanks to all of you for helping to make the year so fun. I hope to see all of you again in 2015!

Sweet Sixteen

March 22, 2013 - The Paramount - Huntington, NY

Last stop of the trip and finally got the majority of my crew assembled all in one place. We made the assumption that Huntington would follow typical NY area patterns and require very early line up to beat the crowds. We seem to have over estimated a bit though, as pretty much no one besides us showed up for most of the time we waited. But it gave us plenty of time to get cupcakes and crepes and hot chocolate with gelato in it from the local shops. Huntington definitely doesn't skimp on the quality eating establishments. The venue also kept us entertained with a playlist of TMBG songs piped out under their marque. Sure, it would have been nice if they weren't the same eight songs on random repeat for all seven hours we were there, but it was still nice to have something to listen to.

There was some confusion about the time the doors opened. We were originally told 7 but it turned out to be 8. Which meant we were all lined up to watch the arrival of the 30 or so teenage girls in extremely short skirts, ridiculously high heels and way too much make-up. We were a bit perplexed since they definitely didn't look like typical TMBG fans. But we were told they were all there for a Sweet Sixteen birthday party. The oddest part was that they were all seated in the balcony inside the venue when we got in and most of them only seemed to stay for the opening act. I don't know if the party was just booked regardless of who was playing at the venue, or they really were only there for the opener, but it was really odd. Maybe there was another room where the rest of them were hanging out? It definitely added an interesting flavor to the night.

The Paramount was another of those venues with the super tall stages. Not quite as high as The Pageant, but high enough to make me feel like I had shrunk when standing next to it. Apparently, the fans of Long Island aren't too concerned about arriving early, as the room was barely occupied when we first went in, but it did eventually fill up. Unfortunately, the additional crowd also brought yet another drunk fan (or a pair of them really) to the front, who got the TMBG set off to the wrong start by spilling a full beer all over the stage and floor where we were standing. Why do these people keep ending up where I'm standing? Am I like a drunk magnet or something?

The Moon Hooch guys totally threw me off tonight by switching sides of the stage. Not sure why. Maybe they were just looking for a change of pace, or maybe there was more room on one side than the other for horns. Who knows. But it meant Mike was in front of me, even though I was on the left side of the stage. Her entertained Becky with a personal sax performance, down on his knees on the edge of the stage in front of her. One of the things I appreciate about these guys is that they are really dynamic performers, not just standing in one spot to play their instruments. They move around the stage, interact with each other and the audience. It makes the show even more entertaining.

TMBG setlist: You're On Fire - James K. Polk - Memo to Human Resources - Don't Let's Start - Call You Mom - Cloisonné - Puppet Head - Doctor Worm - The Famous Polka - Drink! - The Guitar - Insect Hospital - He's Loco - Nanobots - Withered Hope - Dr. Evil - Can't Keep Johnny Down - Birdhouse In Your Soul - Battle for the Planet of the Apes - Why Does The Sun Shine? - When Will You Die - Damn Good Times Encore - The Mesopotamians - New York City - Ana Ng Encore - Tesla - Istanbul

After Polk, Flans gave a shout out to the 1% in the balcony and asked them how the hors d'oeuvres were up in their rarified air. He also mentioned how much they enjoyed playing venues with recently installed steel stairs and fire exits.

I was very excited to hear Don't Let's Start in the set, if only because it was something I hadn't heard yet this tour. I always expect a certain amount of repetition when I follow a tour but I was surprised at how little they changed things up on this run.

Marty turned in another whopper performance of Call You Mom and I had organized most of the front row to bow down to him in praise when he finished. Sadly, I don't think he even noticed.

Introducing Danny on the keyboard, Flans teased him about his five minute commute to this show.

Danny really outdid himself on the Doctor Worm leap this time, executing a flying split legged vault that cleared Marty's head and was beautifully back lit by a well timed strobe flash that looked epic, but was less than ideal for most of the photo attempts.

Rebecca got the Famous Polka guitar playing honors this time. It's nice to be home again where my friends fill up the front row and get picked to show off their skills :-)

Flans split up the Drink! call backs between the balcony and the floor and personally, I think the results were a bit disastrous. We just couldn't get the timing right on the floor. Flans still said it was great after the song, but I think he was just being nice. I'd call it a humorously bad attempt.

Flans gave both Danny and Marty a solo during The Guitar, since they are both local Long Island natives.

The Avatars asked us to scream. But then said they couldn't hear us because they have no ears. "All we hear is silence. Beautiful, peaceful silence. And all we see is '70s style cable television. Channel J. Beautiful, late-night cable television." Blue talked about their collaboration with Sir Axel Rose again. He said they were only one verse into their song because he is a perfectionist. And that they had one syllable of the second verse done and all he could say was that it was awesome. They claimed that He's Loco is the B-side that Axel let them have on their single.

The end of the Avatar set led straight into the Nanobots intro. The Johns had a brief discussion about how much He's Loco sounds like Emotional Rescue. "I feel like rock ended with Emotional Rescue," said Flans (already in robot voice). "And something beautiful started," said Linnell.

Linnell: "Hey, I've got a question for you....Robot Flansburgh."

Flans: "What's the question, John?"

Linnell: "I think you know what the question is."

Flans: "No, nothing's changed. No, John. I've always talked this way. It's the vocal nodes."

Linnell: "Three weeks on the road. This is what happens."

Flans: "Two weeks ago, the band and the crew of They Might Be Giants had a conclave. You might not have heard about bands having conclaves. But everybody went into the back lounge of our tour bus and discussed who would become Pope Robot the First. It was a long discussion. Some people thought Pope Robot the First should come from the crew, to bring more diversity. But ultimately, when the white smoke emerged from the back lounge, it was decided that I would become Pope Robot the First. I named myself Pope Robot the First after Pope Robot Zero. We'd like to dedicate this next song to Pope Robot Zero. It's off our brand new album Nanobots. Laaa. That's my first note. I like to sing it pretty. Very, very pretty. Hit it, Marty!"

Robin joined the band again for Dr. Evil, once again without introduction. I think she actually got a full fledged version of The Theme from Dallas to play her off this time though.

This was a very emotional performance of Birdhouse for me, as it coincided with the final Song of the Day post for that very song. Needless to say, I danced pretty hard. Also, I have consistently forgotten to mention this, and I can't be sure they even did it in Huntington, but for quite a few of these last shows, when it came to the guitar solo, Flans and Dan would stand side by side with their guitars facing each other and bend down so that the necks faced the crowd. Then as they started the solo they would rush to the front of the stage raising their guitars as they went to present themselves to the crowd. It was adorable and awesome every single time.

For the first time in about a week, we got to battle people versus apes again. Flans delivered some friendly teasing to a woman in the balcony who did not get out of the way of his flashlight in a timely fashion. He also once again failed to deliver the all important instruction that the people should not chant while the apes were chanting and vice versa. Which led to Danny having to shush the people from the stage when the apes started and then count us off when to start chanting again. Despite this oversight, the people still one. Go team!

Tonight's 123 Band Intro included Linnell doing some combo vocal/Kaoss Pad effects, Dan playing his guitar with only chords and the toggle switch, and Marty "demonstrating why we don't need stage security" with another semi-threatening drum-cam pose.

Have I mentioned yet, that Flans has started shouting something new at the end of When Will You Die? Cause he has. I just can't figure out what it is. Sounds like "Shhhhhh-a" but I am sure it's an actual word.

They took what seemed like an extra long break before the encores. Maybe that was just me. I know I've said it before, but love hearing New York City played in/near New York City. The crowd just gets so excited.

The final Istanbul was bouncy and energetic and everything that said the boys were very, very glad to be home.

Very nearly got crushed in the rush to get stickers from Flans. People are animals when it comes to getting free stuff. We stuck around the front to help a little girl get a drumstick from Marty (success!) and I picked up my setlist, despite a crush of hands reaching for it. We really are getting exceptionally good at that game. The setlist is a rather entertaining one. It has a little cartoon drawing of a pile of skulls on it that is labeled "Long Island Satanic Cult." I'll get it scanned with the others eventually.

Afterward, I got Marty to sign my Nanobots CD with his snazzy red Sharpie. "You good?" he asked me. In my head I'm thinking, well, the tour is over, I'm sick, I've gotta drive home and go back to work tomorrow. But we get to do it all again in only 10 days, with an even longer run for me, and the first show is in my town, on my birthday. So yeah, Marty. I'm good :-)

Pictures from the show are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mynameisbluecanary/sets/72157633064366279/

Infallible

March 21, 2013 - Tarrytown Music Hall - Tarrytown, NY

I have fond memories of my last visit to Tarrytown for a show in 2009. And it was also nice to finally be close enough to home base to have most of my crew join me at the show again. The fact that this was a seated show meant there wasn't a need to stand in line for hours on end, but it worked out well for me since Pittsburgh to Tarrytown was pretty much my longest between-shows drive of the trip. I still got there several hours early and was intending to go sit in a coffee shop and work on getting caught up on recaps. I ran into Mike and the sound guy from Moon Hooch on my way into the coffee shop and had a nice chat. I recommended the Chinese food restaurant next to the venue for their dinner and they later told me it was delicious :-)

I ended up running into Heather and Jim, who had also arrived early, in the coffee shop and ended up not having to spend solitary hours waiting for the show. We went to get Chinese food ourselves, and I attempted to relive my nerve wracking experience accidentally eating with half the band in that very same restaurant four years earlier, though sadly, none of them joined us on this occasion. We did see Dan heading off to dinner with his family, and you will have to excuse me for pointing out how stinking cute his little girl is again. And she's getting so BIG. That was definitely the cutie patootie moment of my day.

Our seats in the theater were in the middle of the second row. There was much debate over how best to extract ourselves from them, should Flans issue the cattle call to the front, and "up and over" the front row, seemed to be the easiest solution. Unfortunately, for me, the fever portion of my illness hit me very hard during the Moon Hooch set and I wasn't able to enjoy it as much as I otherwise might have. At least that was one benefit of sitting down; I wasn't also trying to stand and hold a stage position while my body was revolting against me. Thankfully, the cold medicine kicked in by the time the Giants went on.

TMBG setlist: Damn Good Times - You're On Fire - Memo To Human Resources - Call You Mom - James K. Polk - Circular Karate Chop - Cloisonné - Puppet Head - Doctor Worm - The Famous Polka - Drink! - Where Your Eyes Don't Go - Insect Hospital - He's Loco - Lost My Mind - Nanobots - Withered Hope - Dr. Evil - Can't Keep Johnny Down - Birdhouse In Your Soul - Why Does The Sun Shine? - 123 Band Intro - When Will You Die Encore - Tesla - Istanbul Encore 2 - Mammal - The Mesopotamians - New York City

Maybe I am just not remembering it, but it seemed like this show had much less banter and just stuck to the music than some of the other shows on this tour. Maybe the seats really put a damper on the chit chat. I'm not sure. Linnell commented on how far away we all were before Call You Mom. And after that song, Flans finally said he couldn't deal with how weird it was to have everyone sitting down and asked us all to stand up and come forward. I did indeed go up and over the front row, and to a spot on the left side. Danny gave me a look when I got up there that I couldn't quite interpret. It was either amusement at my method for reaching the stage, or just a general comment on the chaos Flans had created, but it was amusing no matter what.

Continuing the trend of ending up next to most disruptive fan in the crowd, I ended up next to a very, VERY enthusiastic girl, who went from mildly annoying to down right obnoxious over the course of the show. I can appreciate being excited to see your favorite band as much as anyone, and I can even tolerate the shouted requests and the excited screaming and yelling, but when you are boosting yourself up on stage so your boyfriend can take pictures of you "with" the band, you are taking it a little too far. I'm not even sure she realized just how close she came to getting booted out too, as Brunett was on the move to remove her, when she finally got down.

Danny forgot to participate in the bow after James K. Polk, until he looked around and realized everyone else was down and suddenly dropped. The boys were teasing him about it after. It was amusing.

My friend Amanda got the guitar solo on The Famous Polka. Flans finally solved his problem of losing his guitar pick too, as he has started keeping a couple taped to the back of the head of his guitar for easy access. Very clever Flans.

The Avatars did the bit about Axel Rose being knighted by Dennis Rodman again, but this time the third person was "Kim some guy." I think maybe Flans realized he got the name wrong the day before, but still couldn't remember what the right name was. "Sir Axel Rose, ladies and gentlemen, because, it's like what Jerry Lewis said..." And then there was silence. That was the joke. "It's a lot like what Jerry Lewis said," replied Green. "Think about it. That's a thinker," said Blue. Green started to introduce the song, but Blue interrupted to point out that Axel Rose is a perfectionist and it takes him 10-20 years to complete a song. "Collaborating with him on even a syllable is not only an honor, it's like what Jerry Lewis said."

The Nanobots sound effect sounded really odd to me at both this show and the one the following day. I think I was just at a funny angle on the stage and I could hear Flans himself more than the mic effect, so it lost some of the robotic aspect. Still pretty funny though.

Linnell played the chords to Everybody Conga on the keyboard as he responded to Flans' greeting.

Linnell: "What is it Robot Flansburgh?" *said in rhythm with the chords he was playing*

Flans: "I am no longer to be referred to as Robot Flansburgh."

Linnell: "Oh."

Flans: "Because after a two week long conclave in the back lounge of They Might Be Giants touring vehicle, finally the white smoke has emerged and I am now Pope Robot the First. Infallible. Even in this portion of the show. I need a bouncy, bouncy B, John. I might be infallible but if I don't know what note I'm gonna sing, man, oh man, is this song gonna blow."

Linnell: "It will blow infallible."

Flans: "Yes. I'd like to dedicate this next song to Pope Robot Zero. He will always be in our hearts."

Linnell: "We will always have his fans." *some people in the audience next to me 'woo'd'* "Those people. The people who 'woo'd'"

Robin came out to sing Dr. Evil with no introduction. She had been standing off on the side of the stage with Jon Carter for several songs, singing along, which was cute. She was very stylishly dressed I must say, though mostly obscured by the keyboard from where I was standing. After she finished Marty and Danny played a bass and drum only version of the The Theme from Dallas as exit music for her. Flans seemed very entertained by this, and gave them a shout out for this effort. I thought it sounded pretty cool.

The crowd went kind of nuts for Birdhouse. I mean, they always do, but it seemed like this crowd went a little more nuts than some of the recent ones. It was neat.

Flans actually did the real nuclear reaction of the sun, during Why Does the Sun Shine? At the first show in Columbia, he had had a cheat sheet that said "Hydrogen, Carbon, etc, etc" stuck to his pedal board. I wonder if it was still there?

For the 123 Intro, Linnell played what sounded like a bit of a lovely classical piece. It was more intense piano playing than I am used to from him and I was impressed. Dan played a bit of a song, that I should probably recognize but didn't, but it prompted Linnell to cup his hands over his mouth and "woo" from the back of the stage.

It is a shame, that while Marty was doing his thing during the intro, that the majority of the crowd could not see the performance that Brunett put on, trying to get the drum cam working. He was fiddling with it and cajoling it and talking to it, saying "come on, come on" clearing in a panicked rush to make it work, less Marty turn around for a pose at the end of his solo only to me met with a black screen. And, by god, he got it going just in time. I wanted to give him a big cheer, he looked so relieved. And then when Marty did turn around for his pose, he was entirely too high to have his face visible on the camera, and Brunett was directing him to move lower to be properly visible as he shook his fist at the screen.

The Johns delivered some nicknames to the crowd. The funniest part of this, was that, after the nick names, Flans turned the flashlight on Jim, who had ear plugs in that were attached to plastic chords, and accused him of listening to the radio. Priceless.

The encore seemed a little subdued. After Flans nixed any fake endings on Istanbul, I briefly wondered if they were going to come back for a second at all. But they did, and played Mammal again! Yay! Flans talked about their upcoming tour stops and encouraged people to come to the Huntington show the next day.

And that was about it. I apologize, but I think the fever and illness really dampened my ability to remember details from this one. I was really just trying to concentrate on enjoying it despite feeling like death warmed over.

I didn't take nearly as many photos as I usually do at this one, but those I did are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mynameisbluecanary/sets/72157633054993039/

The Electric Banana, It Ain't

March 20, 2013 - Mr. Small's Theatre - Millvale, PA

It's been a while since I have visited Mr. Small's and they have done some renovations. Where I remember waiting for the show in a rainy courtyard last time, that entire area has been enclosed now, in some sort of partially finished construction. This year we spent much of our waiting time hanging out on the steps of the old church that has become this rock venue. And the rest crammed into a tiny walled area outside the new construction. My companions were a mix of old friends and acquaintances and new ones, as I got close enough to home to be joined by some of the regular crowd.

We were early enough to hear the whole soundcheck. They ran through the venue song again, as well as Your Racist Friend. They were also doing Dr. Evil, and I briefly thought Robin was there. Until I realized, that it was one of the Johns singing Robin's part. And doing a terrible job of it. By the time they got to the high note at the end it was truly horrific. I couldn't even begin to say which of them it was butchering this poor song. But on the second run through it was definitely Linnell. Fortunately, the second go round, they didn't get to the end. They also sound checked Mammal, which I was very excited about, as I have only heard that played twice, and only at Apollo 18 shows. But I wasn't about to get my hopes up for hearing it outside soundcheck, as I have had that experience too many times before.

After a long and chilly wait, we were finally admitted into the sanctuary of Mr. Small's. Keeping with my alternating pattern, I went for the left side of the stage at this show. I am quite a fan of Mr. Small's. The restored church makes an awesome rock venue. My only wish was that is had been a bit warmer inside. By this point in the tour I had succumbed to tour plague, aka some vicious version of sinus infection/cold, and while we waited for the show to start, it seemed like there was constantly a door open, blowing cold air right on me. Not a pleasant feeling.

The Moon Hooch boys experienced a shake up at this show, in the form of equipment failure. Mid way through one of the songs, the battery on the mic on Mike's sax crapped out. He smoothly crossed the stage and lowered the mic that was in front of Wenzl and started playing into it. It took me a minute to realize what had happened. But they made it work. And then as they transitioned into the next song, Wenzl reached into his bag, which was sitting on the stage, pulled out some batteries still in the charger and handed them to Mike. He then started the next song, while Mike changed the batteries in his mic pack. And within a minute they were back up and running. "Good save" became the phrase of the night after that point. Maybe I am crazy, but I always enjoy watching shows where something goes wrong and the performers are able to go with the flow and make it work and find their way back out of it, without making a big deal of it. And these guys still knocked it out of the park.

TMBG setlist: You're On Fire - James K. Polk - Memo To Human Resources - Celebration - You're Racist Friend - They'll Need A Crane - Cloisonné - Drink! - Doctor Worm - The Famous Polka - Whistling In The Dark - Circular Karate Chop - Where Your Eyes Don't Go - Insect Hospital - He's Loco - Lost My Mind - Pittsburgh - S-E-X-X-Y - Withered Hope - Nanobots - Puppet Head - Birdhouse In Your Soul - 123 Band Intro - Damn Good Times - When Will You Die Encore - Tesla - Can't Keep Johnny Down Encore 2 - Mammal - The Mesopotamians - New York City Encore 3 - Istanbul

Following their bow a the end of James K. Polk, the Johns had a discussion about how to end their final show. Linnell suggested just mashing his face into the keyboard (though he called in an organ) to signal that the show was over. They also discussed the controversy within the band over the proper way to pronounce Nanobots. Linnell claimed that different regions of the country pronounce it differently. Flans said that "this side of the stage pronounces it differently." "The western side of the stage pronounces it Naanobots." Then Linnell asked, "How are yinz doing?" "I can't believe you went ethnic," replied Flans. "People love the yinz," said Linnell. "Everyone loves the yinz." "That's pandering, John," accused Flansburgh. And Linnell had to agree. Flans said they had a new album out, "with tons of songs on it that we're not gonna play right now." And then they played Memo to Human Resources. I am sorry to say it, but damn, am I sick of that song.

They did in fact play Your Racist Friend, after doing it at soundcheck, which was exciting for me, as they had played virtually the same setlist for days in a row prior to this point. Before Cloisonné, Flans pointed out the "pointing stick" on the end of the bass clarinet again, and talked about how One Eyed Joe had learned his lesson about getting too close to it. I ended up accidentally getting a very intense picture of Danny staring straight into my camera while he was playing the keyboard. I didn't realize it until I looked at the picture afterward and was extremely startled.



In his introduction to Drink!, Flans encouraged us to use our whole bodies as vessels, "like a giant iron lung of volume," to chant the call backs. Also, "This next song features the acoustic guitar stylings of Mr. Dan Milller. You might remember him in the music store, playing that Heart song. Something about that A minor chord." Dan then took the cue to play the riff from said Heart song. I don't know Heart, well enough, but I think, from later comments that it was Magic Man? Maybe?

After many, many, attempts at capturing the Doctor Worm leap shot, I finally came as close to getting it as I have ever been at this show. It still isn't absolutely 100% what I want, but it is pretty damn close. Danny checked in with me after they finished the song, to see how he had done and I had to report that it was pretty damn good.



Flans talked about their iPhone app prior to Circular Karate Chop, and said that it played a different song everyday, which was great because you never have to hear the same song twice, because you hate that song. Then Flans asked Linnell to talk for a bit, and he said sure but he needed a topic. The audience suggested some, but Linnell said they were no good. Then he and Flans pretended to be soliciting for improve topics. "We need a felony." "An occupation, a mind altering drug, a way of having a tragic accident." "A story line." "An idea." "A punchline." "We need something funny to happen. Can someone help us with that?" "Just shout out any three things that are funny." "We need a plot. We a script actually. We need an entire double spaced typed....."

The Avatars had a pretty entertaining monologue tonight.

Green: "You have a human hand Blue Avatar."

Blue" "I have emotional problems. Deep troubling emotional problems."

Green: "Those two things go together. Once you introduce the human hand, emotional problems follow."

Blue: "I'm tugging on my neck in a nervous, nervous way."

Green: "How's that Bell's Palsy coming along?"

Blue: "That's not funny man."

Green: "No, I was concerned. I'm asking out of friendship and concern."

Blue: "You don't even like me."

Green: "I don't even know you, man."

At this point Blue got distracted by the fact that there was a shadow of a microphone on their camera screen, and it looked like he was singing into it on their video feed. He became rather obsessed with this fact.

Green: "I'm the green one. He's the blue one."

Blue: "I'm the one with the microphone."

Green: "He's got the microphone. I got the loud voice. Hey!"

Blue: "He doesn't need a microphone."

Green: "No microphone!"

Blue: "And he doesn't need a light because he's lit from within."

Then the puppets did some more of the cable TV Channel J schtick they were doing at the start of the tour.

Blue: "Mystery puppets!"

Green: "Hours and hours of puppet dancing!"

Blue: "It feels wrong, because it is."

Green: "Because the budget is so looooow."

Blue: "I'm dancing just for you, baby. I'm a puppet. I'm _your_ puppet. Where's my microphone? Oh, here's my microphone."

They talked about their new collaboration with Sire Axel Rose, who was recently knighted in a ceremony with Dennis Rodman and Seung Yong-il (spelling questionable on that as research shows that Blue seems to have made up the person with bits of several notable names, unless I am totally missing something.) They claimed that Rodman and Seung Yong-il, had knighted Axel with a crown and then he had immediately sent them some lyrics. They expressed their wish that someone was blogging this news as it was very important. In this performance of He's Loco, Green substituted Wild Wild West with Contagion. "Gwyneth Paltrow, people!" The boys also did a nice instrumental version of He's Loco as the Avatar exit music, that I appreciated. When he got back to his microphone, Flans commented that it smelled like wool.

Lost My Mind managed to stay in the setlist tonight. Yay! After they finished it, Danny pointed out to Linnell that they hadn't yet done the venue song. Linnell suggested this to Flans, who got rather confused, asking if they wanted to do it now. Danny told him that he was just pointing out that it wasn't on the setlist at all. "Touché," said Linnell. "You win this time, Danny," said Flans, who then agreed to do the song now.

But first, (or maybe it was just after, I'm not sure) there was a lengthy discussion of The Electric Banana and Johnny Banana himself. Flans confirmed with the crowd that The Electric Banana was, in fact, no longer open. He then told a story about seeing the list of venues they were playing at, the first time they were booked at the Banana and questioning their booking agent about playing at a place called The Electric Banana. Someone else that was there at the time advised him that the guy who ran the place, Johnny Banana, was a real tyrant, but they would be fine as long as Johnny wasn't drinking. And when they arrived at the venue, he was chugging alcohol straight from the bottle from the moment they walked in the door. Some people off to my left, kept indicating that Johnny Banana was there, at the show, but whether or not they were being serious, I do not know.

I have a note on my setlist that says "Fireproof" but I have no memory of what it is referring to. I have a sense that Flans was calling one of the boys "fireproof" but I can't remember which one or in what context. Maybe someone else who was there can remember?

This is how tonight's Robot Flans exchange went:

Linnell: "How's it going Robot Flansburgh?"

Flans: "I don't know. It seems like something's on fire. There's an awful lot of smoke. I think something's burning. Somebody's burning a hot dog or something."

Linnell: "Probably."

Flans: "Seem like, maybe, actually it smells like two hot dogs are burning. Or maybe a hot dog and a hamburger."

Linnell: "Yeah, I'm smelling that, now."

Flans: "People don't know it, but I am infallible."

Linnell: "That's true."

Flans: "Damn right, it's true."

Linnell: "I guess you've recently acquired robotal infallibility. Thanks to your being crowned Pope Robot the First. Perhaps you read it in the news. I think there was a big story about that."

Flans: "Bow down, people. Yes. It's a very a very elaborate ceremony. You take one or two hot dogs or a hot dog and a hamburger and you burn them, and when the smoke turns white a whole new robot pope can be named. I gave myself the name Robot Pope One, in honor of Robot Pope Zero."

Linnell: "He mysteriously disappeared."

Flans: "There was some kind of hot dog/hamburger burning accident, in which Pope Robot Zero perished."

Linnell: "We'll never know what happened."

Flans: "Some people say it was poisoning. The hamburger was poisoned. But I just think it was very burned. It was the smoke. La, la, la, la, la."

Linnell: "So would you like to sing a song with us, Robot Flansburgh Pope?"

Flans: "I would love to sing a song. I want to sing the song Nanobots. What, what, what, what note?"

Linnell: "What's the matter?"

Flans: "Is it a B?"

Linnell: "You're cool. You're infallible. In fact, the great thing about this song is, if we screw it up, it's still infallible. Cause it's ex cathedra. You get what I'm saying? No mistakes. It can't be a mistake."

Flans: "I love Nancy Sinatra just as much as anybody, but I'm not gonna screw this up."

There was some nostalgia talk about cassettes and CDs surrounding Puppet Head.

Another classic 123 Band Intro. Dan was going to do his bit laying his guitar on the floor again, but Flans suggested he play some more of the Heart song instead, which he did. And Marty had some more fun with his drum cam, this time posing with his fist in the camera.

I got very distracted in the encore by a woman to my left attempting to make a request by holding her phone out to the stage for the band to read. As if they were going to be able to read something on her phone. I was a bit glad they didn't acknowledge the request, given how annoying she was. And also amused that she was requesting a song that had been in the set, every single night prior to this one, but was taken out at this show.

When they came back for the second encore, Flans played a couple of chords from The Guitar and apparently confused Linnell, as to what they were playing next. But Flans said he was just checking his sound. So Linnell announced that they were going to play a song they hadn't played in a long time and they'd see how it went. And they actually played Mammal!! I was so excited! They don't surprise me with songs very often any more, but it's always nice when they do. Especially one of my favorites.

When they returned for the final encore, all I could hear at first was Dan starting the intro to Istanbul. At first I couldn't figure out where it was coming from, until I realized that Dan had gone up to the balcony in the very back of the house and was playing from way up there. God, I love it when he does that. Makes for some seriously epic rock star moments. He did eventually return to the stage for the end of the song, in time to do a couple of fun fake endings where Flans was teetering on the drum riser, looking like he was just on the verge of toppling off. Once again, they managed not to rock the quite hard enough to roll down the hill, but it was close!



The rest of the pictures are available on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mynameisbluecanary/sets/72157633045821147/

Dear Mom, I'm On Drugs Now

March 19, 2013 - The Majestic Theatre - Detroit, MI

One of the hardest parts of traveling the country, going to shows is trying to anticipate how early the fans in any particular city will arrive at a venue to line up. In some cities, arriving four hours early will still not get you at the front of the line. In others, you can show up an hour early and be first in line. And there doesn't seem to be an awful lot of rhyme or reason to determine which are which. Whether because of the weather, or just the habits of the residents of this city, Detroit fell into the later category. I arrived at the venue about an hour and half before doors and there wasn't a soul in line. I couldn't even quite tell where the door to the venue was. But there was a cafe attached to the theater so I figured I would go in and grab something to eat quickly, instead of standing out in the cold alone.

The odd thing about the cafe was that it had a door leading directly into the theater so I could clearly hear soundcheck while sitting at my table, and it got louder any time someone opened the door. The band was running through the Pittsburgh venue song when I arrived, in anticipation of the following day's show. They wrapped it up shortly after I sat down in the cafe, so I didn't get to hear very much. The most awkward part, was that Dan came walking right through the cafe later while I was eating my sandwich, and I tried very hard to look inconspicuous.

I was nervous about not being able to see the line and actually finishing my meal in time to line up, but I needn't have been. 45 minutes before doors and I was still the second person in line. But I timed it perfectly as another 20 or so people showed up in the next 15 minutes. Perhaps everyone was just as reluctant as I was to spend more time outside than necessary. Because it was bitterly cold. 28 degrees with 23 mile an hour winds resulting in "feels like 15" conditions. Seriously unpleasant. Thank goodness I had stopped and bought new boots earlier in the day, after the frozen feet situation in Chicago. The Moon Hooch guys walked out past us while we were waiting, and the saxophonist, Mike, who had introduced himself to me in Cleveland waved at me.

Finally, nearly 15 minutes later than the posted time, they let us inside to thaw. I chose a spot on the right with a good view across the stage. Moon Hooch put on another very well received show for the people of Detroit. And I do believe Mike was having a little fun with me from the stage during one of the songs. Nothing makes you feel quite as "inside" the show experience as sharing a little "in-joke" with someone on stage. I am the first to admit I am totally spoiled in this regard, but it is oh, so much fun.

TMBG setlist: You're On Fire - James K. Polk - Memo To Human Resources - Celebration - Call You Mom - The Guitar - Fingertips - Cloisonné - Drink! - Doctor Worm - The Famous Polka - Whistling In The Dark - Circular Karate Chop - Lost My Mind - They'll Need A Crane - Insect Hospital - He's Loco - Judy Is Your Viet Nam - S-E-X-X-Y - Nanobots - Birdhouse In Your Soul - Puppet Head - 123 Band Intro - Ana Ng - Damn Good Times - When Will You Die Encore - Tesla - Can't Keep Johnny Down Encore 2 - The Mesopotamians - New York City - Istanbul

After James K. Polk, Flans started a discussion about their group bow and how they were finally perfecting it so that they all stood up at the same time. He said they were trying to invoke the Beatles at Shea Stadium vibe. Flans explained that the trick was to look at the other guys out of the corner of your eye so you could all snap back up at the same time. Linnell said you didn't want to be the one guy still bowing after everyone else was done so that someone else had to say to you "Hey, we're finished." Flans said that was what used to happen. "Not to us. To the Beatles. Mostly George." A bunch of people in the audience made "awwww" noises at Flans teasing George. Flans responded, "Hey, he was in the fucking Beatles."

Marty, who was towering above the stage on an ultra tall drum riser, absolutely wrecked his shit on Call You Mom. No, I mean he literally wrecked his shit. Midway through the bit near the end where he just goes insane, he not only managed to knock over the mic pointed at his floor tom, he also hit one of the cymbals with such force that he made the wing nut on top of it come unscrewed and go shooting off across the stage. It was insane. This was the second time in my life I have seen Marty actually break the drums from playing so hard, and both times it has left me awed and stunned. God damn, that man can play.

After Fingertips, Flans recounted a memory of playing in Detroit in August once, when they had opened every window in the venue. Flans declared it to be "the biggest show business mistake since Bat Day at Yankee Stadium. A little bat humor." He then admitted that that joke was "a thinker" and that he was still thinking about it.

Flans: "So recently we've stopped fucking around and started drinking a little more coffee before we go onstage and the thing about it is, it makes the shows go great, but we feel terrible. But that's the price we pay for The Big D, ladies and gentlemen. Bringing entertainment to you people. This song features every member of the band, including Mr. Marty Beller, on the drums, people. Marty actually requested a six foot riser, but it was unavailable." Marty shrugged at this, as if to say "what can ya do?" "This song also has the bass clarinet stylings of Mr. John Linnell, ladies and gentlemen. But we'd like to remind you, don't get to close as the bass clarinet is equipped with a poking stick at the end of it. Don't make the mistake that the Louisville audience made." I love how the Louisville audience has been the brunt of so many jokes during the remainder of the tour. That must have been quite a show.

Flans joked, as Dan tested out his acoustic for Drink!, that the "beautiful, beautiful acoustic guitar" was "almost wasted on a show like this." Flans gave us our chanting instructions saying that "mandatory audience participation is both a privilege and a responsibility." Flans joked about not singing in the monster voice because we wouldn't be able to talk at work tomorrow. Then he chastised a woman at the back of the room for yelling stuff at him while he was trying to talk. "Lady, lady, lady. I'm in the middle of instruction the audience how to do a portion of the show, and you're busting out the crazy Chardonnay talk so early, so early in the evening."

Flans had us do a soundcheck, but was not impressed. "I know it's a bit early in the evening to start comparing Detroit to other cities, so I am going to turn this microphone around and then all the way back to myself. We're going to have a little rewind on that, folks." He had us try it again and then declared it very good. His last instruction was that while the song was super quiet, that did not mean we were to be super quiet.

Danny managed to get some pretty serious height on his leap off of the super tall drum riser during Doctor Worm, and while the picture I took is crap, it is entertaining in that I also managed to catch Flans jumping up into the air.

Flans chose a fan in the middle of the front row to play his guitar on The Famous Polka, instead of the right side of the stage as he has been doing. This person was so good at it, that Flans actually stayed down and played all the chords for the rest of the song while the fan did the strumming, until the song was over. It was, by far, the coolest instance of this game I have seen to date and sounded awesome. Go, random Detroit TMBG fan!!

The Johns talked about Nanobots before Circular Karate Chop and Linnell announced that they had learned some of the new songs, as if this was a major accomplishment. He added that they had done some rehearsing and that there had been some fights. Flans chimed in: "It's got all sorts of songs on it: quiet songs, loud songs, sassy songs, kind songs."

Flans asked Linnell how his day had been and Linnell answered that it was "pretty mellow." "I took an Ambien and slept for 18 hours straight," said Flans. "Well I guess your day was more mellow then," replied Linnell. Flans continued. "I didn't realize how powerful that drug was. I was like 'I'm having a little trouble sleeping' and I woke up and found all my emails had been answered." "It's convenient," said Linnell. "All my dreams and all my emails have been answered," said Flans. Then, pretending to type an email, "'Dear Mom, I'm on drugs now. Don't worry about me.' Send."

Flans informed us that Cicular Karate Chop was in the key of F, for people who were performing in the audience. He declared that this was one half step above the people's key. "It's for the slightly high people."

After this song, Flans interrupted the band and told them that while the next song was great, he wanted to do a different song first. He wanted to play Lost My Mind. I thought this was kind of funny as it is the Nanobots song they have played but have been playing the least on this tour. I wonder if Flans just keeps forgetting about it when he is making setlists and he only just remembered it now.

I can no longer remember the specifics, but at some point in the later section of the show, they returned to the conversation about Flans being on Ambien, and Linnell was describing this whole scenario where Flans was standing in the median of the highway in his pajamas sleepwalking on Ambien. What I can't remember is what he was doing out there in the scenario, which is a shame because I remember it being really funny, and that as I was writing down my note to remind myself, I purposefully didn't write the whole quote because I was sure I would remember it. Doh.

The Avatars did much of the same material they have been doing the last week. While pretending to be having sound issues, Green made a bunch of gagging-like noises then, with long pauses in between, "expensive.......150,000......dollars.......wasted......set-up." They joked about not knowing what city they were broadcasting to, and hoping they were right about it being Detroit, because otherwise people would be angry. "Good thing we don't have ears." Then they talked about their new album with Sir Axel Rose, and there was a brief appearance by the Supreme Court. They were initially facing away from the camera with just their cardboard back visible and then when Linnell turned them around, they were too low. Blue informed them that they needed to be higher in order to be visible in the camera, and they apologized and said that they hadn't rehearsed. The Court declared their typical ruling about the Avatars rocking. Then Green told them "get out of here, you knuckle heads." The Avatars then went on about how you couldn't make that shit up. "No, you shouldn't. You wouldn't. You couldn't." Green has started changing up the DVD that he owns at the end of He's Loco too. I believe at this performance it was Inception.

The ever entertaining Robot Flansburgh routine, continued with some more hilarious comedy gold.

Linnell addressed Flans, then corrected himself: "Or should I say, Pope Robot the First."

Flansburgh: "That is correct, John. I am now, no longer Robot Flansburgh. I am Pope Robot the First."

Linnell: "Tell us how that happened."

Flansburgh: "Super fucked up story."

Linnell: "I know right."

Flansburgh: "Kinda long but I'll try to sum it up. See, there was this other robot, Pope Robot Zero. He was cool, but he got metal fatigue. So he had to be replaced. The crew and the band of They Might Be Giants convened for two long weeks in the back lounge of the bus. For days and days, black smoke emerged from the back lounge of the bus as the decision was being made, as to who would be the next Pope Robot. Then finally, three days ago, the white smoke emerged from the back of the bus. At first there was some miscommunication and it appeared that Chong had been named Pope Robot the First. But it appears, it appears that is was because the VHS player was the only machine working and Up In Smoke was the only tape. You'd think if you got bus built in 2009, you'd at least have a DVD player in there somewhere. Wrong. Just Up In Smoke, VHS. It gets all scratchy during the good part, which is really short. But no, it twas I, Robot Flans, who has been named Pope Robot One. And I am infallible. Even this part of the show which seems terribly long, and slightly outdated even though its less than three days old, still works like a charm."

Personally, I love that they can manage to keep this routine funny over and over and over again. Also funny, it the fact that Flans can just not seem to get the order of the lyrics right in the backing vocals near the end. Yellow bots, marching bots, wind them up, ask them a question, all of these lyrics get mixed up all willy nilly and I think he just kind of hopes no one notices. Well, I notice, Flans. But I think its cute, so its okay.

For the 123 Band Intro this time, I thought it was Dan who had the best one. He laid his guitar flat on the stage and knelt down in front of it. Then he proceeded to play it more like a piano that a guitar, plucking at strings and sliding his fingers on it. It looked and sounded super cool. Danny's was also neat, as he picked up one of Marty's drum sticks and used it to play his bass, tapping it up and down on the strings. Of course, Marty always gets to have the last laugh in this game, and he has a super good time doing this whole rhythm that involves leaving over to press his elbow into the top of one of the drums while he plays it and then whipping back around to the drums on the other side, before leaning his elbow down again. And he always finishes it with some fun sound effects on the electronic drum pad, before just losing his mind all over the drums at the very end. And tonight his post-solo pose for the drum-cam was a splayed arm bow in front of the camera. It was not quite as epic as Cleveland but it was still really cool.

Danny ran into some technical difficulties in Damn Good Times, right at the point at which the songs gets quiet and becomes just Flans singing with Danny playing the repeated bass note and Marty tapping out a rhythm on the drum. Sounding panicked, Danny yelled across the stage to Dan, who turned to him in confusion saying "What?" Danny frantically indicated that he was unable to play. Dan calmly began playing the repeated note for him on the guitar, nodding at him like "don't sweat, I got your back." When Danny got up and running again and the song continued, he said "thank you" to Dan with such sincerity, you'd think he had saved his ass in a much more significant way. I thought the entire exchange was rather adorable, I have to admit.

I believe this was the one night when, though the flashlight was on the stage, it was never used. They didn't do the ape battle or the nick name segment. Not sure why exactly. Either they just forgot or they felt like they were running long.

Flans was plugging their playing cards that they have available at the merch stand. He talked about how they are called the "devil's prayer book" and how he and Marty had been getting deep into the devil's prayer book during the tour, I believe in reference to their poker games. Linnell added that his grandmother actually had called playing cards the devil's prayer book.

Unfortunately, this show started a trend that would continue for the next several shows, of some seriously fucked up audience member appearing at the stage at the end of the show and being really irritating. Not sure why the drug/stoned people seem to gravitate towards where I am standing when they do this, but I sure wish they would stop.

This was one of the livelier Istanbul performances I have seen this tour, mostly because Danny suddenly started behaving like he was on a pogo stick. He was bouncing around for much of the song, but during the fake endings he was just hopping round and round and round in circles in front of the strobe light creating a totally psychedelic effect. I can not imagine how he managed to walk straight when he was done. If it were me, I would have crashed into the drum riser walking off the stage. And he managed to do it while still playing bass. Now that's talent I can appreciate.

Detroit pictures are available here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mynameisbluecanary/sets/72157633042482258/