Nanobots, Nikolai Tesla, minimum wage, Mesopotamians and Istanbul (not to be confused with Constantinople) were among the many topics covered by They Might Be Giants on Wednesday night.
The quirky rock band packed several hundred fans into Slowdown's main room for a nearly two-hour show that covered 27 of its songs. Selections ranged from the brand new (“You're On Fire” and “Insect Hospital” from its 2013 album, “Nanobots”) to They Might Be Giants classics (“Put Your Hand Inside the Puppet Head” from the band's 1986 self-titled debut).'
Fans hopped around and swayed to “The Guitar,” waved They Might Be Giants foam fingers and shouted the words to “Birdhouse in Your Soul.”
John Linnell and John Flansburgh — They Might Be Giants' co-founders, band leaders, songwriters and singers — smiled at their happy fans and told funny stories while introducing songs.
They were especially happy with the crowd's “unbridled enthusiasm,” as Flansburgh put it.
“It's a stone-cold gas to be back here at the Slowdown, everybody,” he said. “We love Omaha. We've been to a lot of cities and we love wandering around yours.”
Through its songs, the Brooklyn band creates an atmosphere that makes you want to smile and bob around to the beat, and Wednesday's concert was the most fun I've had at a club show in a long time. (I'd be lying to you if I said I didn't sing my heart out to the “Who watches over you?” line from “Birdhouse.”)
Just take The Avatars of They, a pair of green and blue sock puppets that Linnell and Flansburgh operate from a corner of the stage that are then video-projected onto a large screen. Though it was only a small portion of the set, the Avatars are a pretty different element than what you'd see at your average rock show.
The puppets performed one song, “He's Loco,” that included lines from the puppets such as “I vote for Eisenhower in every election” and “I write fan fiction for 'Two and a Half Men.'”
Fan favorite “Istanbul (Not Constantinople)” came midway through the set and the audience shouted the words, “People just like it better that way.”
Though I'm a longtime fan of the group, I was struck by how the band's songs touch on so many different rock genres.
Throughout the show, They Might Be Giants played power pop (“Nanobots”), ballads (“Tesla”), chamber pop (“Cloisonné”), island music (“The Guitar”), spacey rock (“Minimum Wage”) and more.
“Fingertips,” a five-minute song from the band's 1992 album “Apollo 18,” is perhaps the best example. Made up of 21 different parts, the song is like the B-side of The Beatles' “Abbey Road” except the parts are shorter and more random.
The songs — more like 10-second song nuggets — are quick hits of country, new wave, pop and rock that string together into one long jam.
It's a testament to the band's songwriting as well as its musicianship, especially when they were able to transition so easily from one style to another.
Linnell and Flansburgh's voices, especially when they harmonized, were also impressive. That's mostly because neither possesses what one would call a classically great voice, but their voices still compliment each other so well, especially on songs such as “The Mesopotamians.”
Perhaps the concert's most impressive element was the group's many fans, who knew lyrics to even the most obscure (and short) songs from the band including “The End of the Tour” and “We Live in a Dump.”
The audience kept up its energy through the entire show, which included two encores.
“We love this town,” Flansburgh told them. “We wanna thank y'all for coming out. This has been a total gas.”