In a sea of middle-aged weirdos, I found myself swimming in over 30 years of unconditional love for a band that, when mentioned to my peers, frequently elicits the response: “I’ve never heard of them.”
Many people have heard at least one They Might Be Giants song. After all, they wrote the “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Theme,” the “Other Father Song” from “Coraline,” and, one of my favorites, “Hot Dog!” Unfortunately, none of those were on the set list.
In the hazy purple atmosphere, John Linnell and John Flansburgh stood in front of an audience that had been patiently waiting for this moment for three years. After rescheduling their 2020 tour dates, They Might Be Giants celebrated the 30th anniversary of their platinum 1990 album “Flood” at The Neptune Theatre, following their show the day before where they performed hits from various albums.
I attended the anniversary concert with my mom, who formally introduced me to “Flood” when I was five. We were standing on the main floor, which lacked seating, causing one concert-goer to say, “No seats? Don’t they know we’re old?” At least the audience was self-aware.
During the first half of the concert, the band performed “Sapphire Bullets of Pure Love” in reverse, saying they would record it, and later in the show play that performance in reverse. The second half of the show started, and the band impressively proved that they sang the song in reverse successfully.
At another point during the show, a euphonium and accordion were used to perform “Particle Man.” This was my favorite performance of the night because seeing Linnell just rock out on his accordion was, for lack of a better word, awesome.