They Might Be Giants
House of Blues
May 20, 2023
It's some combination of longevity and productivity that earns a musical group the luxury of being referred to as "venerable." And They Might Be Giants, the group formed and anchored by "The Johns" (Flansburgh and Linnell), most likely qualifies.
Consider: John Linnell. and John Flansburgh founded TMBG over 40 years ago, so that covers the longevity part. In that time, the band has released 23 studio albums (five for children, 18 for "grown-ups") and 11 live albums, provided songs for TV shows (Tiny Toons, Malcolm in the Middle) and movies (Sky High, Meet the Robinsons), and hundreds of other things besides.
Pretty productive, if you ask me.
Last night's (thrice rescheduled) show at House of Blues was the Johns' first Houston date since 2016. Back then, they performed their third and best selling album Flood back to front. They mixed it up more this time around, but the album was still nearly half the show. The only other release getting more than two cuts was their latest, Book. Now, I'm normally not one to complain. Flood remains TMBG's only platinum album, contains two of their highest charting singles ("Twisting" and "Birdhouse In Your Soul"), and was in a regular guest in my disc changer, besides.
But ... so were Apollo 18 and Lincoln. There's a distinct sense of deja vu that comes from seeing a band perform a variation of the same set it did seven years ago. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but considering the wealth of material they have to draw from, it's kind of an odd choice.
Other than that, the show was what you'd expect from TMBG. Both the Johns were garrulous as always, with Flansburgh expressing his appreciation for playing in an "acoustically correct venue" like the House of Blues, as opposed to the Close Encounters living rooms of recent history. Linnell riffed extensively during "Why Does the Sun Shine? (The Sun Is a Mass of Incandescent Gas)" about Neil Sedaka. Specifically, how the sun is not as big a star as Sedaka, and actually owes him royalties.
And given the brevity of most of the band's songs, the banter and give and take with the audience are a big part of the show. Flansburgh ruminated about stopping at a truck stop between Dallas and Houston (not the one you're thinking of), with its posted bathroom etiquette, before remarking that the Brooklyn duo were a little put off by Texas's gun culture.
Slightly off-topic, but why was this show age 16 and over? TMBG have released several kids albums, and their wordplay and absurdism often appeals to younger folks. But aside from Flansburgh dropping a few F-bombs and a song about traveling in time to murder your future self ("2082"), I'm hard-pressed to think of a good reason to exclude kids. Fortunately, it seems that a lot of parents agreed with me, and plenty of children were sprinkled throughout the sold-out crowd.
"Birdhouse" closed out the first set, itself interrupted by a 10-minute PA related issue. And the intermission ended with what was admittedly a nifty (and not unheard of) trick from the band. Earlier in the show, they played a sonically reversed version of "Sapphire Bullets of Pure Love." The second set opened with a video of the performance played backwards, so as to sound — sort of — normal. Not entirely successful, but pretty fun nonetheless.
The second portion of the show showcased the remainder of Flood plus some deeper cuts, such as "Number Three" from their debut album, which may be the only song I can recall almost the entire crowd clapping along to. Also, described as a song even they didn't know, "Underwater Woman" from 2015's Glean.
They Might Be Giants are, without a doubt, an American institution. Which is why it's mildly disappointing to see them falling back on familiar (yet admittedly superior) work when they have such an extensive catalog. To hear Flansburgh tell it, they've already resigned themselves to not playing arenas. Showcase another album; we can take it.
Personal Bias: As I get older, I sympathize more with Particle Man.
The Crowd: My Facebook memories reminded me that Rush's farewell "R40" show was eight years ago. I suspect a lot of the same people were at HOB last night.
Overheard In The Crowd: "That’s why you met me; so I could introduce you to this band."
Random Notebook Dump: "Always appreciate shows where the merch line is longer than the one for the bar."