Damn Good Times with They Might Be Giants

They might be interesting and enigmatic live too. They Might Be Giants had a stop on their 2018 tour in Charlotte NC last night and we were front and center jamming away. The band is an entertaining bunch – and not just for their monumental music careers and expansion of duo to full band while weaving their way through the alternative rock radio plays to writing children’s music and theme music for several movies and TV shows.

Along with the usual self-promotion and tour anecdotes we got some hipster dad jokes, a riff on bandleader Artie Shaw’s frequent marriages and some trivia about Lurch from The Addams Family.

The high energy band led us into two segmented portions of a performance,. During intermission we were treated to a pre-recorded version of the song Last Wave synced to Aerosmith and Run DMC’s Walk This Way video.

The second set started with an acoustic set. Just the two Johns and a drummer. There was a crackling noise coming over the PA for the first few songs that sounded vaguely like rain. They joked it was the “quiet storm” portion of the show.

Overall the 32 song concert was an astonishing display of skill acquired over the bands 35 year career. Their new album I Like Fun (Idlewild Recordings) came out last week, you can grab it Direct from TMBG , iTunes / Apple Music, or AmazonMusic. You have a chance to see them on the road until the end of April.

Some more images:



















Setlist:

Hey Mr. DJ, I Thought We Had a Deal

Music Jail, Pt. 1 & 2

Man, It’s so Loud in Here

The Mesopotamians

All Time What

Cloisonné

Letterbox

Cyclops Rock

Whistling In The Dark

Doctor Worm

Let Me Tell You About My Operation

Birdhouse in Your Soul

Damn Good Times

Everybody Conga

No One Knows My Plan

(Intermission)

Acoustic Set:

Tippecanoe and Tyler Too

James K. Polk

I Like Fun

A Self Called Nowhere

The Famous Polka

Istanbul (Not Constantinople)

Full band:

Subliminal

Fingertips

Your Racist Friend

Dead

Twisting

I Left My Body

Wicked Little Critta

Particle Man

Encore 1:

Spy

Nothing’s Gonna Change My Clothes

Encore 2:

The Guitar

Remaining tour dates

Date Venue City Jan 23 Charleston Music Hall Charleston, SC Jan 24 Ponte Vedra Concert Hall Ponte Vedra Beach, FL Jan 25 The Beacham Theater Orlando, FL Jan 26 Culture Room Ft. Lauderdale, FL Jan 27 The State Theatre St. Petersburg, FL Jan 28 Vinyl Music Hall Pensacola, FL Jan 30 The Saturn Birmingham, AL Jan 31 Varsity Theatre Baton Rouge, LA Feb 01 Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheatre Austin, TX Feb 02 White Oak Music Hall Houston, TX Feb 03 The Kessler Theatre Dallas, TX Feb 06 Cannery Ballroom Nashville, TN Feb 07 The Vogue Indianapolis, IN Feb 08 Newport Music Hall Columbus, OH Feb 09 The Pageant St. Louis, MO Feb 10 St. Andrew’s Hall Detroit, MI Feb 11 Beachland Ballroom Cleveland, OH Feb 27 Marquee Theater Tempe, AZ Mar 01 Belly Up Solana Beach, CA Mar 02 The Regent Theater Los Angeles, CA Mar 03 The Fillmore San Francisco, CA Mar 04 The Fillmore San Francisco, CA Mar 06 Hi-Fi Music Hall Eugene, OR Mar 07 Neptune Seattle, WA Mar 08 Crystal Ballroom Portland, OR Mar 09 The Depot Salt Lake City, UT Mar 10 Gothic Theatre Englewood, CO Mar 11 Fox Theatre Boulder, CO Mar 13 The Truman Kansas City, MO Mar 14 The Slowdown Omaha, NE Mar 15 First Avenue Minneapolis, MN Mar 16 Pabst Theater Milwaukee, WI Mar 17 Vic Theatre Chicago, IL Mar 18 Mercury Ballroom Louisville, KY Apr 13 College Street Music Hall New Haven, CT Apr 14 9:30 Club Washington, DC Apr 15 Mr. Small’s Theatre Millvale, PA Apr 17 Madison Theatre Covington, KY Apr 19 Anthology Rochester, NY Apr 20 Higher Ground Burlington, VT Apr 21 State Theatre Portland, ME Apr 22 Hart Theatre at The Egg Albany, NY Apr 26 Academy of Music Northampton, MA Apr 27 House of Blues Boston, MA Apr 28 Theatre of Living Arts Philadelphia, PA

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