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They Might Be Giants: Eccentricity Across the Ages
- River Dyke
- 2 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Writing Credits: River Dyke
Photographer: Gehrig Hicks
They Might Be Giants is a band that transcends generations. This was ever apparent at their concert on April 29th at the Majestic Theatre in Detroit. I was lucky enough to attend this concert alongside my WXOU colleague Gehrig Hicks, as well as quite a diverse crowd. The number of college-age members of the audience was about even with the attendees 40 and older. This comes as a little surprise; the older members of the crowd undoubtedly listened to the band during their heyday in the 1990s, while my peers in the crowd likely grew up listening to their children's music in the mid 2000s. Regardless of where the crowd's interest with the band began, all of us were in for a treat with this performance.
Before the show, I was curious as to why there was no opener listed. This was quickly clarified at the start of the performance, when John Flansburgh informed the audience that they were opening for themselves, and to "treat us like any other opener," jokingly requesting that we don't applaud after any song, and to leave midway through.
Their opening set mainly consisted of songs from their 1989 album, Lincoln. Despite the band's wishes, it was hard to contain my excitement when John Linnell brought out the accordion. This was only amplified when the horn section brought out a euphonium. Flansburgh quipped that this instrument was acquired by "giving a 20 dollar bill to your local high school custodian." The last of the eclectic instruments was The Stick, revealed to much fanfare from the crowd, which assisted the percussion for “Lie Still, Little Bottle”. Unbeknownst to me at the time, this is a bit they've been doing since the album's release; if you ask me, it hasn't gotten old. The opening set concluded with a pledge-drive-esque promotion of their new album The World is to Dig, the fan-favorite Lincoln opening track “Ana Ng”, and “Particle Man”.
The second set consisted of a wider range of songs from the band's discography. From arguably the band's most popular song, “Birdhouse in Your Soul”, to songs off of their new album such as “Hit The Ground” (which opened with a lovely synthesizer). The music sounded incredible—the duo of Johns being backed by a collection of horns, and a collection of Dans (Miller, Weinkauf, and Levine). Flansburgh himself was particularly fond of drummer Marty Beller, giving him praise throughout the set, and joking how his kick drum was stopping and resuscitating his heartbeat.
The set initially ended with “The Guitar (The Lion Sleeps Tonight)”. After playing us all for fools, they came back for an encore to play “The Mesopotamians” and “Brontosaurus”, and to pull another pump fake—coming back for a second encore to truly end the night with a spectacular performance of “Doctor Worm”. Notably missing from the setlist was “Istanbul (Not Constantinople)”. While the person standing behind me may have been pleading for the band to play it, I didn't mind its absence; the band isn't too fond of playing it these days, and if they were going to play one of their covers, I'd have rather heard "Tubthumping".
Overall the concert was a wonderful experience. They Might Be Giants' music takes on a whole new atmosphere live on stage, and I'd have to recommend seeing them live.
Writing Credits: River Dyke
