They Might Be Giants review by Cortney Amherst College Amherst, Ma November 13, 1999

I first found They Might Be Giants when thumbing through a Columbia House catalogue. The year was 1992 and I was 13 years old. I had 10 morefree cassettes to go. They Might Be Giants sounded like a cool name for aband. Several weeks later I got "Apollo 18" in the mail and so began my obsession with Brooklyn's Ambassadors of Love.

Seven years and 11 TMBG concerts later, I arrive at Amherst College. As a general rule I don't wear the T-shirt of the band I am going to see, but I felt extremely giddy this particular night and thus decided to wear my Mono Puff T-shirt. I figured, "Hey, it's a side project. I won't look that silly." We got to the show about half an hour early and my friends chose aspot near the merchandise table to sit and wait. I happily regarded the anxious crowd and spotted no other Mono Puff T-shirts. I felt strangely elite.

At eight o'clock the opening band came on. Betwixt. From Boston. They were god awful.They had a female singer in a tight dress with a tambourine. They also had a cellist, leading their ambiance to be something like a fluorescent pink version of Rasputina, with none of the talent. After the torture was over and Betwixt left the stage, my anticipation went into high gear. My friends had decided that they wanted to stay in the back of the crowd so I departed from them and made my way out of the crowd and around to my usual spot at TMBG shows, the front left side of the stage. I managed toget very close, about five feet away from the railing, and the two people who stood in front of me were both short. Perfect.

When John Linnell and John Flansburgh finally took the stage, everyone went nuts. To the delight of myself and the crowd, they opened with "Spider". Next came "Particle Man" which I was glad to get out of the way early in the show (it's something of a fair-weather fan favorite, but not one of mine.) They were playing with the Band of Dans this time (Dan Miller on guitar, Dan Hickey on drums, and Dan Weinkauf on bass), together again, as Dan Weinkauf had been absent for a good leg of their current tour. I was also pleasantly surprised by the inclusion of The Velcro Horns who I have not seen with the band for quite a few shows.

The Velcro Horns of course means everyone's favorite: the conga line. Flansy always starts off by going "Everybody conga! We're not fucking kidding!" over and over again to the conga beat that opens the song "No One Knows My Plan". I had not joined the conga line since my second show because I never wanted to lose my spot,however this time I was swept away in the moment. I conga-ed with the best of'em. And I got my spot back halfway through the next song.

The inclusion of the horns made up for no Robin Goldwasser. Robin sings with Them on "Dr. Evil" (their song from "Austin Powers", if you couldn't figure that out.) She is a well loved member of Mono Puff, and as if that wasn't enough, she is Flansy's wife. Sadly she did not make an appearance on this night, though I doubt anyone but myself and a few other hard-core fans noticed. It is rare that they play a song which I do not know the words to. Tonight they did. "Radio They Might Be Giants" is the first song I've heard in a long time that was really totally new to me. This made me very happy. Another surprise was their performance of "Mr. Klaw" which up until now, I had never seen live. Many, many songs that have become staples of their live performances were passed over tonight. Favorites such as "Ana Ng" and "Don't Let's Start" were greatly missed, if not by the general public, at least by me. Their final encore was "Maybe I Know", a song from the fifties originally recorded by Leslie Gore, and "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" with a wonderful horn intro and Latin beat.

I excitedly waited, pressed up against the railing as the crowd exited; I had every intention of walking out of that auditorium with a set list. Out of 11 earlier shows, I had only managed to get my hands on one and I wasn't leaving without another. The guard up in front grabbed two and handed them to a couple of guys who had asked him earlier. The couple next to me shouted to Dan Weinkauf and got his backstage pass. Finally as one of the sound guys ripped a set list off the ground near the drum kit and crumpled it up, henoticed me and threw it. It bounced out of my hands and back over the railing. The guard was nice enough to get it for me. The kid next to me said "I wish I was a cute girl." Indeed. I sat down in the car with my setlist in my lap and happily watched western Mass fly by through my frosty window. At Their concerts, jumping up and down, singing along, and on theway home, sweaty and hoarse, I feel more vibrant and replete than at anyother time. Thank you Columbia House. Thank you John and John. - Cortney

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