Shows/2015-11-19

6 wikians attended: BlueCanary Eee HeMightBeZacRobMor26 Martycordova23 TomInBoston YoungWilliam

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Setlist:

Set 1

• Can't Keep Johnny Down
• Music Jail, Pt. 1 & 2
• The Mesopotamians
• Particle Man
  • Here You Come Again
• Damn Good Times
• When Will You Die
• We Live In A Dump
• Bills, Bills, Bills
• Answer
• Authenticity Trip
• Man, It's So Loud In Here
• Erase
• Meet James Ensor
• Istanbul (Not Constantinople)
• Older
• Let Me Tell You About My Operation
• Fingertips

Set 2

• New York City
• Don't Let's Start
• Where Your Eyes Don't Go
• Number Three
• Careful What You Pack
• The Statue Got Me High
• Withered Hope
• Black Ops
• I Was Dancing In The Lesbian Bar
• James K. Polk
• Twisting
• Robot Parade

Encore

• Dead
• Birdhouse In Your Soul

Encore 2

• Doctor Worm

They Might Be Giants
Port City Music Hall in Portland, ME
November 19, 2015 at 8:00 PM

Fan Recaps and Comments:

Review by TomInBoston:

Just adding the setlist from the last Australia show as a starting point - very similar sets. One addition would be Don't Let's Start, but I wasn't taking notes and don't have a paper setlist.

The show was great - lots of good rockers. The crowd was strong in the first set, but stronger in the second set. Mr. Flansburgh was in a good funny mood, happy to be back in the US, he said, "Where people get our jokes."

Review by Eee:

I updated the setlist to what was on setlist.fm; it matches what I remember.

I agree that this show was fantastic and the guys seemed to be in a very good mood. It was also the perfect culmination to James Ensor Death Day, where KMSU played TMBG songs for most of the day. KMSU had interviewed Flans twice during the day and then a third time just after doors opened for this show.

Here are some of my memories, probably not perfectly ordered. Hopefully I'm not misquoting anyone too terribly. (Corrections are welcome!)

• Flans made some announcements early in the show about show etiquette. It's fine if you take pictures, he said, the guy behind you won't mind at all.
• Regarding the Mohegan Sun show the following night, Flans said that this (Portland) show would be better. The fan appreciation shows are "only 80 to 82 percent" as good as regular shows... but they're FREE!
• Flans also announced that there would be two sets to this show -- the first with their more compelling material, and the second with only experimental jazz(?) and math rock.
• Flans also claimed that the setlist contained songs from 16 of their 17 albums. "Really?" JL asked, squinting at his setlist. "I have to think about that. ... Now I'll be distracted by that all night."
• Early in the show one of the Johns (probably Flans) asked if everyone was cold. He commented that a lot of people were standing there with their arms crossed. Or maybe it's a room full of rock critics, he mused, and the reviews that come out in the morning are going to say they sucked.
• Also early on, and probably inspired by the James Ensor Death Day interviews, Flans did a bit of commentary that sounded a lot like a public radio fund drive spiel.
• I missed the beginning of this, but JL talked about Maine being part of a tri-state area. When the audience seemed unenthused about this, he concluded that Maine really was more of a standalone state. (The audience cheered.) But Massachusetts was part of a tri-state area, wasn't it? (Again, the audience seemed to agree.) But it wasn't clear what the other two states for the Massachusetts tri-state area were.
• While introducing Bills, Bills, Bills, Flans quipped about starting a one-song show called Destiny's Child's Child in Branson, MO. "We'll do it 14 times a day. People won't know what they're seeing, but they'll show up by the busload."
• Before playing Meet James Ensor, Flans talked about James Ensor Death Day. He mentioned that people from all 50 states had called in -- including the tri-state area. When an excited fan screamed, "Meet James Ensoooooor!!!", Flans paused for a minute, looked surprised, and then raised his hand in a calming way. "It's going to be cool," he replied. Then he started the song, messed up, and had to start over.
• During his introduction to Careful What You Pack, Flans explained that this was a song that was going to be on a movie soundtrack, "Tango and Cash," he joked. "Is that the one with Mel Gibson?" he asked JL.
• Regarding the New England mini-tour (Portland, ME; Mohegan Sun; and Burlington, VT), Flans asked rhetorically, "Who planned this?" He drew the giant V in the air and said, if you draw it, it spells out a word. He was saying we (the fans) needed to figure it out, but then he gave in and said, "FuckThis. All one word. That's what it spells."
• Flans did the human theramin experiment during Robot Parade. After an initial attempt, Flans commented, "That sucked!" He started it again saying, "This time, only the sexy people!"
• Flans commented that the people working at the Port City Music Hall were very nice and "we want to play here again."
• During the encore, Flans encouraged Dan to play some math rock. Dan played two great riffs, then Flans encouraged him to play a third. Dan hesitated but ultimately impressed us a third time.