Shows/1996-12-29b

From This Might Be A Wiki
5 wikians attended: Graceomallet, Petefazio, Rockmarooned, Spike, Squidexplosion

You must be logged in to mark yourself for being at this show.



Setlist:

Set 1:

Set 2:

On the setlist but not played:

They Might Be Giants
— with Goat Boy opening —
Water Street Music Hall in Rochester, NY
December 29, 1996 at 8:00 PM


Fan Recaps and Comments:

This show was one of the band's first to be structured as two sets with a short intermission, rather than a typical single continuous set.[1] During the second set, after the second verse of "Snail Shell", John Flansburgh was hit in the eye with a ball of Gak (a type of hard slime) thrown from the audience. The band chose to end the set seven songs early as a result — though the show still ran about 75 minutes, roughly the length of their regular single-set concerts. Flansburgh recalled the incident in a 2013 interview:

Nobody wants to have stuff thrown at them. It's the worst feeling. I once had somebody who was very, very high – I met this person years later and they explained that they were high on psychedelic drugs – and they had some of this stuff that Nickelodeon had called Gak. They weren't high on Gak; it's this sort of toy gloopy stuff that kids would pull apart, kind of like a high tech version of Play-Doh. He had this thing that was basically the size of a baseball of Gak, and he was just swinging his arm around and let go. It flew straight across the audience and hit me in the face. Like he was a major league pitcher going for me. It was so unexpected, like getting hit by a rock in the face. I was singing a song and all of a sudden I've got this near knock-out blow from this Gak. It was extremely unpleasant. And man, it just pissed me off so much. It's always a mistake to think of the audience as one thing, it's a ton of individuals having their own experience. The person in the back not clapping might actually be the most interested and intrigued person. But it did sort of really cheese me off. It's also sort of embarrassing, like I just got knocked in the face by a hardball of Gak.

Eyewitness accounts varied as to what had hit Flansburgh in the days following the show.[2] It was rumored to have been a tennis ball,[3] a paper cup,[4] a bottle of water,[5] or a crumpled-up poster.[6] It was later confirmed to be Gak by both Flansburgh and Graham Maby.[7][8]

Review by Sarah:

What a weird night.
It began at 4:30, waiting outside by the door in the cold (I'll emphasize COLD). We were the 2nd there.. The 1st was someone I met on AOL earlier that morning (apparantly the #1 bad trader on the bad traders lists, so I've found out). I stood shivering with my ears pressed up against the icecold metal doors and listened to soundcheck. Most notably, "I Palindrome I" and "SEXXY" and "Shoehorn With Teeth". :) 2-3 hours later, eventually they let us in. I headed right towards the keyboard, not thinking it was Goatboy's. Bought a shirt (2040 World Tour!) and a hat (the black with the 4 colour ovals) and went back to my spot.
The opening act was said Goatboy. Let me tell you he SUCKED. This Goatboy was absolutely nothing to "write home about". He looked like Bill Maher with a long brown wig. Eeck. He straddled the mic stand the entire time, him and his tight leather pants. He apparently thought he was pretty good. Eeck. He seemed oblivious to the fact that the audience was booing him. Finally he ended, of course. And They came out!
I would have fainted if it weren't for the sea of bodies holding me up against the pole. This was my first TMBG show and first time seeing TMBG *in person*. As soon as Linnell walked on stage I felt this incredible feeling, like a dream. He basically looked dead. a little hunched over, arms frozen, holding a cup, bugged eyes.. The performance was great! Lots of smiles from Brian Doherty (may his TMBG drumming career RIP) and Graham Maby (may his TMBG bassist career RIP). Flans came reeeally close to me too.
Now the part I forever entitle: "Aren't you the guy who hit me in the eye?" (after track #24 on Apollo 18) Some jerk (and that's mildly putting it) threw, from what I understand to be a crumpled up poster (you know, the yellow ones with John and John posed.. they had 'em up on the wall all over) at Flans... And hit him in the eye. :( He was VERY angry (understandably), and "Snail Shell" stops dead. Flans froze for a bit and was adamant about finding out who did it. ("You throw crap at the guy in the band, the show reeeally comes to a close.."). At one point when Flans was trying to figure out who it was, I had to look at the other guys to see the reactions. Linnell was trying not to laugh, Brian was stunned, and Graham was still trying to figure out what happened. The crowd chants "ASS HOOOOOLE... ASS HOOOOOLE.." to the chucker but of course, no one admits. Over all, the show got cut by I think 7 songs. SUCK. Of all the people to piss off, it had to be Flans. :P
After that, Linnell says "This song is dedicated to everyone else" Then They played 2 more songs, and Flans ran madly offstage. :( My sister ended up with two drumsticks, a set list, and a show schedule! Advantages of being 7 years old, eh? ;) So then Brian and Graham came out. They were sweethearts! We got autographs and pictures. Then the manager took a picture backstage and had John and John sign it for my sister.
Retrieved from "https://tmbw.net/wiki/index.php?title=Shows/1996-12-29b&oldid=364008"