They Might Be Giants - 5/11/07 @ The Stone Pony
25 years ago John Flansburg & John Linell started making music together. A year later they took on the name of They Might Be Giants.
Generally when a band has been playing together that long one of two things happen, you become a really strong live band that can entertain audiences without always having to go to your stable of "hits", or you get burned out and feel like you have to play the same songs every night to keep the fans happy.
On Friday May 11th when TMBG played the Stone Pony, all but one song (in my opinion) fell into the earlier category.
The one song that felt like burn out, was during their first encore when they pulled out "Istanbul", for a hurried, mumbled version that to me said, "hey, we don't want to play this song, but we feel obligated too".
I don't think anyone in the crowd, including myself, would have been disappointed if they had not played the song at all, not when the people there seemed as happy to hear the new songs (from their forthcoming CD, "The Else", as well as plenty of deeper tracks from their other CDs.
The nearly 2 hour show (including 2 multiple song encores) was a great mix of old and new, with them playing about half of the new CD, and lots of the quirky fun pop songs that have made them cult icons over the years.
On the other hand, the opening act, Nighttime Gallagher, did not go over so well. Nighttime Gallagher is a DJ with the proverbial two turntables and a microphone. The place was so crowded when I got to the show that I had not realized there was anyone on stage and thought I was listening to the soundguy just spinning a CD until the first act went on. It wasn't until I was talking to someone from the Stone Pony and asked when the opening act was going on, that I found out the opening act was on. In another setting Nighttime Gallagher may be good, but in a crowded bar with everyone standing and talking, his set was just background noise.
If you'd like to see the full set list from the show, click here.
25 years ago John Flansburg & John Linell started making music together. A year later they took on the name of They Might Be Giants.
Generally when a band has been playing together that long one of two things happen, you become a really strong live band that can entertain audiences without always having to go to your stable of "hits", or you get burned out and feel like you have to play the same songs every night to keep the fans happy.
On Friday May 11th when TMBG played the Stone Pony, all but one song (in my opinion) fell into the earlier category.
The one song that felt like burn out, was during their first encore when they pulled out "Istanbul", for a hurried, mumbled version that to me said, "hey, we don't want to play this song, but we feel obligated too".
I don't think anyone in the crowd, including myself, would have been disappointed if they had not played the song at all, not when the people there seemed as happy to hear the new songs (from their forthcoming CD, "The Else", as well as plenty of deeper tracks from their other CDs.
The nearly 2 hour show (including 2 multiple song encores) was a great mix of old and new, with them playing about half of the new CD, and lots of the quirky fun pop songs that have made them cult icons over the years.
On the other hand, the opening act, Nighttime Gallagher, did not go over so well. Nighttime Gallagher is a DJ with the proverbial two turntables and a microphone. The place was so crowded when I got to the show that I had not realized there was anyone on stage and thought I was listening to the soundguy just spinning a CD until the first act went on. It wasn't until I was talking to someone from the Stone Pony and asked when the opening act was going on, that I found out the opening act was on. In another setting Nighttime Gallagher may be good, but in a crowded bar with everyone standing and talking, his set was just background noise.
If you'd like to see the full set list from the show, click here.