November 2000, Bowery Ballroom, New York City
When traveling somewhere, if I can, I like to go and see a show. I’ve been able to do this in several cities — San Francisco, Las Vegas, Boston, Athens Greece (an opera at the Acropolis) — and if you’re heading to New York City, going to show is a no-brainer. On this particular trip, the first extended trip I would take with my wife to be, a listing of shows revealed a residency of They Might Be Giants at the Bowery Ballroom and one night caught our eye: The playing of Flood from start to finish
I am not a TMBG aficionado, but like a lot of people I did have Flood, the band’s biggest and best-known album. Nineteen tracks of varied songs — weird, poetic, daring, memorable — the album cemented the band as true talents, who can delve into country, pop and rave-up. The duo of Johns — Flansburgh and Linnell — combined their musical abilities and quirks into a record that didn’t sound like anything else. The chance to see this masterpiece live, in what was a home show for the Brooklyn band, was an easy choice. And, unlike me, my wife (who was my girlfriend at the time of the show) is a big TMBG fan (I have since joined in her enthusiasm for the band).
The Bowery Ballroom, in the heart of Manhattan’s Bowery district, was in a building from the 1920s though the venue opened up in the late 1990s. Holding 600 at most, the main room was quaint where every spot on the floor allowed for a good view. With an excellent sound system, there’s a reason it’s one of the better places to see a show in NYC. There was certainly a good show on this night.
For those unaware, Linnell is the John who plays the accordion and keyboards and Flansburgh is the one who plays guitar. The two locked down spots on stage, and with the additional band members of the night, sang the “Theme From Flood”. I would find out later it was the first live performance of “Theme From Flood,” because why else would you sing it unless you were then playing the album? The crowd, laughing and geared up for what was about to transpire, was giddy.
If you know your Flood, and many people in the crowd knew it well, there was no suspense to what song was next. “Birdhouse In Your Soul” (a top 10 charting song for the band) followed with “Lucky Ball & Chain,” “Istanbul (Not Constantinople),” “Dead” and the amazing “Particle Man”. “Remember the night triangle lost,” Flansburgh said to an amused crowd. “That was a terrible night.”
The band moved into “Twisting” before a shout came from the audience — “What happened to ‘Your Racist Friend’?” The crowd, TMBG fans as they were, knew that “Your Racist Friend” follows “Dead” on the album listing, and the band had skipped the song. “We haven’t done this before,” Flansburgh said, adding “do you know how many songs are on this album?” He then kicked into the song, which despite its happy tone is one of the band’s more poignant songs.
There were no missed songs for the remainder of the Flood set, and the crowd reveled in the live fun of “Someone Keeps Moving My Chair” and “Minimum Wage”. When “Road to Berlin” brought it home for a triumphant finish, the applause was loud and lasting. Sure, it was just 45 minutes of music, but it meant plenty to those in attendance.
And no, it didn’t mean the end of the show, not by a long shot. The “second show” included songs from the upcoming album Mink Car, including the future hit “Boss of Me,” which would become the theme song for “Malcolm in the Middle”. After the excellent “James K. Polk” and the informative “Why Does The Sun Shine?” (The sun is a mass of incandescent gas. A giant nuclear furnace), the main set ended to riotous applause.
For encore one the guys carted out “Fingertips,” a compilation of 20 10-second or so songs from the band’s fourth album Apollo 18. Not really knowing what this was, I watched curiously as Kristen smiled all the way through. After “Spy and Robot Parade,” which was another new song, New York City ended the first encore fittingly. A second encore was also loaded with newer material, ending with “Sleepwalkers,” which was reworked song that only appeared on Dial-A-Song, the band’s telephone-operated service. These guys are way cool.
After the show Kristen and I walked out into the cool Bowery night and looked for a place to get a drink. The show, the time, was everything I wanted it to be, and I remember it as clear as day.
