March 28 2008 They Might Be Giants Somerville Theatre Somerville

Although they were out promoting a new album, the new songs were few and far between. Maybe for the couple hundred fans crammed into the Somerville Theatre, that’s just as well. They played the old tracks with a pretty hard rock emphasis going all the way back to She’s An Angel and Ana Ng, and the crowd ate it up. But even the new stuff was well received, with the track Contrecoup got the same level of cheer as Alphabet of Nations (which, in this humble reviewer’s opinion, was a major highlight.) They got the crowd going with favs like Doctor Worm, Particle Man and a rousing participation-required run through of Clap Your Hands. Both The Guitar and Hey Mr. DJ sounded more cohesive live than their studio versions (you’re a real song, Pinocchio!)

Since on average, a They Might Be Giants song runs a two-minutes, a two-hour show makes a meaty setlist. John and John have been playing together for 25+ years but the witty banter seemed more like a forced time out for old men (they look every bit the late-forties they are) than adlib. At thirty-plus songs / two plus hours, the show started to sag a bit at the 1 hour mark but they quickly revived the energy with New York City, a great version of Take Out the Trash and the main set closer The Mesopotamians (both from their new album The Else.) They closed out with Birdhouse in Your Soul and Fingertips.

At the beginning of the show, the crew threw out yellow foam hands labeled with the band’s name. Since I was in the front row, I ended up with three (they’re foam, it’s not like they throw very far) and gave them to the two teenage boys sitting in my row with their fathers. Midway through the show, they shot confetti out from a canon and again as the show closed. It was a lot, and some of it ended up on my bedroom floor.

I’ve been a fan of TMBG for twenty years and it’s a shame it took me twenty years to see them live. Then again, it’s amazing that they are still playing live. I don’t say this to mock their age, but John and John both use very affected vocals (often, instead of straight singing, they use almost kid voices, or voices you might use to talk to kids.) I’m impressed that in all these years, they can still do that and be pitch perfect on every song and harmonize with one another. Okay, I get it, they’ve had a lot of practice. Though they haven’t mentioned releasing this leg of the tour as live mp3s, it’s too bad. From what I heard, it would be worth the $10.