Gig review: They Might Be Giants at Rock City

I wasn’t actually alive when Flood was released, but it’s still an album that’s been incredibly important in my musical education. It’s one of the first albums to show me that music can be simultaneously funny and genuinely good. The eccentricity and imagination of They Might Be Giants has captured the hearts of so many music fans over the years, and so it should come as no surprise that their trip to Rock City was firmly sold out.

Their visit was meant to have happened last year, but an unfortunate car accident meant their UK dates were postponed to 2024, which only made the anticipation stronger. The band still promised an extra special performance – two extra special sets that would celebrate Flood in full, whilst also bringing in other musical morsels from across their discography, from Book (their most recent album) to beyond.

TMBG have been masterminds behind a number of brilliant theme tunes, from Malcolm in the Middle to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and so it only made sense for the night to have a theme song of its own. The eponymous track They Might Be Giants blared out with an accompanying animation illuminating the stage, before the band took to the stage, with rapturous applause for Flansburgh and Linnell.

They certainly weren't alone though – the pair were joined by Dan Miller (guitar/keyboard), Danny Weinkauf (bass/keyboard) and Marty Beller (drums/percussion), who remained on stage for the vast majority of the night. TMBG have also recently sprouted an exciting love affair with horns, with their sampler Beast of Horns bringing their discography to life with some rambunctious brass. As a result, the lineup has increased from five to eight, with Dan Levine, Stan Harrison and Mark Pender adding trombones, saxophones and trumpets into the mix.

This brassy trio enjoyed a great deal of attention throughout the night, prompting Flansburgh to
jokingly shoo them off the stage whenever the crowd showed their admiration for them. They
provided an excellent oomph and grandiosity to the event, and given the ever maximalist stylings of TMBG, they slotted in perfectly.

While many tours centred on iconic albums see records played in sequence, TMBG went perhaps predictably against the grain, littering Flood tracks throughout both sets. Flansburgh joked that the audience could effectively play bingo with the set; they knew eventually they’d hear all their favourites but they’d never actually know when. Every night on this tour, different tracks have been taken to the stage, never in the same order, prompting some fans to attend multiple nights to collect these unique experiences and cross off as much of their discography as possible while the duo are visiting the British Isles.

A definite highlight, and a testament to their artistry and commitment to explore the craziest of ideas, was the decision to play Sapphire Bullets of Pure Love sonically in reverse. This performance, named Stellub was filmed at the end of the first set, and played back to the audience to commence the second set. It was scarily close to the forward version of the song, and deeply, deeply impressive to witness.

One of the things that makes TMBG so special is the way that they play with genre, flitting between styles with mastery. There was rock, ska, oom-pah, bluegrass and beyond within the set, adding to the sporadic nature of the mystery set list – it kept everybody on their toes. Some highlights included the deliciously jazzy Let Me Tell You About My Operation, the infectiously catchy Your Racist Friend and fan favourite Whistling in the Dark.

As much as their visit was of course all about the music, part of the event was the nonsensical chattering you’d probably expect from the pair between songs. Their amazement at Motorhead’s Lemmy’s ashes being contained within Rock City, and a tangent about Willie Nelson, The Highwaymen and a TMBG hat added a lovely personal touch to the evening.

Istanbul (Not Constantinople) is undeniably the band’s biggest hit, and one that by now has to have gotten boring for the duo to play. Though, given that Flood is the star of the show on this run of shows, the hit is obliged to appear. Armed with an accordion, the song was played was given an incredibly stripped back treatment with the crowd singing along to every single word. It was actually a really beautiful moment.

Before long though, the pair descended into chaos, with an incredibly funny call and response, as Flansburgh jokingly begged to be taken back to Constantinople in a falsetto register, with Linell responding with a bassy "No!", before referring back to a joke previously made about a vocal filler on stage marked on two sides with "front" and "antifront" (I imagine, in this instance, you had to be there to understand this one...)

Pounding the floor, begging for more, the band returned all together for a second encore with fan favourite Doctor Worm – a track that lends itself incredibly well to this new brassy treatment with this eight-piece line-up. This jubilant performance captured the essence of the whole night – pure, unadulterated fun. I left Rock City feeling ten feet tall.

They Might Be Giants performed at Rock City on 15th November 2024.