So a few weeks ago I stumbled across the fact that They Might Be Giants were hosting their annual free 'Fan Appreciation Show' at Mohegan Sun again. Usually they only do one show. This year they booked two (bonus!). I did a little more research and found out that these would be theme-specific shows. Saturday night was going to be devoted to 1996's 'Factory Showroom' album and Sunday night was going to be devoted to 1992's 'Apollo 18' album. Now I've been a fan of TMBG for years and years and years. 'Apollo 18' is my favorite album of theirs so I knew that I would definitely be going on Sunday. Unfortunately I hadn't been to a show at Mohegan in a few years and had no clue how early I would need to show up to guarantee entrance. Luckily 'Factory Showroom' is also a great album and I could use Saturday to help determine timing for Sunday. I sent out an open invite to people who I thought might be interested and started planning my weekend.
Saturday comes and my friend, Jared, and I begin our trek to Connecticut. Jared had never seen TMBG before but was kind of familiar with their music. I didn't even expect to get into the show and told him that beforehand. We get to Mohegan around 4. The line has about 50 people in it. We are definitely getting in. Fast forward to 8. The show begins and I couldn't be happier.
They open with 'Token Back To Brooklyn', a song they have NEVER played live before. Token is the hidden first track on Factory Showroom. I am super excited at this point waiting to hear the familiar bass riff of 'S-E-X-X-Y' which would dictate that not only were they doing Factory Showroom but they were doing it in order. Sure enough they didn't disappoint. This was the rarest of treats! They have NEVER performed this album in its entirety. I immediately texted a few other fans to point out how jealous they should be of me...
...and then they played 'Metal Detector'. Okay, so this wasn't destined to be Factory Showroom from start to finish. But at least they are going to play all the songs from the album right? Flansburgh keeps mentioning that this is the Factory Showroom show where they will be playing songs they haven't played in ages. At the end of 'Metal Detector' Flans mentions that they will need to play some "filler" as Factory Showroom is only 40 minutes long. They play 'The Mesopotamians' off The Else. I am not a big fan of this song (or this album for that matter) but it wasn't bad. Then they return to Factory Showroom for a few songs.
'New York City' always rocks. It is by far one of my favorite songs they do. This version put a huge shit-eating grin on my face. Next came 'James K. Polk'. This was the first time that I had seen this song done without the confetti cannon. I miss the confetti cannon. Still it is a great song and so much fun to dance to.
After Polk ends they start up with 'Spine' from The Spine. I have seen this song a few times and it always follows the same progression as the album, even going so far as to lead invariably into 'Memo To Human Resources'. Naturally as 'Spine' ends I anticipate Memo and start singing the beginning. To my surprise it instead led into 'XTC Vs. Atom Ant' returning to Factory Showroom territory. I have always hated this song but for some reason I really enjoyed it live tonight. They then played 'Upside Down Frown' from The Else. As I stated earlier, I am not much of a fan of this album. This song is catchy but doesn't really do it for me. I turned to Jared and told him my opinions. He responded with "I like it. It's catchy and kind of rocking." I told him that there were catchier songs that I'd rather hear and, since this is the Factory Showroom show, they should play 'Spiraling Shape' since it is a better and catchier song.
The Johns must be psychic because they IMMEDIATELY went into 'Spiraling Shape' next. I love this song and the way it goes from soft almost crooning to hard rocking. I was dancing a lot during it and singing at the top of my lungs. They followed it up with my least favorite song from Factory Showroom; 'Pet Name'. Unimpressive. They then played the only song from their self-titled debut that they would play the entire weekend, 'Don't Let's Start'. I have seen this song at every show of theirs that I have ever attended and it still rocks my socks off. I was glad that Jared got to see it.
They then played pretty standard versions of 'How Can I Sing Like A Girl' (Factory Showroom) and 'Birdhouse In Your Soul' (Flood). Next came one of the highpoints when they began playing 'Dr. Worm' from Severe Tire Damage. The horns were on point and the energy level of the band mirrored the energy level of the audience. Definitely the best version of this I have seen to date.
Next they attempted 'I Can Hear You' from Factory Showroom. Flans made the comment that tonight, being Factory Showroom night, is also proof of what happens when unrehearsed musicians attempt songs they haven't played in about 10 years. Actually the song sounded rather good.
They then played 'The Bells Are Ringing' which is ALWAYS AMAZING! I adore this song both studio version and in person. They nailed it. They then played 'Seven' from their childrens album Here Come The 123's. It was fun and cute (We Want Cake! Where's Our Cake?!?!).
Flans then introduced the band which kind of bummed me out. Band intros mean only one more song then hopefully a multi-song encore. The song that they closed the set with was 'Til My Head Falls Off' from (surprise) Factory Showroom. I was dancing like a fool at this point. It was amazing. Then the show ended...
They came out to do an encore and I realized that two songs had been ommited from the Factory Showroom program ('Excuisite Dead Guy' and 'Your Own Worst Enemy'). The problem, in my eyes, was that neither of these are good encore songs. Not to mention the fact that they hadn't played 'Particle Man' OR 'Istanbul'. (on a side note: i was really hoping they wouldn't play either of those two songs. I have seen Istanbul EVERY SINGLE TIME I SEE THEM PLAY and Particle Man usually bores me).
Boy was I happy when the drums started kicking in and Flans told us all to stand and move forward. Only one song elicits that: 'Clap Your Hands!' from No!. I clapped! I stomped! I jumped in the air! I screamed! They immediately went into 'The Guitar' which was odd because that song is from Apollo 18, the album that they were featuring the following night. Still great song and again I was happy that Jared got to see it. I assumed that that was it and then the trombonist and sax player stepped to the front of the stage. This could mean only one thing: 'Istanbul'. Jared was ecstatic. I would've rather heard just about anything else. It was a pretty rocking version of it though. (another side note: my favorite version of Istanbul occured in May of 2007 at the Horse. People kept screaming for it and they finally played it--sped up to about 5 times it's normal speed! it was something else!)
After that they left us to cheer and scream for more before coming out for another Apollo 18 track; 'Dig My Grave'. Again it rocked but I would have rather heard the rest of Factory Showroom and saved that for the following night.
All in all it was a great show. Well worth the 3 hours worth of travelling time, 2.5 hours waiting in line, and 1.5 hours waiting for the show to start. Jared had a blast and I cemented the fact that I was returning the following day.
