This Might Be a Concert
I had a great time at the They Might Be Giants concert in Iowa City last night. A band called Oppenheimer from Belfast Ireland opened the show at 8pm with a sort of electronic/punk/pop set. It was very cool! Just two guys (drummer and guitarist), but they were able to crank out quite a bit of sound! The drummer has an absolutely amazing voice.
After about an hour, TMBG took the stage, playing some classics like “Birdhouse In Your Soul” and “Ana Ng.” John Flansburgh had some comically long-winded comments about the vinyl pressing of their new album (The Else). He seemed to be very proud of it! John Linnell appeared to be somewhat tired, but as the show progressed, he seemed to get into it a bit more (I think Linnell is kind of shy, so public performances are probably not his favorite thing).
The setlist for the show was great. They played “Alphabet of Nations” from the ABC’s album and a whole bunch of songs from The Else, including “The Cap’m,” “I’m Impressed,” and “The Mesopotamians.”
The venue was just perfect. It was at the IMU ballroom and there were no chairs, so everybody got to get really close to the stage. I would say there were probably about 100-200 people there, so it wasn’t too crowded.
TMBG played two encores (each with two songs) and ended the show at 11pm. I wanted to buy one of the vinyl records (and Oppenheimer’s debut album), but alas I did not have any cash 
All in all, it was a great show. Definitely worth the price of admission.
Posted: September 19th, 2007 under Music.