It’s cool to be a nerd.
So where was I last night when I wasn’t watching Survivor? I was seeing They Might Be Giants in concert! It was seriously one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. It was at the same venue as the Wheatus show, but fortunately the “oi-OI!” girls were nowhere to be seen. In fact, it was a Sea of Geeks. Snookums speculated that “half the servers in London are gonna go down tonight”, judging by the rampant and obvious system administrator drunkenness going on around us. It was worth it though. The guys don’t play London very often, and they seemed genuinely surprised that so many people showed up. (I think it ended up being sold out.) They played for almost two hours, and the set included stuff from their new upcoming album as well as every fan favorite from their back catalog. Snookums nearly fell out of his chair when John launched into “Particle Man” and “Doctor Worm”. You haven’t lived until you’ve seen a crowd of people frantically pogo-ing and rocking out to “Birdhouse in Your Soul” and “Your Racist Friend”. They even did “The Guitar (The Lion Sleeps Tonight)” and the incredibly weird “Fingertips”. My favorite moment, though, happened during “Twisting”. As soon as the song started, Snookums and I looked at each other and laughed. Pizza Hut’s been using it in commercials here for their new Twisted Crust pizza. Yes, a song about suicide to advertise pizza. Anyway, in the middle of the song, quiet John threw a “pizzaaaaaa” in the chorus. It was hilarious. Seriously, go buy all of their albums right now.
brigita
July 17, 2001 — 2:24 pm
you did NOT!? we saw them in newport a few weeks ago! i’d never seen them before in concert, being that i had never really gotten into them, but it sure seemed the crowd was enjoying themselves. my only complaint was that they didn’t play “ana ng.” in that vein, our set lists seemed pretty much the same. glad it was a good time!
Kris
July 17, 2001 — 2:48 pm
Sweet! I’d never seen them before either. My fandom is (embarrassingly) the result of a high school infatuation with a geeky artist boy. I have a feeling I’m going to be acquiring some more of their albums now though…
brigita
July 17, 2001 — 3:10 pm
the guys didn’t seem all that excited to be there, tho…probably because they were playing in a super-small venue (a glorified tent, really) for a bunch of [stereotypically] rich sailing-snots. they seemed to get a kick out of the midshipmen who were there in their whites.
Kris
July 17, 2001 — 3:26 pm
Ah. Yeah, that would suck. They seemed pretty excited to be in London, though admitted that it’s not a real important market for them. At one point they said that their manager predicted, like, only 70 or 80 people would attend. Apparently, though, “Monday night is the new Rock Night in London”! At one point some guys were howling a soccer chant and John stopped to make a joke about TMBG being an outreach program for lager louts. Very funny stuff.
brigita
July 17, 2001 — 3:48 pm
yeah–our tent-venue was organized into rows of folding chairs with a corporate section int he front, complete with tables, food and bar service. at one point, one of the guys said that the next song was going to “get the whole house rockin’.” he then looked to the fancy-pants in the front and said “and you guys…well, you can just shake your jewelery.” tres amusant.
Kris
July 17, 2001 — 3:53 pm
I hate the corporate guys in the front. The REM concert I saw was like that. I’d been following the band for years, but all the front row tix were snapped up by rich sellouts. So all the people on the hill in the back were dancing, while the suits up front just sat there like corpses. It sucked.
brigita
July 17, 2001 — 3:55 pm
i’d have to say that the couple that was totally grinding and groping on each other right in front of us was even worse than the suity-poops. blech.
Kris
July 17, 2001 — 4:03 pm
Grinding to They Might Be Giants? Dude, that’s just weird.
brigita
July 17, 2001 — 4:28 pm
they were one of those cheesy Barbie/Ken couples that are just looking for an excuse to be public idiots and wouldn’t know good music if it put lye in their hair dye…
Bill
July 18, 2001 — 11:26 pm
So, did you see Neil Gaiman?
I saw TMBG when I was in college. Twice, in fact. The second time, they were touring for Apollo 18, and they took my suggestion for a cover song. (“Dancing Queen”, and John F ruined the lyrics. But the band got it right.)
Kris
July 19, 2001 — 10:23 am
Wow! No way! I wish I’d have known he was there.
Bill
July 19, 2001 — 3:37 pm
Neil should’ve posted to his blog “I’m going to see TMBG in London and you’re not!!! Neener neener neener!”
Then you would have known. Cause there can’t be *that* much crossover between blog-reading geeks, Sandman fans, and people likely to see TMBG in London. Right?
Right? *crickets chirp, tumbleweed blows by*