They Might Be Giants- Australian Tour 2019

Over the last two nights They Might Be Giants have been playing shows here in Melbourne pitting different decades of their extensive back catalogue against each other. On Friday night at 170 Russell it was the 1980s vs 2010s, and then tonight at The Croxton it was the 1990s vs 2000s. The last time I saw them live was in the mid-1990s, and I will admit I am way more familiar with their 1980s and 1990s songs, so I knew about half the set list each night.

Each show was split into two halves, with an intermission in the middle and then a mini acoustic set to start the second half of each evening. There was lots of banter between John Flansburgh and John Linnell as they told funny stories, talked about what they had done during the day, and interacted with members of the crowd. Both Johns rotated around the stage and onto different instruments throughout each night, and it was great that they had a full band with them, including trumpet player extraordinaire Mark Pender (formerly of Conan O'Brien's late night bands) who was on fire, particularly tonight.

Of the two nights I really enjoyed Friday's show because those were the songs that I grew up listening to. Highlights from Friday were the debut album tracks "Put Your Hand Inside The Puppet Head" and "Don't Let It Start," the Lincoln album songs "Ana Ng," "Cowtown," "Mr Me," "Shoehorn With Teeth" and "Where Your Eyes Don't Go," as well as the single "Why Does The Sun Shine?" and new track "The Communists Have The Music." On Saturday night I was excited to hear a lot of my favorite tracks from the 1990s, including "Your Racist Friend," "Birdhouse In Your Soul," "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)," "Twisting" "Whistling In The Dark" and "Particle Man" off Flood, and "She's Actual Size," "Turn Around," "Spider" and "The Guitar (The Lion Sleeps Tonight)" off Apollo 18. It was such a privilege to get to see them play live again after all these years, and I definitely need to delve into the more recent releases from the 2000s.

Here's the video for "The Communists Have The Music"