More than four decades after forming, They Might Be Giants remain at the peak of its powers.
At least that’s the case when the eccentric mainstay takes the stage, like it did near the end of its tour Friday night at the Agora Theatre in Cleveland. Playing 32 songs over two sets and more than two hours, the Brooklyn, New York band boasted an eight-piece lineup with a three-piece horn section. The sound was full and playful, more so than on the band’s already massive studio repertoire, as the group veered from rock to pop to polka to 1920s jazz.
And all the while, the group, led by guitarist John Flansburgh and keyboardist John Linnell, is full of consummate showmen who know how to play a crowd as well as their instruments. Yes, the subject matter may be geeky, funny and weird (who else writes songs about time traveling to kill a future version of yourself?), but it’s clear the band takes the music incredibly seriously.
They Might Be Giants was making its first appearance in Cleveland since a perpetually-rescheduled two-night stand at the Beachland Ballroom in 2022. It appears the band is having a bit of a moment, even if it’s long had a devoted fan base. Linnell noted that the song “Stuff Is Way” gained some popularity on TikTok in the past few years.
“We’re just being led around by the fans at this point,” Linnell joked during one of many breaks for between-song banter. “We used to be in charge.”
Perhaps as a result, the venues are bigger this time around. The Agora holds 2,000 people (and judging by how crammed the floor, it was close to if not completely sold out). Saturday’s show is at the 1,200 capacity Globe Iron, where the band will play a completely different set.
The first set on Friday was heavy on selections from the 1994 album John Henry, which were often expanded with solos and interludes. That included a loop of a segment of the Eagles’ schlocky “Take It to the Limit” on the song “Spy.”
But some tunes were just quirky and fun, like the Xenia-referencing “Out of Jail” and the best-ever tune about an obscure Belgian painter, “Meet James Ensor.” There was also “stelluB,” where the band played 1990’s “Sapphire Bullets of Pure Love” backwards so it could later show a video of that version in reverse (aka the song being played the proper way).
The show really opened up during the second set. There was the singalong of “Dead,” Flansburgh’s use of a big stick to keep time in “Lie Still, Little Bottle” and the jazzy stylings of “Let Me Tell You About My Operation.” There was guitarist Dan Miller’s foray onto the stage right balcony for some soloing on “Damn Good Times.”
Tunes that sound small and chintzy on record were supersized onstage, especially with the horns. Saxophonist Stan Harrison, trumpeter Mark Pender and trombonist Dan Levine transformed “Birdhouse in Your Soul” into a cacophonous symphony and also powered “When Will You Die,” “The Darlings of Lumberland” and show closer “Doctor Worm.”
Even if the group repeated Friday night’s sets on Saturday, it’d still contain enough variety to warrant seeing the show again. They Might Be Giants is tight, and watching the members interact with each other was alone worth attending.
All the action we caught with more photos from George Michaels below the setlists.
Setlist:
Set 1:
1. Subliminal
2. Snail Shell
3. Out of Jail
4. Unrelated Thing
5. Meet James Ensor
6. The Famous Polka
7. Stuff Is Way
8. Synopsis for Latecomers
9. No One Knows My Plan
10. Spy
11. Dirt Bike
12. You Probably Get That a Lot
13. stelluB
14. Istanbul (Not Constantinople)
Set 2:
15. Dead
16. Memo to Human Resources
17. Can’t Keep Johnny Down
18. Shoehorn with Teeth
19. Brontosaurus
20. Lie Still, Little Bottle
21. Let Me Tell You About My Operation
22. The Darlings of Lumberland
23. Where Your Eyes Don’t Go
24. Moonbeam Rays
25. 2082
26. Damn Good Times
27. Particle Man
28. Birdhouse in Your Soul
Encore 1:
29. Twisting
30. When Will You Die
Encore 2:
31. Doctor Worm
Eric Heisig is a freelance writer in Cleveland. He can be reached at eheisig@gmail.com.