Monday, March 8, 2010
The Spin They Might Be Giants & Jonathan Coulton at Exit/In, 3/7/10
Posted by The Spin on Mon, Mar 8, 2010 at 1:29 PM
Certain corners of the Internet like to accuse The Spin of being arch-hipsters so convinced of our own coolness that our hair has evolved into a perfect razor-sharp point that we use to gut the less hip and drink their blood in sacrifice to our god, Allan Sherman. What they don't realize is that we are not, in fact, cool. They might be right about the blood sacrifice, but we are stone cold nerds -- like, toss-our-20-sided-dice-at-the-drop-of-a-hat type nerds. Anime fans pick on us.
That said, Sunday night's sold-out They Might Be Giants show at Exit/In was totally our jam!
For starters, it may have been the most well-behaved and organized line for a sold-out show we've seen in ages. We made it inside fast, grabbed a drink and staked out a spot by the stairs. When we had checked the Exit/In's website they didn't have an opener listed, so we were more than pleasantly surprised when Interweb troubadour Jonathan Coulton walked onstage. The Brooklyn-based songwriter and former software engineer very well could have been the headliner, considering the reception that he got. Obviously, this wasn't your typical arms-crossed, too-cool-for-school Nashville crowd, but we can't remember the last time an opening act got such an overwhelming response.
(For any aspiring First Name Last Names out there: The way to win The Spin's heart is to write songs about cyborgs and zombies and robots and other stuff that's actually important. Also, if you could do something as entertaining as the "Single Ladies"/Super Mario Bros. mashup during the bridge of "Mr. Fancy Pants" we honestly might care about you. Frank Zappa once asked if humor really belongs in music, and the answer is YES.)
When They Might Be Giants walked onstage we nearly lost our shit -- this was supposed to be the show where they played their classic album Flood in its entirety, but they were playing "Subliminal" from John Henry. Dub-tee-eff? The Johns explained that they were doing eight songs before they launched into their most well-loved album -- which ruled because we probably would have been a little disappointed if we hadn't heard "James Ensor" (about Belgium's famous painter). Plus, there was a badass version of the succinct, bizarre 21-part sound collage "Fingertips" from Apollo 18.
When TMBG finished their countdown of non-Flood tracks, they threw us another curve ball: They were going to play Flood in sequence, but the sequence was going to be -- dun dun DUN -- backwards! We'd been listening to this near-perfect piece of pop music in one specific order since Twin Peaks was actually on the air, and now our whole world was gonna get flipped just like that -- fuck yeah, TMBG! Way to out-nerd the nerds in the audience. Flood is kinda front-loaded with hits, and the excitement of hearing "Hot Cha" live might have been diminished had it happened later in the night.
Actually, if they had played the album in order so many heads would have exploded during "Birdhouse in Your Soul" that the show would have to be renamed David Cronenberg Presents: Flood, and then we would have spent the rest of the night up to our ankles in blood and skull bits, which would have been a tad uncomfortable and definitely would have ruined our bright white non-slip orthopedic shoes. To say the crowd was enthusiastic is an understatement -- we may have worn a prosthetic forehead to a wedding once, but these folks were totally nuts. The dude next to us knew all the words to "Hearing Aid," for crying out loud, possibly the least interesting song on the album. Once the band made it to "Particle Man" we braced for a full-on accordion-fueled nerd riot. Luckily, the band made it through the one-two punch of "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" and "Lucky Ball and Chain" without any audience members exploding into clouds of Mountain Dew and Cheetos before wrapping it up with the aforementioned "Birdhouse" and our personal favorite, "Theme From Flood."
Even though we were exhausted from, y'know, actually having a really good time at a show, we stuck around for the double encore, and boy are we glad we did. Nothing stirs our misguided sense of civic pride like the song "James K. Polk," about the nation's 11th president and such a destiny-manifesting prick that we have his portrait hanging above our sacrificial altar at Spin HQ. As an added bonus, second guitarist Dan Miller was playing a Gibson SG Zoot Suit -- or as we call it around here, the Beth Cameron Custom. We never thought we'd get so excited about such a silly-looking ax. To close out the night, TMBG performed "The Guitar (The Lion Sleeps Tonight)," climaxing as guitarist John Flansburgh ripped all of the strings off his baby-blue Telecaster, a perfect ending to a night of sweat-drenched nerd rock glory.
Comments (14)
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I knew I was home when the guy in front of me was wearing a Member's Only jacket and a "Star Wars" t-shirt. You absolutely nailed the entire experience.
I wasn't upset about missing this until reading this. Thanks for the remorse.. sounds like it was a helluva time.
haha I agree with Michael.. this makes me feel like I missed. and agreed... humor should be part of any bands repertoire!
They've been hyping Coulton on facebook and on their website, so it wasn't a huge surprise. But yes - excellent show. Nerd heaven.
Excellent show. Great time. Except for that New York Yankees fan who unfortunately, for me, found his way in after holding an "I Need Tickets" sign outside and was butchering the lyrics to Particle Man, Dead and Istanbul and screaming them in my ear, and shouting, "Oh, this shit's about to get real!" or some such nonsense, and generally being a drunk dick. Yankees Suck.
The crowd seemed appreciative, but lethargic and subdued for the most part; as one might expect in Nashville...like a dog on thorazine that's just been shown a card trick (with apologies to Bill Hicks).
I drove 7 hours for this show, and it was worth every damn bit. Best concert I have ever been to.
Seriously the best show I've ever been to. That includes the 6 other times I've seen TMBG. They put on one helluva show and Jonathan Coulton was an excellent opening act. Was so excited to finally be able to see him live and he did not disappoint. Pants!
TMBG should play at War Memorial Auditorium next time; less crowded, better acoustics. Alcohol's more expensive, but that's what flasks are for...
SPIDER! We love you Spider! SPIDER! Get rid of... SPIDER! Step on Spider! SPIDER! He is our hero.
Ooooooooooooooooooooo!
Best show ive ever seen. The two john's are the best showmen on earth. And JoCo (for us insiders) was the nerdgasm that Nashville so needed. All the hipsters i saw there had dropped the facades and turned into their 12 - 17 year old selves. PANTS! (sorry HC I had to do it too)
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