News: Rock is Fun

September 16, 2007 at 11:49 am | Posted in Concert, Gabe Bullard | 4 Comments

That’s right, rock and roll is fun. Or, at least it’s supposed to be. Decades ago, the rock senate of prog bands and balladeers passed a bill banning fun in rock music. Try as they might, the punk delegation couldn’t lobby a veto and all of a sudden, having fun on stage was a musical faux pas.

They Might Be Giants don’t care for manners, though. In case you didn’t hear about it on the radio, TMBG were in town last night to play at the Pageant.

They started out great with a few songs from the wonderful new album, “The Else.” After showing the new material could hold up on the road, they band cranked up the energy and started in on the old classics. The band kept the energy high and the between song banter was hilarious and nerdy. At one point, they declared they were “Taking calls from beyond the grave.” John Flansburgh left the stage and “called in” as Buddy Ebsen’s TV detective Barnaby Jones. “I’m trying to solve the mystery of the missing night club…I can’t find Mississippi Nights.” (Serious TMBG geeks – 99% of the audience – know about the band’s love-hate relationship with that venue.)

“That club is dead” said John Linnell. “And so were most of the bands playing in it.”

After some uproarious laughter, the band returned to rocking, playing more old favorites like “Istanbul” and “Particle Man.” When John Linnell misread his setlist and started playing “Mesopotamians” instead of “Memo to Human Resources,” Flansburgh called him out on it, and referenced locally-born tennis star Jimmy Connors in the process.

Two encores of b-sides and foreign singles later, the band called it a night. What a night it was. I always love the crowds at TMBG shows. It’s a great mix of nerdy people like me and kids who like punk rock but who are too dorky to feel comfortable at the Creepy Crawl (like I used to be.) But no matter who came to the show and how they fit into society, the fact remains that the show was fun. Flat out, fun rock and roll.