They Might Be Giants brought out deep cuts, fan favorites in 3rd sold-out night in Pittsburgh
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They Might Be Giants have always been undefinable.
The duo of Johns (John Flansburgh and John Linnell) released their first record in 1986 and have made 22 more studio albums since. They are prolific, certainly. Their lyrics are often absurd and funny, and their voices aren’t conventional, but they have made a dynamite duo for better than four decades.
Since their early years in Brooklyn playing with a drum machine and not much else, they’ve gained a robust cult following all around the world. And they don’t lack for fans in Pittsburgh — Saturday night’s sold-out show at Mr. Smalls Theatre was the last in a string of three.
Trying to fit They Might Be Giants into one genre is an impossible task. “Alternative rock” and “college rock” seem to be the most common categorizations, but as Saturday night’s setlist demonstrated, the width and breadth of their musical capabilities defy labels.
They have spotlighted one of their albums at each of these three Pittsburgh shows. Thursday night’s show featured a big chunk of “Apollo 18,” Friday night was for “Mink Car” fans, and Saturday night was all about “John Henry.”
They Might Be Giants now have a full backing band, an evolution that first occurred with “John Henry,” their fifth studio album, released in 1994.
The night kicked off with the opening track, “Subliminal,” which heavily features the accordion, the first of many unusual instruments that would make appearances throughout.
Next, they launched into “Snail Shell,” the only charting single from “John Henry” and one of their most rock-oriented tracks.
“Welcome everybody, thanks for coming to the great cathedral of rock,” Flansburgh said at the end of the song, referring to Mr. Smalls’ previous life as a church.
Along with playing many “John Henry” songs, the band’s two frontmen shared a few tidbits about the album’s creation and recording. They especially discussed the growing pains involved with bringing in a full band.
“We had that nervous energy of strivers and climbers, clawing our way to the middle,” Flansburgh joked.
After some more of “John Henry,” they played a song that they wrote during their 2004 “venue songs” project, where they endeavored to write a song about every venue in their then-current tour. That song is called “Pittsburgh (Mr. Smalls)” and not only references the venue where they played this weekend, but also the now-defunct Electric Banana.
Midway through this first set, they introduced the horn section of their band and announced that “the real show is about to begin.” This was followed by a couple of their weirder offerings, namely “Spider” and “The Darlings of Lumberland.”
To wrap up the “John Henry” portion of the evening, they played several more fan favorites from the album, including “Dirt Bike” and “No One Knows My Plan.”
After a 20-minute break, the band returned to the stage to thunderous cheers and performed a second set that showcased their versatility. It kicked off with the disco-inspired “Man It’s So Loud In Here,” a perfect concert song.
The latter half of the evening incorporated several songs from their most recent album, “BOOK,” including “Synopsis for Latecomers,” “Brontosaurus” and “Drown the Clown.” But they also dug back deep into their back catalogue for “Where Your Eyes Don’t Go,” the jazzy “Lie Still, Little Bottle” and “Shoehorn with Teeth.”
The backing band, with the traditional drums, bass and rhythm guitar, also included their horn section, playing trombone, saxophone and trumpet, but also, at times, euphonium. And “Shoehorn with Teeth” even included instrumentation from an old-fashioned fire alarm.
Before playing “Working Undercover for the Man,” John Flansburgh declared, “There’s a singalong portion of this next song, but you’re going to have to figure it out on your own.”
(The singalong portion was a series of “sha-la-la”s at the end of the chorus, and the audience figured it out very quickly.)
Then there was “Fingertips,” an odd series of 21 few-second-long mini songs that appeared on their 1992 album “Apollo 18.” The album was meant to be experienced on shuffle, so these short tracks would be sprinkled in while listening to the whole thing. Hearing them all in a row was strange and hilarious whiplash.
They also played a rocking cover of Destiny’s Child’s 1999 hit “Bills Bills Bills.”
The second set ended with the lively “Dig My Grave,” seemingly bringing an end to almost two hours of music that wasn’t actually over yet.
After leaving the stage so the crowd could do their cheering-for-an-encore thing, They Might Be Giants returned to the stage to perform “Birdhouse In Your Soul,” their biggest-ever hit, and the only song of the night from their most popular album, 1990’s “Flood.” At times it was impossible to hear them singing over the exuberant audience.
They followed that up with fan favorite “Doctor Worm,” really letting the horn section shine, and closed the evening, fittingly, with the closing track of “John Henry,” also fittingly titled “The End of the Tour.”
With a discography that’s hundreds of songs deep, playing with a plethora of instruments and genres and boasting brilliant and absurd lyrics, any live show by They Might Be Giants is a mystery piñata full of great song possibilities. Even if they didn’t play a lot of “the hits,” Saturday night’s slate of deep cuts — and getting to hear the majority of an iconic album — was a delightful treat for fans.