I'm not saying we drove 400 miles each way just so I could go to a They Might Be Giants concert, but the fact remains that those 400 miles had to be driven in order to make it possible for me to go. And it's been an excellent trip so far (we're heading back home on Sunday).

I have pictures and one video, and, of course, plenty of text.

So, I headed out to the venue early. The area seemed absolutely deserted when I got there, so I made an abortive attempt to visit a nearby yarn shop (it was closed for the day, though the posted hours indicated it shouldn't have been), came back and parked, and walked down the hill and around the corner to a record store (Attic Record Store) I'd noticed earlier. It was a pretty awesome store, by the way; I recommend it to anyone going out there.

I went back up to Mr Small's and there still didn't seem to be anybody at all around, which I found odd since it was less than two hours until doors and in my experience there are usually people in line by then. The venue is a former church with a towering stone façade; then over on the left there's this strangely tacked-on wall of aluminum siding that closes off the area to the side, between it and the building next to it. Upon enquiring of an employee sittiing out front I found that I needed to go though a door in that wall to approach the entrance, and when I did so I discovered about ten people already there waiting. Damn you, Attic Record Store, for holding my interest for so long! I queued up and figured I'd still be able to grab a decent place inside, but actually tardis60 (who was at the head of the line) was a total angel and saved me a spot front and center next to her, so all was well. Also while I was waiting I got to hear the soundcheck, which consisted of She's an Angel, Pittsburgh, Climbing the Walls, Doctor Worm, and a somewhat truncated Damn Good Times.

It was quite pleasant in the theater after the somewhat muggy heat outside, and I think the opener (Nighttime Gallagher) started early, so the wait wasn't too onerous. Nighttime Gallagher was a DJ who spun some records on his pair of turntables and occasionally stood up to do some mellow dancing. He played a neat variety of songs, but it was a pretty weird experience as far as opening acts. Also it was getting warmer inside and I was starting to feel it, so I went to buy a bottle of water, resulting in my inconveniencing dozens of people as I squirmed out of the pit and back. Maybe it would have been less trouble if I'd waited until the break between sets.

Nighttime Gallagher finished up and we waited around some more. Flans's mic and pedalboard were set way over to stage right and Dan's had been moved back and a bit toward the center, right at the corner of Marty's drum riser. The best feature of the stage was this weird Greek temple kind of thing at the back (an appurtenance of Mr Small's, not something that They brought with them—you can kind of see the columns and the pointed pediment in this picture) in which Marty was perfectly framed. It was a nice touch. Also there were a bunch of instrument cases crammed into the space between the stage and the barrier; I predicted that Flans would be standing on those during the show, and he did indeed take advantage of that opportunity at several moments during the evening.

I was excited about the show, I mean even more than usual, since I hadn't seen them since last August and they were going to play a bunch of their new songs. In fact they seem to be using With the Dark as their intro music, and then they started right in with Climbing the Walls (which I thought was pretty great) and by the end had played ten songs from the new album. Quite awesome.

Before continuing, Flans took a moment to discourse on how hot it already was in the room and apologize in advance for playing so many songs that hadn't been released yet. First however they did Pittsburgh (which was as wonderful as you might expect it to be) and then Flans tried to go ahead into I'm Impressed and Take Out the Trash but Linnell, with great difficulty, steered him back to what was actually next on the setlist, Ana Ng. I love how that song gets so frenetic at the end. I'm Impressed was pretty rockin' and there was a really, really awesome bit where Flans just screamed into the mic to back up Linnell. I thought the guitar work in that one was really nice too—it seemed like a lot of the new songs had some neat guitar-y stuff, and of course I always approve of that kind of thing. I also liked how Take Out the Trash gave Danny the opportunity to come up front and show off his bass playing.

During the Heart Attack part of Fingertips, Flans brought out some new lines: "I'm dropping out of grad school, baby...I'm not gonna take the LSAT...I'm moving into the car and I'm taking the cats with me." And I was triply amused because I personally am dropping out of grad school, wallacecat did recently take the LSAT, and we'll soon be moving cross-country with the cat in the car. They finished with Dan's solo at the end of Darkened Corridors, and then:

JF: Dan Miller, ladies and gentlemen! His boat is made of show!
some guy in the crowd: What?
JF: I think I said that too fast.

I was happy that Memo to Human Resources was brought back for this tour; I've always loved that song. I think Flans forgot some of the words though. Then while Dan was returning from his Don't Let's Start smoke break, Flans expressed his surprise that people are still allowed to smoke inside in Pittsburgh, unlike in many other major cities: "It's like going back in time." Upside Down Frown was okay; then they went quickly into the Shadow Government and wow I liked the guitar solo to end that one.

Dan went offstage again (presumably for another legal smoke break) and Flans proceeded to Beard Watch 2007, where he gets the two spotlight operators to shine their lights on each other and then sees how many have beards. Tonight he and Linnell spent some time squinting and trying to figure out if either of the guys had beards; Flans thought none, but Iggy confirmed that there were two beards, and Linnell asked, "Is that two beards on that guy and no beards on that guy?" Then Danny pointed out that one actually had a moustache and Flans and Linnell debated whether a moustache counted or not. (Linnell thought not.) And in conclusion Flans told us that if the beards win, all the guys in the crew have to grow beards.

They got ready to play Contrecoup and Linnell expressed confusion at Flans's using his electric guitar, but Flans explained that he had left his acoustic behind in Brooklyn. I dunno about Contrecoup; it does have a new bridge and a nice guitar solo in the middle now, but it still kind of sounds like not a completely finished song to me. The end was fun though because they kept speeding up and speeding up and then it kind of went off the rails and it was crazy. But maybe that wasn't the sort of entertainment they really wanted to provide.

Till My Head Falls Off—very, very nice. Dan and Danny both got to showboat a little there, and then predictably, during Birdhouse, Flans pulled Dan forward to stand on the instrument cases in front of the stage, right over my head.

Withered Hope was pretty intense. It was maybe my favorite of the new performed songs. After that the new Phone Calls from the Dead bit, in which we were visited by the shade of Eleanor Roosevelt. She passed along a request from her friend Andy Warhol for the band, which was "quit fucking up!" I guess dead Andy Warhol was unhappy with their performance; in my inexpert opinion it wasn't that bad, although Flans did miss a few lyrics (but then, when does he not do that?) and I saw Dan occasionally frowning and shaking his head about his own playing.

They rolled through We're the Replacements and Flans, still ruminating on what Andy Warhol had said, remarked how hostile the dead are.
JF: I don't know how Eleanor Roosevelt always gets through first.
JL: I think she's got the auto-dial thing.
JF: I can't wait 'til we get to Asbury Park and the guys from Bon Jovi call. I'm just kidding. I hate those guys. No, just kidding.
JL: RE-spect!
JF: I was going to talk about American Idol, but I realized we're in the middle of a show.

While all that was going on Dan kept running over to the side of the stage for repeated conferences with one of the guys in the crew, and gesturing out into the crowd. It was pretty mysterious, but after the Cap'm all was explained when Will (I think) came out onstage with a crate of bottles of water and Dan started handing them out to people in the front rows. (That guy is such a sweetheart.) Flans called him "the Bob Geldof of the band" but pessimistically pointed out that there really wasn't enough water for everybody. Dan gave away a bunch at stage left, Will brought out another batch, and he came around to the middle. So I called out "Dan!" and he said "hey there" and handed me a bottle of water; then I was like, "why did I do that, I already have one" (that I had bought earlier). I just can't resist getting something for free. Anyway I didn't need the water so I turned around and passed it on to somebody who actually wanted it.

While Dan finished his relief mission Flans introduced Careful What You Pack by telling us they had written and recorded this song for a movie, but then the song was removed from the movie and now it is on the new album instead. I am quite curious as to what movie it was supposed to be in—Flans didn't tell us.

During the first verse of James K Polk Linnell messed up one of the lines (he sang "Lewis Cass, a moderate/Lewis Cass, a general and expansionist") and then after Dan's solo (which was crazy), while the rest of the guys continued playing the music, instead of going into the last verse he explained he'd made that slip because a few nights earlier he'd sung "Mama Cass" instead of "Lewis Cass" and was now self-conscious when he got to that part. But he promised to get the last verse exactly right and "sing the fuck out it." Which he did. He knows how to keep his word.

After the requisite post-Polk bow, they went into Twisting. And I love Dan's finger-tapping solo every single time. Flans took the next break to do his own humanitarian work, tossing some water out into the crowd; when he tired of that Will took over and distributed the last bottles while Flans introduced the band, calling Dan Miller "Mr Sensitivity," himself "DJ Forget-Me-Not" and Linnell "WC Frito."

I have just one thing to say about the Mesopotamians: Guys, work on those harmonies. Please.

They left the stage, they came back out, Flans put on his slide, and they did She's an Angel. Then Spy with all its orchestration and conducting. I really love the first part of the song (especially the bass line), but I think I could do without the stuff at the end. It didn't last too very long this time, though, so I didn't have time to get bored with it. Also Linnell threw in some lines of Lionel Ritchie's Hello which was disconcertingly pleasing.

After that Dan went offstage again, which was super-weird because they started playing Damn Good Times and you know, you can't really finish the song without Dan. And they did the second verse in this crazy really quiet way. But I noticed that the tour manager Bob kept looking out from backstage over the room, apparently into the crowd, and I was wondering whether Dan was suddenly going to appear amongst us on the floor—but even more surprising and spectacular, he had run up to the balcony at the back of the room and jumped up on something so that he was teetering precariously some thirty feet above our heads (the photo does not do the view justice). And he tore that solo up.

Well, that encore was over. They ended the show with the Alphabet of Nations/Doctor Worm tandem. Dan on the keyboard for both—I guess he used up the rest of his fancy guitaring quota for the night with that Damn Good Times balcony stunt.

As people filed out of the theater it got a little easier to breathe in there, but outside it was even nicer, the weather having become lovely and cool. I wanted to say hi to Dan if I could, so tardis60 accompanied me around the corner where we found him hanging out by the side door. He looked a little wilted after that long, hot show, but he was his usual sweet self and stuck around to chat with us for a few minutes, about the heat and how he almost fell out of the balcony while doing his solo (scary thought, huh?). Then he took his leave of us, I said goodbye to tardis60, and that was the end of the night. Quite satisfying overall.

So, here again are the photos and such. The pictures are not so excellent this time around but they're not too bad.

But as always, I can't wait for the next one!