Such an odd and awesome mixing of worlds at the They Might be Giants show this past Saturday. The long-loved and long-lived band played an epic set spanning their old, their new, their adult, their kid, and their all-around crowd pleasers. The audience was a refreshing mix of older and younger, dowdy and hip, nerdy and not. The diversity in the crowd reflected the variety of directions TMBG has gone since 1982, when the group was little more than founders John Flansburgh and John Linnell backed by a drum machine. The crowd cheered indiscriminately for the now full-band’s old and new tracks, happily dancing and singing to all of it, with particular enthusiasm for TMBG’s kid’s album Here Comes Science. The group did put on a particularly entertaining show for those tracks, using robotic voices, humor, and awesome lighting to pump up the fans.
Older songs got big cheers, too, with a resounding roar for “Please Pass the Milk” off the band’s 1992 album Apollo 18. This one particularly stood out thanks to the amazing woman wearing a “Got Math?” T-shirt and a “I Heart Science” trucker hat who busted out moves the likes of which may never be repeated again.
All in all a great show by a band who’s made its mark on music for all ages.