and bring it to life with electric shock
Last night I went to see TMBG play at TLA in Philly, and man, was that a good show.
Pictures, including pictures of the setlists (1)(2)
This was the first time I've taken pictures at a show with my new camera, and I was very pleased with the result!
Videos: Marty's strobe action, Danny's Solo, Dan's Istanbul Solo
I haven't seen TMBG in over a year, so a lot of there was a fair amount of new stuff going on for me. They played a whole lot of songs I'd never heard live before, not only because I had yet to hear any of the songs off the new album live, but also because I'd never seen them play with the Velvet Horns. There were quite a few goofy moments, which were fun. I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
I met k1cup on South street fairly early in the afternoon, since we were very paranoid about getting a spot in the front row. We ended up waiting for a while before anyone else showed up, and my feet kept turning into blocks of ice (in between warm-up breaks at the Starbucks nearby), but it was worth it, of course. We noticed they hung a sign saying that TMBG would be playing two sets tonight with a break in between, and k1cup correctly predicted the second set would be a horn set. I've been to a couple East Coast TMBG shows before, but it's kind of weird to be a "local" now and be going to shows, since all the "early arrival" fans seem to know each other. In any case, once they let us in k1cup and I handily secured a position in the front row. There were the requisite annoying fans, including the mother who pushed a spot front and center between myself and TDK for her 14 year old kid. I kind of wished we had those "The front row is not for kids!" signs from Celebrate Brooklyn. There was quite a bit of free swag given out at this show, including red foam fingers, and the long "university-style" window decals. We certainly made out in that respect!
When Oppenheimer came out they talked about this being their last show with TMBG, and then proceeded to discover numerous pranks played on them by TMBG and the road crew, including taping some of the keys on the keyboard together. During their set further jokes were played; the drummer was serenaded by dirty bluegrass songs over his earpiece montitors, and numerous paper airplanes were thrown onto the stage from backstage. They also told us that they had given TMBG their own personalized air horn, bearing the inscription: "We toured with Oppenheimer and all we got was this lousy air horn".
Having not been at a show recently, I had not seen the white jumpsuits on the stage crew, and was thusly amused by their appearance.
After the first few songs, Flans welcomed us to the Theater for the Living Arts (TLA), "soon to be called the Fillmore by people who don't know where they are." k1cup and I were hoping they would play the Fillmore venue song in addition to TLA, but it was not to be. He also talked about the two-set show format, claiming they didn't really know why they did it, but they decided to "bifurcate" the show. Lyrical variations during Why Does the Sun Shine included "the sun is so large that all your stuff fits inside... even your friendship", and the nuclear reactions took place between towns in South Jersey and Philly. At the end of the Sun, Flans got so carried away rocking out that he pretended to smash his guitar, but of course stopped short. I loved Take Out the Trash live even more than I do on the album, due in large part to the extra bass boost it got. During that song Dan and Danny goofed around a bit, making faces, and Danny grabbed the brim of Dan's trucker hat, laugher ensuing.
When Dan took the long walk over to stage right I knew Alphabet of Nations was coming up, and Flans offered to help Dan set up the piano, proclaiming it ready after banging on some keys. Before the next song Flans introduced it as a song of their new album from Bar None records. Linnell gave him some piano references I didn't recognize at first, probably because I was trying to figure out what new song it was. Turns out it was that "new" song Puppet Head. Marty had quite a bit of strobe action going on lighting up his drumset, particularly during I'm Impressed ( video). They busted out a fair number of old songs for this show, actually, with It's Not My Birthday, James Ensor and the Famous Polka during the first set. After Puppet Head Flans reminisced about the first time they played at the TLA, and old us about the insufficient PA system they initially hired for the gig. "They were like bookcase speakers from your home, but they were way up on the ceiling, and the guy running the PA said 'They may look little, but they pack a punch.'" Before Particle Man Flans demonstrated proper Alabama clapping technique, holding one hand in front of you and hitting it with the other. Linnell broke into Elusive Buttefly of Love in the middle of Particle Man, and continued it even after the break with "Triangle man hates butterfly of love" and later "he hates that butterfly!"
During Ana Ng there were more funny faces made, this time by Flans and Dan. Also, not on the setlist they threw in Older; Marty was lit from below with red light, and Flans, Dan and Danny all went onto the risers behind him for most of the song. They finished up the first set with Mesopotamians, then Linnell waved goodbye and they took a short coffee break.
The break actually did seem rather short, surprisingly, and before I knew it there were more be-jumpsuited crew members plus Dan Miller making their way on stage. They were there, of course, for the TLA song, which they spelled out with their arms. There were other bizarre dance moves as well. They marched off stage, and Flans called the horns down off their riser to the front for the next song, which was Mr. Me.
Dan Miller rejoined the band for the next song, after a quick costume change. During Birdhouse there was more goofiness from Flans and Dan during the two guitars bit, with Flans chasing Dan backwards across the stage with his guitar. The Guitar was especially awesome because instead of the traditional Future of Sound solo, it was an awesome bass solo from Danny. I took a couple pictures, then decided to just record the whole thing ( video).
Before Purple Toupee, apparently Flans was having some kind of issues or pranks played on him via his monitor. He told us all to give Neil, the guy controlling the monitors, a "warm Philadelphia flipping-of-the-bird", and told him "fuck you very much". Then for whatever reason he took some sleigh bells over and gave them to Neil, who decided to put them to use during the song, coming out on stage to play them. He and Danny were really rocking out over in the corner there. Sax man Stan Harrison came down to play the intro to Spy, and both Linnell and Flans took turns directing the band for the "noise" part. I was excited to see the marching bass drum come out for Whistling in the Dark, since I've never seen it before.
It was time for band introductions, and either Flans was concerned about remembering everyone's name or he had a specific order in mind, because he wrote everyone's name down on the second setlist, and picked it up and folded it so he could read them during the intros. Marty was introduced as the king of the drums, and Flans commanded us to worship him; Dan began immediately, and convinced the rest of the band and crew to join in as well. And during Dr. Worm Marty was suitably intense during his drum solo, really going at it, standing on his chair, and being egged on by Flans who announced that Marty would ruin his best drum set for us (his drum set was far from ruined, but I don't doubt he might have to replace a few drum heads).
There was even an encore to this two-set show, which was awesome. Only Linnell and Flans came out, and Flans didn't even have a guitar, so I wondered what they would play, and was pleasantly surprised to hear Maybe I Know, which is one of the songs that if you asked me if I ever thought I'd hear them play it live, I'd say no way. But it was nice. And after that they called out Dan for the acoustic Istanbul solo, which was fantastic as usual. I don't know if they've been playing it at shows recently since they cut back playing it last year, but I took a video of it anyway, mostly for aliste. :D (video)
After the show there was of course mad grabs for setlists; one woman tore almost half of a setlist I had grabbed away from me, and after giving that one up as lost I was lucky enough to grab a second one, only the second page though. While waiting for the chance, one of the roadies had grabbed Danny's untouched beer; I guess someone down at the other end of the stage asked for it, but he didn't give it to them? In any case he came over to the other side of the stage and offered it to some girls who were trying to get setlists. They waved him off, but I thought "hell, I'll take a free beer", so I stuck out my hand and he gave it to me. Plus it was Danny's beer, even if he didn't drink it, heh. Then I had to chug it because they were shooing us outside, but I still managed to deliver a message of greeting from aliste to Dan, who told me, "Awesome!Give her my best."
It was definitely a fantastic show, and I loved seeing the horns. Glad I got to see them finally, it had been far too long!
Pictures, including pictures of the setlists (1)(2)
This was the first time I've taken pictures at a show with my new camera, and I was very pleased with the result!
Videos: Marty's strobe action, Danny's Solo, Dan's Istanbul Solo
I haven't seen TMBG in over a year, so a lot of there was a fair amount of new stuff going on for me. They played a whole lot of songs I'd never heard live before, not only because I had yet to hear any of the songs off the new album live, but also because I'd never seen them play with the Velvet Horns. There were quite a few goofy moments, which were fun. I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
I met k1cup on South street fairly early in the afternoon, since we were very paranoid about getting a spot in the front row. We ended up waiting for a while before anyone else showed up, and my feet kept turning into blocks of ice (in between warm-up breaks at the Starbucks nearby), but it was worth it, of course. We noticed they hung a sign saying that TMBG would be playing two sets tonight with a break in between, and k1cup correctly predicted the second set would be a horn set. I've been to a couple East Coast TMBG shows before, but it's kind of weird to be a "local" now and be going to shows, since all the "early arrival" fans seem to know each other. In any case, once they let us in k1cup and I handily secured a position in the front row. There were the requisite annoying fans, including the mother who pushed a spot front and center between myself and TDK for her 14 year old kid. I kind of wished we had those "The front row is not for kids!" signs from Celebrate Brooklyn. There was quite a bit of free swag given out at this show, including red foam fingers, and the long "university-style" window decals. We certainly made out in that respect!
When Oppenheimer came out they talked about this being their last show with TMBG, and then proceeded to discover numerous pranks played on them by TMBG and the road crew, including taping some of the keys on the keyboard together. During their set further jokes were played; the drummer was serenaded by dirty bluegrass songs over his earpiece montitors, and numerous paper airplanes were thrown onto the stage from backstage. They also told us that they had given TMBG their own personalized air horn, bearing the inscription: "We toured with Oppenheimer and all we got was this lousy air horn".
Having not been at a show recently, I had not seen the white jumpsuits on the stage crew, and was thusly amused by their appearance.
After the first few songs, Flans welcomed us to the Theater for the Living Arts (TLA), "soon to be called the Fillmore by people who don't know where they are." k1cup and I were hoping they would play the Fillmore venue song in addition to TLA, but it was not to be. He also talked about the two-set show format, claiming they didn't really know why they did it, but they decided to "bifurcate" the show. Lyrical variations during Why Does the Sun Shine included "the sun is so large that all your stuff fits inside... even your friendship", and the nuclear reactions took place between towns in South Jersey and Philly. At the end of the Sun, Flans got so carried away rocking out that he pretended to smash his guitar, but of course stopped short. I loved Take Out the Trash live even more than I do on the album, due in large part to the extra bass boost it got. During that song Dan and Danny goofed around a bit, making faces, and Danny grabbed the brim of Dan's trucker hat, laugher ensuing.
When Dan took the long walk over to stage right I knew Alphabet of Nations was coming up, and Flans offered to help Dan set up the piano, proclaiming it ready after banging on some keys. Before the next song Flans introduced it as a song of their new album from Bar None records. Linnell gave him some piano references I didn't recognize at first, probably because I was trying to figure out what new song it was. Turns out it was that "new" song Puppet Head. Marty had quite a bit of strobe action going on lighting up his drumset, particularly during I'm Impressed ( video). They busted out a fair number of old songs for this show, actually, with It's Not My Birthday, James Ensor and the Famous Polka during the first set. After Puppet Head Flans reminisced about the first time they played at the TLA, and old us about the insufficient PA system they initially hired for the gig. "They were like bookcase speakers from your home, but they were way up on the ceiling, and the guy running the PA said 'They may look little, but they pack a punch.'" Before Particle Man Flans demonstrated proper Alabama clapping technique, holding one hand in front of you and hitting it with the other. Linnell broke into Elusive Buttefly of Love in the middle of Particle Man, and continued it even after the break with "Triangle man hates butterfly of love" and later "he hates that butterfly!"
During Ana Ng there were more funny faces made, this time by Flans and Dan. Also, not on the setlist they threw in Older; Marty was lit from below with red light, and Flans, Dan and Danny all went onto the risers behind him for most of the song. They finished up the first set with Mesopotamians, then Linnell waved goodbye and they took a short coffee break.
The break actually did seem rather short, surprisingly, and before I knew it there were more be-jumpsuited crew members plus Dan Miller making their way on stage. They were there, of course, for the TLA song, which they spelled out with their arms. There were other bizarre dance moves as well. They marched off stage, and Flans called the horns down off their riser to the front for the next song, which was Mr. Me.
Dan Miller rejoined the band for the next song, after a quick costume change. During Birdhouse there was more goofiness from Flans and Dan during the two guitars bit, with Flans chasing Dan backwards across the stage with his guitar. The Guitar was especially awesome because instead of the traditional Future of Sound solo, it was an awesome bass solo from Danny. I took a couple pictures, then decided to just record the whole thing ( video).
Before Purple Toupee, apparently Flans was having some kind of issues or pranks played on him via his monitor. He told us all to give Neil, the guy controlling the monitors, a "warm Philadelphia flipping-of-the-bird", and told him "fuck you very much". Then for whatever reason he took some sleigh bells over and gave them to Neil, who decided to put them to use during the song, coming out on stage to play them. He and Danny were really rocking out over in the corner there. Sax man Stan Harrison came down to play the intro to Spy, and both Linnell and Flans took turns directing the band for the "noise" part. I was excited to see the marching bass drum come out for Whistling in the Dark, since I've never seen it before.
It was time for band introductions, and either Flans was concerned about remembering everyone's name or he had a specific order in mind, because he wrote everyone's name down on the second setlist, and picked it up and folded it so he could read them during the intros. Marty was introduced as the king of the drums, and Flans commanded us to worship him; Dan began immediately, and convinced the rest of the band and crew to join in as well. And during Dr. Worm Marty was suitably intense during his drum solo, really going at it, standing on his chair, and being egged on by Flans who announced that Marty would ruin his best drum set for us (his drum set was far from ruined, but I don't doubt he might have to replace a few drum heads).
There was even an encore to this two-set show, which was awesome. Only Linnell and Flans came out, and Flans didn't even have a guitar, so I wondered what they would play, and was pleasantly surprised to hear Maybe I Know, which is one of the songs that if you asked me if I ever thought I'd hear them play it live, I'd say no way. But it was nice. And after that they called out Dan for the acoustic Istanbul solo, which was fantastic as usual. I don't know if they've been playing it at shows recently since they cut back playing it last year, but I took a video of it anyway, mostly for aliste. :D (video)
After the show there was of course mad grabs for setlists; one woman tore almost half of a setlist I had grabbed away from me, and after giving that one up as lost I was lucky enough to grab a second one, only the second page though. While waiting for the chance, one of the roadies had grabbed Danny's untouched beer; I guess someone down at the other end of the stage asked for it, but he didn't give it to them? In any case he came over to the other side of the stage and offered it to some girls who were trying to get setlists. They waved him off, but I thought "hell, I'll take a free beer", so I stuck out my hand and he gave it to me. Plus it was Danny's beer, even if he didn't drink it, heh. Then I had to chug it because they were shooing us outside, but I still managed to deliver a message of greeting from aliste to Dan, who told me, "Awesome!Give her my best."
It was definitely a fantastic show, and I loved seeing the horns. Glad I got to see them finally, it had been far too long!