THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS

Pearl Street

November 4

Consider the following, and then consider that last Sunday’s They Might Be Giants concert might have been this fall’s best, an energetic mix of performance and skillful musical presentation.

In the late 1980’s, there was something that might be called a college-rock revolution. Groups that had previously gotten airplay only on campus radio stations, who had made careers of aggressively touring, got a brief recognition from the corporate world. Few things united the groups – REM, a Tribe Called Quest and Red Hot Chili Peppers couldn’t be more different – but corporate America took a sudden interest in groups that had significant reputations but little promotion beyond their own.

The aforementioned groups made it big, capitalizing on a loyal fan-base with more pop-friendly albums that appealed to wide segments of the population. REM’s Out of Time and Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Blood Sugar Sex Magik both succeeded based on a fan-base that was sure to eat up the album and an American public that could digest the band’s newest material.

They Might Be Giants, two New Yorkers who had achieved nominal success with their self-titled first album and Lincoln, had that same opportunity. Originally on Bar/None Records, they were signed by Elektra and had the opportunity to release an album that would win them a popular audience and a presumably thus successful career. Instead, they released Flood. Although it contained the band’s two most known songs, “Istanbul, not Constantinople,” and “Particle Man,” and eventually went gold, it ultimately failed to get the band over with a fickle American audience.

And then: grunge. Clearly the next big thing, corporations abandoned their college-rock projects, instead plunging their time and money into Mudhoney and Screaming Trees. Which left corporate projects like TMBG to twist idly in the wind, which is exactly what they did. John Henry and Factory Showroom dropped to moderate response from anybody other than the group’s loyal fan base. Contract finished, TMBG returned to indie-powerhouse Restless Records.

With such a twisted history, there is no reason for They Might Be Giants to care anymore. Both John Flansburgh and John Linnell had been jerked around by corporate America, shunned by consumer America and ignored by critical America. They are both nearing 40. Yet, when the band takes the stage, surprise; there hasn’t been a performance in the area more scintillating in at least six months.

Frankly, They Might Be Giants’ performance at Pearl Street last Sunday was everything that anybody could have wanted from a show: the biggest hits, the newest songs, inspired interaction with the crowd, gimmicked performance tricks and an undercurrent of musicality that few bands take the time to show off. Instead of blowing off western Massachusetts, TMBG praised NoHo, calling it their “home away from home.”

Playing to support the group’s newest album Mink Car, They Might Be Giants debuted the depressingly catchy “Drink,” the catchy-as-can-be “Bangs,” and “Cyclops Rock.” Giants also played “Man, It’s So Loud in Here,” a decidedly un-Giants song. With a heavy disco beat – and disco balls on either side of Pearl Street spinning white lights around the room – “Here” showed that the band is hardly falling back on its old, quirky habits. But while similarly crediting the band with creativity, the show’s crowd was informed and participatory. Most of the fans knew the lyrics to the newest songs, indicating that the classy fans, who knew when to play along and when to jump around, were the band’s most loyal.

Giants also played some of the traditional favorites, including Flood’s “Birdhouse in Your Soul” and “Dead,” Lincoln’s “Lie Still, Little Bottle,” and Miscellaneous T’s “The Famous Polka.” The crowd popped huge for each of the songs, listening to live versions of songs that were, in almost every case, better than the original album versions, notably the soulful performance of “Dead.” From the band’s debut album, Flansburgh told a story of performing at Pearl Street in 1986, getting knocked off stage before it got to perform “Don’t Let’s Start.” To rectify that missed opportunity, TMBG rocked out a newer version of the song that featured a more textured musical performance.

There were other truly Giants moments at the show: the band covered local radio stations, the band’s drummer played 10 different styles at the command of Flansburgh, the new guitarist played Eddie Van Halen’s guitar style, John and John’s admonition of clove-cigarette smokers.

Ultimately however, it was the band’s clear love of the music and the fans that made the show amazing. Clearly enjoying the songs they’ve played a thousand times before, clearly enjoying a crowd that would have done whatever the band commanded, clearly enjoying a romantically small atmosphere where the band could be truly individualistic.

Oh, and as for They Might Be Giants professional struggles for success? At one point during the show, while joking with the audience, one of the two Johns said there was the “easy way, and the They Might Be Giants way.” They both sort of smirked, they both sort of laughed, they both sort of smiled, and then They Might Be Giants started playing again.