TMBG in Asheville

They Might Be Giants played at the Orange Peel in Asheville last night. It was an incredible show.

First, the Orange Peel is almost too nice for a rock club. It's got hardwood floors, strong sound system, and no smoking. TMBG remarked several times throughout the show to the geek-heavy audience that they looked forward to playing there again. And keeping with their practice on the current tour, they played "The Orange Peel" ("I am an orange peel, you took the good part and threw me on the ground. I hate you for that"), which they wrote that afternoon before the show.

The Orange Peel maintains an impressive lineup of artists - they've got Sondre Lerche, Robert Earl Keen, and Badly Drawn Boy over three days next month. Sure, it takes a couple hours to get there, but sometimes, it's worth it.

Hearing TMBG live is completely different from the recorded experience. The musicians that comprise the "band of Dans" are so good, and they give the music a vibrance, tightness, and energy that you just don't get from the CD. Anytime I can go to a show and recognize nearly every song (I didn't know a new children's song that alphabetically lists nations of the world), I know I'm in for a good time.

The best ones were pretty much the standards - "Birdhouse in Your Soul," "Ana Ng," the new "Experimental Film," and "James K. Polk" (born in Mecklenburg county, as Linnell noted). A pleasant surprise was "Letterbox." "Particle Man" featured a segue into "Every Breath You Take" before breaking back into pure zydeco. They closed with the entire "Fingertips" suite!

TMBG is making most of their concerts available for purchase here. I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for the Asheville show.

Comments

[evil sid]

they did the COMPLETE "fingertips"?!?!?!
they're coming here next week, i think. i want to go so bad. but i cannot. poop.
what's that blue thing doing here?