They Might Be Giants – The Roundhouse, Chalk Farm

The third and final instalment of our Weekend of London Gigs. This was a ticket I bought way back in February 2023 – the gig was for the following November, but was cancelled due to illness, and rearranged for 12 months later.

The tour was to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Flood – but as the Johns pointed out, that album came out 34 years ago. They’ve been doing this tour on and off for four years.

In fact the show was officially billed as “Flood, Book and Beyond: An Evening with They Might Be Giants”. They played the whole of Flood, and only three songs from Book, their most recent album. I think I was happy with that ratio.

We had seats, which I think we needed after the previous two nights. Apart from the columns we had a good view (yes I know the columns are part of the Roundhouse thing, but surely they can find a way to get rid of them?)

The crowd was full of life. It was good to hear 3,000 people singing “Everybody wants prosthetic foreheads on their real heads” in unison.

The show was great, but the main talking point for me was Stellub – Sapphire Bullets of Pure Love played backwards. After they did it, there was an intermission and at the end of that they played the backwards version backwards on a big screen. I’ll have to see if I can upload a reverse version of this video.

 

Setlist 1:
• They Might Be Giants (video shown on screen)
• Synopsis for Latecomers
• Particle Man
• Meet James Ensor
• The Famous Polka
• Moonbeam Rays
• Letterbox
• Twisting
• Someone Keeps Moving My Chair
• Whistling in the Dark
• The Darlings of Lumberland
• Let Me Tell You About My Operation
• When Will You Die
• Road Movie To Berlin
• Women & Men
• Your Racist Friend
• Stellub
• Brontosaurus

  Setlist 2:

• Sapphire Bullets of Pure Love (recording of the earlier Stellub played backwards)
• Hearing Aid (alternative version recorded for this tour – video shown on screen)
• Memo To Human Resources
• Man, It’s So Loud in Here
• Minimum Wage
• We Want A Rock
• Hot Cha
• Where Your Eyes Don’t Go
• Lucky Ball and Chain
• Spy
• Last Wave
• Mammal
• Dead
• Theme From Flood
• Birdhouse in Your Soul

  Encore 1:

• Istanbul (Not Constantinople)
• Can’t Keep Johnny Down

  Encore 2:

• Doctor Worm

Tuesday 19 November 2024, 113 views

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