TMBG, you’ve done it again. The first show was a delightful in-store at a Borders bookstore. It was very cool to see such a stripped-down set. Just Flansy on geetar, Linnell on accordian, and Dan Miller playing accoustic guitar. Highlights: a country version of Boss of Me and Flansy’s impressive beatbox stylings. The kids of the slightly-aging hipsters there dug it as much as their parents.
The second show was the all ages concert at First Avenue (I missed the one Saturday night). Wasn’t the most impressive TMBG concert I’d ever seen - for whatever reason a little of the typical giants magic just wasn’t there - but dangit, it was still great. I was second row, directly under Flansy, and even though I came to the concert with a migraine and had a 4 hour drive back to Madison once the show was over, I still had a fantastic time. Dial-A-Song was a little off, but that was due to the utter suckiness of Minneapolis radio more than anybody else (they could only find DJs talking, not much music). Linnell didn’t play his sax, but he interacted with the crowd and band more than I’d seen before. The openers, Gregory Douglas, weren’t bad either.
Now for the really, really, really cool part. TMBG are playing a show with Dave Eggers. Here’s the copy:
Of course it has to be a Thursday night, it has to be in St. Paul and not Madison, and I’m sure I’ll have at least one exam the next day, but I’m getting to this show one way or another. The only way it could possibly be better is if it were hosted by Ira Glass and featured David Sedaris’ Billie Holiday impression. I’ll be in nerd heaven.
Anybody here have No! or their new record of previously unreleased stuff yet? What do you think?