Last week I was presented with a rare opportunity: I went out and had fun. What makes it even more unusual: I got to go to Knoxville to see a They Might Be Giants concert!
For those of you who are unfamiliar with this eclectic band, they sing the theme song to the Fox hit show “Malcolm in the Middle.” Definitely not their best song, so if you don’t like it, don’t knock them for that tiny taste of their broad range of style.
Apparently, TMBG and I go way back, and I didn’t even know it.
Originally from New York City, the band has been together for going on 16 years. When I was 9 I was a big fan of the cartoon show “Tiny Toons” (familiar, anyone?). There is one episode that has always stuck in my mind – the entirely musical one, where the cartoon characters ran around while music played, kind of like a kiddie music video, with no dialogue, just … music and some anvils dropping out of the sky. And guess whose music rocked the “Tiny Toons?” They Might Be Giants!
And so, that is how I could sing along with some of their older songs, such as “Particle Man” and “Istanbul.”
You probably know the lyrics, too: “Even old New York/Was once New Amsterdam/Why they changed it I can’t say/Maybe they liked it better that wayyyy!”
Now, before I start in on the TMBG details, I’ve actually got to applaud the opening band, a snazzy little group named OKGO out of Chicago.
As music lovers know, this is highly unusual, since nobody pays to hear the opening band and the probablility that they are going to suck runs pretty high. However, OKGO was the rare exception.
They were not only extremely tight, musically, but they had a definite stage presence that made the audience laugh, cheer and clap. They even sang and performed a little blip from Les Miserables, complete with fake musket guns. It was kitschy.
And it didn’t hurt a bit (for the ladies, anyway) that the lead singer looked like a younger, spunkier version of Mick Jagger, minus the freaky lips and heavy-metal wailing.
I snagged a CD for $3, but it should be hitting music stores on June 11, if anyone’s interested. Definitely not run-of-the-mill, but then again, if you like TMBG, then that’s exactly what you’re looking for.
As for the Giants themselves, they rocked the Bijou theater. They bounced around on stage, heckled the audience (especially the really drunk guy that kept yelling in the back) and pulled some neat stunts like releasing brightly colored confetti during a particular song.
Hey, it doesn’t take much to make my night anymore, I just want to forget about my responsibilities for a few precious hours.
They mostly played new material, off of their latest CD Mink Car, such as my personal favorite, “I’ve Got a Fang,” which starts off with the lyrics: “Glistening white triangular tooth/Open up a can of tomato juice/I’ve got a fang.”
The Giants are not known for their relevance to anything tangible. That’s why we like ’em.
They also did something that we’re still trying to figure out if it was rigged or not. One of the lead guys brought out a radio, which they had hooked up to the speakers, and announced that the band would attempt to play along with whatever they found when they changed stations.
Wouldn’t you know it, one of the first stations was a Christian evangelist talk show, one of the only ones they didn’t attempt to play. They just made fun of it. They did end up finding the oldies station and picking up in the middle of a Beatles song, and then later on a Creed song, which they changed the lyrics to, naturally.
For you TMBG fans who are parents, the band has a kid’s CD coming out in June titled No!. I don’t know really what’s on it, but you can look it up on the Internet.
I clapped till my hands hurt, which didn’t take much since I had tripped while running full speed earlier that day and had a stigmata-esque scraping on my left hand. I didn’t care (much). It was a great concert. It’s been two years since they played in Knoxville – who knows how long till they come back? So in the meantime, I guess it’s a good thing my readers can live vicariously through me.
On a sweet last note, a couple that were up next to the stage had just gotten married that day. The band actually played “First Kiss” for them, which was pretty sweet considering what smartasses they tend to be. Awwww.
Life is good. And so are They Might Be Giants.

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