THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS
Music Hall of Williamsburg
Brooklyn, NY
January 25, 2015

SP-CMC-25 supercardioids > MM-EBM-1 battery box > Line In > Sony PCM-M10 > WAV
Mixed and mastered in SoundStudio (slight bass reduction) > FLAC

Setlist:
01 No Cops (intro)
02 Damn Good Times
03 Number Three
04 Letterbox
05 Erase
06 The Mesopotamians
07 Older
08 We're the Replacements
09 Hate the Villanelle
10 Spiraling Shape
11 Music Jail, Pt. 1 & 2
12 Fingertips
13 Madam, I Challenge You To A Duel
14 Istanbul (Not Constantinople)
15 Turn Around
16 Man, It's So Loud In Here
17 Cloisonné
18 Doctor Worm
19 Museum of Idiots
20 Nanobots
21 Call You Mom
22 Authenticity Trip
23 Birdhouse In Your Soul
24 Mr. Me
Encore 1:
25 With The Dark
26 Hey, Mr. DJ, I Thought You Said We Had A Deal
27 When Will You Die
Encore 2:
28 How Can I Sing Like A Girl
29 Cyclops Rock
30 Ana Ng

This was the first night of a monthly residence at MHoW for TMBG, and while most of them are scheduled as theme nights (songs from "Flood," songs from their revived Dial-a-Song service, etc.), this one had a freeform setlist. Extremely freeform, in fact: There were new songs ("Erase," "Music Jail," "Madam"), newish songs that hadn't been released yet ("Hate the Villanelle"), songs they'd never played live before ("Authenticity Trip") and plenty of songs they'd played before but rarely (the last time they played "Spiraling Shape" in NYC was at the same venue ten years earlier, when it was still called Northsix).

The set was a bit rough in places — Flans had to disappear for a bit to fix guitar issues during "Nanobots" and "Call You Mom," and Linnell forgot to sing an entire verse of "Mesopotamians" — but had great energy and some fun new arrangements. (The new version of "Istanbul" just gets better and better.) Tracks 15-27 feature the TMBG horn section of Stan Harrison, Curt Ramm, and Dan Levine, which is always a great addition.

Sound quality is okay — clear but a bit thin, which may be because of the mics. (This was only my second time using the SP-CMC-25s, and I'm thinking they may not be at their best capturing loud rock shows that need some midrange oomph.) The live mix, at least from my spot in the balcony, was also off, with the bass way too loud, so I reduced that ever so slightly during mastering.

Do not sell this (obviously), do buy all of TMBG's records (obviously), and do check out the rest of their Music Hall run if you find yourself in New York on the last Sunday of any month in 2015. March (and maybe April?) are sold out at this writing, but that still leaves another eight months in the year...