This was my first TMBG show (I've been a huge fan for only the past year-and-a-half, since I received the Dial-A-Song anthology as an early Christmas present in December 2002), and I could barely contain my excitement. The ground floor was standing-room only. My mother (who had bought the tickets to this show as an early birthday present for me) and I had arrived early enough that we were able to stake ourselves a good position in the 2nd row, just to the left of Linnell's keyboard.

Opening act #1: Common Rotation (from NYC), 8-8:20 pm
Great sound, great harmonies, cool and funny lyrics; this was their 1st Omaha show, and their 2nd tour with the Giants. Consists of 3 guys: a lead singer (who commented at one point that Sokol "was the only venue we could find that isn't owned by Clear Channel!"), a singer-guitarist, and a guy who went from 2nd guitar to bass to trumpet. Songs included snappy odes to the music industry, the civil war in Northern Ireland, Hollywood, the Strokes, and drinking, as well as covers of Lyle Lovett's "God Will" (during which the lead singer threw in a reference to lying about "weapons of mass destruct") and the Giants' "Hey Mr. DJ, I Thought You Said We Had a Deal". The lead singer sort of reminded Mom and me of my sister's boyfriend; at least twice, Mom said she could see why the Giants would have these guys open for them.

Opening act #2: Corn Mo (Texas-born, lives in Brooklyn), 8:25-8:55 pm
Solo act, mentioned that his real name is John, that TMBG are his heroes, and that this was his 1st Omaha show. Paunchy guy in a white suit, plays the accordion; still not sure what to make of the guy, but my first impression of him was that he was like Meat Loaf-meets-Weird Al. Opened with a song called "It's Lollipop Time" or something like that; other tunes included an ode to his 8th-grade girlfriend, a song about being mistaken for Gary Busey, a tune about making out at the mall, a song dedicated to his late great-uncle (who had "lost his inhibitions" after suffering a stroke and started saying things he never would've said before, if you catch my drift), a tune about a kid who takes a leak on another kid, a cover of "Freebird" (after some doofus shouted out a request for it -- since Common Rotation had jokingly suggested covering the song during their set but didn't actually go through with it), and a cover of "We Are the Champions" (in which he encouraged the audience to sing along, and launched into a deliriously profane speech midway through). Funniest comments: "Thank you for puttin' up with me" (after the 2nd number); near the end of his set, he likened getting to tour with the Giants to "Marky Mark gettin' to tour with Steel Dragon."

The Giants 9:20-10:45 pm ("Experimental Film" to "End of the Tour"); plus 15-20 minutes of encores
The Johns opened up with this number (possibly improvised, chanted over a techno beat):
"Sokol Auditorium
Auditorium
Sokol Auditorium
Auditorium
Psychedelic light show

"Sokol Auditorium
Auditorium
Sokol Auditorium
Auditorium
Omaha Nebraska

"Sokol Auditorium
Auditorium
Sokol Auditorium
Auditorium
Next to the Kum 'n' Go"

Then they performed the first 3 cuts from the new album, The Spine:
"Experimental Film"
"Spine"
"Memo to Human Resources."

"The Guitar", during which they held a front-row dance contest; the winner received a Planet of the Apes model kit.

Next up, 3 Linnell numbers:
"Birdhouse in Your Soul"
"Bastard Wants to Hit Me" (from the new album)
"James K. Polk" (complete with confetti cannon).

Before going into another new song, "Wearing a Raincoat," Linny jokingly suggested listening to the new album (which, believe it or not, was being sold at the merchandise stand 2 days before its scheduled release date) between songs so we, the audience, could familiarize ourselves with the new material.

"Meet James Ensor", for which Linnell brought out his accordion; afterwards. Flansburgh mentioned that the previous day had been new drummer Marty Beller's birthday.

"Prevenge" (Flansy lip-synched the bridge)
"Robot Parade" (NO! version)

Before the next song -- "Violin", another song on which Linny played accordion -- Flansy explained that they would be having us do a "wave" midway through the song, and he had us go through it a few times to make sure we would get it right. He commented about how strange it was to playing a gig on a Sunday, "a day of temperance," when they were so used to playing for drunk people most of the time. So then band went into the song, and we did "the wave"; Flans said it was "totally perfect", the first time during the tour that a wave had been so well-executed.

"New York City", before which Flansburgh got to mention that it was originally written and recorded by a Vancouver band called Cub. (I think he'd said something on the Gigantic: A Tale Of Two Johns DVD commentary about how he liked to close shows with this song but regretted how it was always too awkard for him to mention that it was a cover song at the end of a show.)

Next up, out came the big radio for SPIN THE DIAL! Flansy took a vote as to whether he should start at the left end (with "the Christian rock and the NPR") or the right end ("with the light jazz"). The right side won (whoo!), and Flans first stopped at a hip-hop/R&B station; I didn't recognize the R&B song that was playing at the time, but he just made up a little tune: "I'm singin' like the guy on American Idol..." He passed over Pat Benatar's "Shadows of the Night" (Retro 106.9, '80s hits) and Paul McCartney's "Maybe I'm Amazed" (CD 105.9, "classic rock"), finally landing on Super Hits 99.9; the Rolling Stones' "Brown Sugar" started up, and he broke into a huge grin. He shut off the radio, and he and the band performed at least a verse and a chorus of the song. (I found this especially comical, since I've read somewhere that the Johns don't even like the Rolling Stones that much.)

"Older", during which Linny pointed to the audience as he sang "You're older than you've ever been, and now you're even older..."

"It's Kickin' In", still another song from the new album.

Linnell brought out his accordion again for:
"Particle Man"
"Drink!"
"The Famous Polka" (done as an instrumental, without the lyrics)
A 2nd, much faster version of "Famous Polka" (no singing on this one, either)
"She's an Angel"
During both versions of "Famous Polka", Flansburgh held his guitar out to the first 2 rows so other people could strum it; I was certainly close enough, but I got crowded out by some over-eager people with longer arms who were standing behind me!

Before Linny went into "Au Contraire", Flansy warned us about the use of French words in the song. "We know that's controversial ... among people who don't think things through," he said.

"Twisting"
Flans doing the band intros (and calling Sokol "the greatest rock venue of all time!")
"End of the Tour"

1st ENCORE:
The band came back out and did "John Lee Supertaster"; and Linnell mentioned that this was the first time they had ever headlined a show in Omaha!

"Stalk of Wheat," the 9th and final song they performed from the new album, with Linny on accordion and Flansburgh on maracas.

Linnell stayed on accordion, and lead guitarist Dan Miller moved over to the keyboard for a reprise of the "Sokol Auditorium" thing, as well as "Dr. Worm" (probably my mom's least favorite TMBG song, after "Istanbul"). The band left the stage again, and the crowd started shouting for "Istanbul", while I was literally screaming for "Fingertips."

2nd ENCORE:
The band came back out and did "Clap Your Hands."

"Why Does the Sun Shine", on which Linny did the singing, and Flansy did the talking parts; at one point he said something like, "The heat and light of the sun come from the nuclear reactions between Elkhorn, Bellevue, Fremont, and Papillion!" -- which got a huge cheer from the crowd.

And finally, "Fingertips"!!! featuring Miller and both Johns on vocals.

After the show (around 11:15 pm or so):
My feet hurt, my back was killing me, and I was feeling so hot and dehydrated I thought I would pass out. But I couldn't care less, because I had seen MY FIRST THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS SHOW, and it was AWESOME!!! The Johns were SO funny, and SO full of energy. Linnell was all smiles throughout the show (and what a smile on him!); he looked like was really into the whole thing. And just watching Flansburgh as he moved about the stage, I got exhausted.

Mom and I spotted the Common Rotation boys over behind the merchandise counter; we had been so impressed with their set, we asked them to autograph one of our ticket stubs; they complimented the Bob Dylan T-shirt I was wearing, and they were further impressed by the fact that the first rock show I ever attended was a Dylan show (where I had gotten the shirt, in April 2000 at the Civic Auditorium, BTW). At that point, although I happened to have some money with me, I hadn't planned on buying anything -- but Mom pointed out to me that Flansy was behind the counter, helping to sell some TMBG stuff. What a surprise! I hastily shelled out $20 for an extra-large Indestructible Object T-shirt; Mom suggested that I ask for his autograph right then and there, but he informed me that he wouldn't be signing anything until people were done buying stuff. I thanked him then, and Mom and I waited a bit until the merchandise stand closed.

We got in line for autographs and pictures, and when Flans got to us, I stuck out my hand and said, "Pleased to meet you, finally." He shook my hand and said it was nice to meet me, too. "Excellent show," I told him -- and HE thanked US for coming to the show! He signed my Dial-A-Song anthology booklet, and he put his arm around me so Mom could take a picture of us. He was so incredibly sweet! He may come across as a larger-than-life rock god on the stage, but in person he can be quite nice and down-to-earth. A perfect end to a perfect evening.

P.S.: Yes, ladies, the Johns and the Dans are just as cute in person as they were in Gigantic; and Marty ain't bad either.

P.P.S.: Mom took some pictures of the opening acts and the Johns during the show, as well as the aforementioned pic of Flansy and me, but it may be awhile before she has them developed. And even then, I'll have to scan them into the computer before I can upload them. I can't even guarantee at this point that the pix are going to be any good, but I'm hoping they are, and I'm hoping that I'll be able to post them as soon as possible.

i'm glad you had so much fun, GR.

i skipped all the stuff about what songs they did, cuz i wanna be surprised tomorrow. i read the 'after the show' stuff though. (i'll read the whole thing when i get back) i'm glad you got your pic taken with Flans, & that you got a shirt. make your Mom go one hour the pix!

i guess i'm next, huh?

You sure are... Hope you have a great time at this show!

As for the pix, Mom has to finish out the roll before she can take the film in to be developed. My sister and her boyfriend are supposed to come over this weekend, so she'll probably want to take some pictures of Caleb.

well, that's not too long to wait.

i'm a little excited. it probably won't really sink in till we hit the road. 5 1/2 hours in a car full of people does something to you.

Not counting Spin The Dial or the "Sokol Auditorium" thing, they played 29 songs. I did a breakdown of how many songs they did from each album :

self-titled: 1
Lincoln: 0
Flood: 3
Misc. T: 2 (both "Famous Polka", but different versions)
Apollo 18: 2
John Henry: 2
Factory Showroom: 2
Severe Tire Damage: 2
Long Tall Weekend: 1 ("Older")
Mink Car: 1
NO!: 4
The Spine: 9

A pretty good mix overall.

i don't know how many songs they did at our show.

Wow; thanks for keepin' track of everything during the show, to produce such a detailed report for all of us! *hugs* Wow; that sounded absolutely beautiful.. man... just, wow.. xD Lucky; I wanna hear She's an Angel live. :3:3

...I LOVE TMBG!!! *Squeaksquealexcitement*

Chinny. And -- I'm glad you liked it.

This other guy who was at the show is one of the founders of TMB Wiki (tmbw.net), and he posted his own review there. (I also know him from the TMBG Club Yahoo! group.) Here's the link:

A second opinion

i just skimmed his review. the show he was referring to at the end was in Columbia MO, not Columbus. he was right though, it was a great one to go to if you wanted to talk to Flans.

i hate when they run you out of the venue right away like that. poor guy. the trick is to buy your stuff at the end of the show, not before the show. that way you can say... "but i gotta buy a t-shirt".

All I can say is, I'm glad I waited until after the show to buy something. And I probably wouldn't have gotten anything if I hadn't seen Flansy working behind the merch counter. (How could I say "no" to that sweet face? )

that's how they stick it to ya.

i got up there & he said "what do you want" & i said, "i don't know, i gotta find out what the kids want". i always gotta think on it a bit. he waited patiently though. (good thing he did, since he got like 70 bucks from me)

ps... if you hadn't at least bought a t-shirt, i woulda had to come over there. you've wanted one forever.

did your Spine CD & EP ever come?

In my case, Flansy kept saying, "Cash is king! Who's got cash??" Having bought $30 worth of CDs a couple of weeks prior, I wasn't sure if should be spending any more of my "mad money" right then and there or if I should wait until something better came along, and it hit me that it truly wouldn't get much better than that. So I gave him my $20 bucks and asked for an extra-extra-large Indestructible Object shirt; I guess he had a hard time hearing me, because he had to ask me if I meant "the blue ones" (I did) and he gave me an extra-large (but they might have been out of XXL by then, if they had that size at all). I should mention that by then, I had just about blown my voice out screaming "All right, Flansy!" "Yeah, Linny!" and "Fingertips!!!" during the Johns' set.

My CD and EP still haven't come -- I don't think UPS even delivers on weekends. But even if my stuff did get shipped out until Friday, when I got that confirmation e-mail, it could still come in Monday or Tuesday. I suspect that some pre-orders were delayed because the EP artwork wasn't quite finished last Tuesday, when they were supposed to ship out. On the other hand, though, some of the people in Google's TMBG News Group who have already received their pre-orders said that their EPs didn't come with a booklet, just a little note teling them to e-mail Operator Dot so she'll send them the EP artwork as soon as it's ready. (Hopefully, by the time they shipped mine out, they DID have the artwork ready and my EP will already come with a booklet. )