TMBG in DC March 2003 Some bands tour with thirty dates every two years and make you feel that seeing the band live is more of a privilege than a right. Some bands charge fifty bucks or more so they can mask their lack of talent with fireworks. Some bands have the stage presence of an earthworm, post-high school science lab dissection. They Might Be Giants are a refreshing exception. For twenty bucks or less, you get confetti, accordions, stage gimmicks that rotate with alarming frequency, and a set list that never remains static. After touring for twenty years, They Might Be Giants manage to keep themselves interested in touring (and the audience interested in returning). John Flansburgh and John Linnell, the founding virtuosos of the band, never seem to stop writing. Dial-A-Song is a 1-800 hotline to demos of songs they are working on. At any given time, there are at least thirty unreleased songs floating somewhere in the minds of the Johns. Unlike many bands with a hit on college radio, New York's They Might Be Giants have staying power. If you show up looking for a bit of nostalgia, you've picked the wrong mixed tape memory. You're not even guaranteed to hear "Istanbul". In the northeastern US, hard-core Giants fans have the privilege of hearing fresh material at every show - material that may never be heard again and fall into legend. One of the perks of being a Giants fan is to be able to tell stories about the time you heard "Thunderbird" back in '99 and receiving a chorus of awe from the fans gathered around you. On March 1st, They Might Be Giants played a sold-out show at the 9:30 club in Washington, DC After their intro music, the two Johns and the Band of Dans (Dan Miller on guitar, Danny Weinkauf on bass, and Dan Hickey on drums) took the stage and went straight into "Santa Claus". They segued immediately into "James K. Polk" and many audience members expected the confetti canon to explode. After a few years of this routine, the Giants managed to trip up the audience by setting the canon off during the following song, "Bed Bed Bed". John Flansburgh admitted that the inside-out black shirt he was wearing was a They Might Be Giants t-shirt. An audience member tossed him an accessory to hide his shame: a black feather boa. Flansburgh gamely wrapped the boa around his neck and wore it for the remainder of the show. Halfway through the set, John Linnell left his keyboard and picked up his accordion to perform an unreleased song called "Au Contraire". The audience was wildly appreciative of hearing new material, but even more excited when he segued into "Destination Moon", a track from their album John Henry which hadn't been in concert rotation for years. Spin-the-Dial is a show staple where John Flansburgh turns on a radio and searches for songs on the local radio stations that the band can jam along to. This unrehearsable phenomenon can either turn out to be impressive or fall flat, depending on the radio stations themselves. On this particular evening in DC, Flansburgh tuned in to the Tears for Fears hit "Everybody Wants To Rule The World". After a few moments of fiddling, Dan Miller began playing the repetitive cascading guitar intro. John Linnell joined in on keyboards and the rest of the band followed while Flansburgh struggled to remember the exact lyrics. During three other songs ("Older", "Drink", and "Istanbul", which was not on the set list), Dan Miller managed to work the "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" riff into the openings. It began to frustrate Flansburgh to the point where he demanded, "Do you want to play this song or not?" Before playing a song from their best-known album, Flood, Linnell related a story about the previous night's show in Towson, Maryland. While browsing in a book shop near the venue, he overheard two girls discussing the show. One remarked that it would be cool except that they would "have to sit through all the crappy new shit." The audience, mostly devoted Giants fans, laughed at this heresy. The band performed two separate encores, including Apollo 18's "Fingertips", a song composed of 21 short themed sections. It seemed from the set list that they meant to return yet again, but the lights were shut off as soon as the unscheduled last song, "Istanbul", ended. John Flansburgh's overwhelming energy, Dan Miller's fluid guitar stylings, and the witty stage banter among the band were impressive to both first-time attendees and fans attending their fifty-fifth show. After twenty years of touring and recording, They Might Be Giants have lost none of their luster. In fact, they seemed to have gained talent which each passing year.