They Might Be Giants

Finally. I have time to write an article about the They Might Be Giants concert I went to at the Lincoln Theatre in Raleigh.

First, I must just say that it was awesome. Just spectacular: the lighting, the music, the energy: everything was perfect.

I went with Ashwin, Leigha, and Andy. We met up for dinner at Lilly's pizza in Raleigh first, and then Andy drove us to the Lincoln. A fellow from Texas named Corn Mo opened for them, and he was kind of odd. He played the accordion and sang sexually charged songs. His last song was doubtless the best. It was a cover of We Are the Champions by Queen. I approved wholeheartedly, because he played it with an accordion.

Then it was time for They Might Be Giants They played 28 songs, including Particle Man, Birdhouse in Your Soul, Experimental Film, New York City, Ana Ng, She's an Angel, Doctor Worm, James K. Polk, and The End of the Tour, to name a few. I was about ten feet away from the stage: just close enough to feel the energy firsthand. Also, well within the range of the confetti cannons; I was waste-deep in little rectangles of red and white paper.

This is the first rock concert I've been to with an appreciation for theatrical lighting. As such, I was wowed by the automated fixtures they had in action. There were four Technobeams (there were actually more, but only four of them were used). These are fixtures that use a little mirror on a motorized swivel head to reflect their light in all sorts of different directions around the room. In addition, they have inside them a variety of goodies, including a color wheel, a set of conventional gobos with spinners, and a set of glass gobos with spinners. These lights moved sixty different ways, and produced hundreds of different effects throughout the show. There were also four moving head fixtures. These work more like you would think a moving light works: the whole housing actually moves around and points at different things. They also had color wheels within them, and they were used for washlight. When the audience walked in, they were colored in blue and pointed into our eyes.

That was it for the automated fixtures, but they also had a decent number of conventional lights. Four or five sets of backlight PAR 64s, a pair for sidelight from the front, and a few other conventionals (I think they were ellipsoidals) directed at the audience. Plus, of course, the follow spots. There were two.

What amazed me most, though, was that all of this was controlled from the exact same lighting console as we have at my high school.

I realize I've talked more about the lights than I have about the band. I can't really think of much more to say about the band. Really, you had to be there to understand quite how awesome it was. My brother Andy said it was the best concert he'd ever been to. I've been to exactly three, and so saying something like that would be accurate but patently meaningless.