concert report: TMBG @ House of Blues Boston, Day 2
Welp, it was an unexpected long time coming. After a bout with a really bad and weirdly existential case of post-concert depression, I've come back with a much happier disposition to report on Day 2 of the Boston gig, which was, of course, amazing. (Only an amazing concert would cause me such mental distress.)
Notes below!
In general, the band was on their A game. everyone seemed way more upbeat than the previous night, maybe because they wanted to put their all into the last show before "summer break" (as JL put it). I had a really good view of Linnell this time and he kept smiling throughout, it was really infectious.
The whole first set was so tight. Banger after banger after banger. My dream since getting back into the band was to see Statue and Palindrome live, so actually seeing them live barely felt real. The concertgoers I'd befriended that day agreed that if it'd been the only set, it still would've been one of the best concerts we'd ever been to. My only complaint is that it felt like it went by way too fast!
She's Actual Size live was actually life-changing. As reported on the wiki, Flans did a ton of experimental things with the vocal and it was stellar. (Not to mention he was right in front of me most of the time. Almost theatrical expressions of lovestruckness ensued on my end as we locked eyes for approximately 1 second.) If there's one full song recording from the show that I hope ends up online, I hope it's this one, because I purposely didn't record it so I could enjoy the crooning. Marty also did a really crazy drum solo at the end, which was fun.
Linnell went full evil villain with "GET RID OF SPIDER!" He would've made a great old time radio voice actor.
I never really liked The Guitar until I heard live recordings, and this performance was no different. With the horns and the on-stage energy, it's a whole different beast. I managed to capture this really unexpected and well-executed ad-lib from Flans:
The Eyeball EP representation in the second set was awesome, and I had so much fun shouting "LOOK ME IN THE EYEBALL" with the rest of the audience as if it weren't an obscure song to the rest of the world. I also love the super mundane laundry machine footage used for Glamour of Rock — it made me appreciate the humor of the lyrics a little more.
As if that weren't generous enough, we also got not one, but three Mink Car songs. Funnily enough, the only concert dream I've had about TMBG involved Drink!, so being able to participate in that was a very satisfying full circle moment.
I think I'm in the minority when I say I actually prefer the album version of Man, It's So Loud In Here to the more rock-oriented live version, but it still sounded great. I was hoping they'd use the venue's disco ball, though, but it's not a huge loss.
First time they've played Working Undercover For The Man this tour, too, which was a surprisingly fun audience participation song. I imagine, since the random Apollo 18 song appearances in Philly preceded the Apollo 18 set in Brooklyn, that the next shows could have Mink Car sets.
Ana Ng, Shoehorn with Teeth, and Lie Still Little Bottle appeared as a vague apology to those hoping for a Lincoln night:
Withered Hope is an encore for the super fans, and yet another example of the band's dedication to their front row. Some people were reciting the sample exactly on beat, it was really impressive. Linnell slayed the vocal.
At the end of the show, Flans yelled "HAPPY BIRTHDAY AND HAPPY PRIDE, SEE YOU LATER!", and then the band exploded into Doctor Worm. It felt like such a perfect ending to a perfect show. I actually took off my earplugs to really soak it all in.
So yeah. This was pretty much the best show it could've been. The only songs I feel like I missed were Snowball In Hell, Damn Good Times, and You Probably Get That A Lot, but if I had to trade those for the Mink Car and Eyeball representation, I'm totally fine with that.
