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John Flansburgh and John Linnell, who met while growing up in Lincoln, MA, make up the duo known as They Might Be Giants.
For some 40 years, the band has released numerous albums, covered several genres and even won two Grammys. Now TMBG is once again performing for their fans in the Commonwealth who have waited a long time to hear the band’s iconic sound live.
“We have a very, very enthusiastic fan base and they were ready to wait to come see us,” Linnell said. “Ticket holders overwhelmingly chose to hold on to their tickets and wait for the rescheduled shows."
The band was forced to hold off performing for over two years because of the pandemic. Flansburgh was also involved in a “pretty serious car accident” in June and has just gotten to the point where he can perform on stage, Linnell said. On top of that, Linnell is recovering from catching Covid last month.
Despite these setbacks, he says the duo is itching to play at a packed MASS MoCa in North Adams on Sept. 3 and two sold out shows at Royale in Boston on Sept. 15 and 16. With each performance, Linnell says people will experience TMGB in a way they never have before.
"We are we obviously are testing everybody's patience by continuing to make new albums and putting out new material," he says. "But a lot of people liked our new material too, so we feel like we're not pissing anybody off."
There will be something for old and new fans as the band will play material throughout their catalgue that spans 36 years. Setlists will include material from their latest album Book, which was released last fall, and songs from their most popular album Flood, released in 1990.
The project contains hits like “Istanbul (Not Constantinople)” and “Birdhouse in Your Soul.” Linnell even said there’s a special surprise in store for fans of the album.
“We learned how to play one song from the Flood album backwards,” Linnell said. “It was really hard to learn it and now we're committed, and we will at least impress ourselves if nobody else.”
Looking back at their career, Linnell says he credits the success of TMBG to never putting themselves in a specific category or box and letting their style speak for itself.
"We've just been kind of intuitively following our own path," he said. "[We] don't tend to kind of make general statements to each other about what it is we're trying to do. We just hear stuff we like and we go in that direction."
After making their way through Massachusetts, TMBG will stop in Vermont, New York, and Pennsylvania before heading out West for more shows. Tickets are available on their website.
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