We caught They Might Be Giants in concert last night at southgate house. Unless I’m forgetting something this is my second time seeing them; the last being well over ten years ago. They put on a heck of a show, with everything you’d expect from them…a few classics, a few new songs, lots of humor, audience participation, and good a backing band. Since I haven’t listened to a new Giants CD in ages, the highlights for me were the Flood hits “Birdhouse in Your Soul”, “Particle Man”, and the closer, “Istanbul”. They also played “Twisting” and “Whistling in the Dark” so, Flood was really well represented.
Their opener (the real point of this post) was Oppenheimer, a synthy drum and guitar duet (Shaun and Rocky) from Belfast, Ireland. Their sound is a bit like a The Postal Service, but with more pep and cheer. At times I hear a Her Space Holiday tint to them, and other times something more along the lines of We Are the World Trade Center. I enjoy all these bands I’ve just drawn comparison to, so Oppenheimer hits the mark for me, too.
Speaking with Rocky after the show, he told me this was their third time to the area – second time at SGH and once at the Comet. They were thrilled with this show since their first gig at SGH had about 20 people standing around. Anyway, I picked up their CD and it’s under heavy rotation. (Yes, I actually bought a CD. I’ve all but given up that archaic practice, but I’ll still gladly fork over $15 if I can give it straight to the artist – instead of the store, the distributor, the label, etc.). If you like synth-pop that’s low on testosterone, check em out:
Oppenheimer – Saturday Looks Bad to Me
Oppenheimer – Breakfast in NYC
Tags: Music
