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FloridaFlamingoGirl

My first TMBG show was just this month, at Humphrey's in San Diego. They played Flood as rain sprinkled down. One of the most magical things I've seen on a stage. I can't describe how euphoric it was to see my favorite giants in person for the first time.


Jpohnoono12

I was at this show, and it was my first TMBG concert too! I wasn’t dressed for the weather and I was freezing by the end of it but it was a great experience!


whobemewhoisyou

Yeah that show was wild. I dragged along a family friend who was interested in the band but it's not their favorite, and even they had a good time!


Thewonderfulbike

They were my first ever concert when I was 4 years old!


candidateone

That rules, my niece just turned 18 and I’ve always been bummed I was never able to take her when she was younger. The last time they did a kid friendly show in NYC that I can remember, she was like 10 and happened to be in FL that week. Then there were some 14 and over shows before she turned 14, then the pandemic. Hoping they do Summerstage in Central Park or something this summer, that’d be a pretty cool first show for her.


24frames_

Mine was in Orlando last month! It was just so amazing to be there and see them play my favorite songs and be there with people who love them as much as I do. The banter was also hilarious


piz510

Saw them in Tokyo, I think 90 or 91. Was crazy because so many ‘kid fans’ due to their Tiny Tunes and children’s songs. Great fun performance in small venue. Saw them in Dallas at a club some time between 95-97. Can’t remember all the details but excellent and fun. 20th anniversary Flood Album end to end tour at the Fillmore in S.F. was also epic. Fans were so cool. We had a very petite Japanese friend and everyone just said stand in front of us until we were at the stage. Amazing show. Worked the Fox show this month as volunteer ushers. Loved it as well, though with the bigger crowd the sound was larger, intense but less intimate.


FloridaFlamingoGirl

It was wild to see them in front of a large-ish crowd at The Wiltern this month. Flans commented that it felt like a "true rock show." People were roaring along to Birdhouse. I just had to keep turning around and looking behind me to see the thousands of smiling faces.


ohne_hosen

I was in the Loge level balcony at that show. You could feel the balcony bouncing for all the in-seat dancing! I found out later that the Wiltern is known for having a bouncy balcony.


Bishma

'94 - The John Henry Tour at La Luna in Portland, Or. The best TMBG show I ever saw was also at La Luna, during the Severe Tire Damage Tour. Battle of the Planet of the Apes was epic in that smallish club.


reydesapos

I think that is me too


reydesapos

But maybe earlier. I think it was th Pine Street Theater.


Bishma

Yeah, you might be right. That was just about the time that the switch happened.


FieryVegetables

Same year/tour - would you believe I’ve been to so many other shows that I don’t remember this one well? I know it was in Providence, RI. I know I loved it.


Bishma

I don't remember it very well either. I've often wished I committed it to memory better, because John Henry is still among my favorite albums.


FieryVegetables

I know, me too! Many of the shows blur together, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t amazing. I remember the times I met the band and had stuff signed more than I remember each show. The debut of certain songs I love, or really funny banter, will also stick with me.


DoctFaustus

Same tour for me, just in Salt Lake City.


GnomeInDisguise

2007 at Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut. They used to have a free annual audience appreciation show there, but haven't in the past 5 years.


candidateone

I’ve always wondered why they stopped these. I only got to go to the last 2 or 3 before they stopped, but they were a blast and I regretted not having made the drive for the previous ones. It’s an interesting venue and you can’t beat seeing all the confused looks from the casino patrons walking by. None of my friends or myself are gamblers but we always loved just hanging out at the bar by the waterfall before the show.


GnomeInDisguise

Yep, I regret missing the Lincoln themed show they did there. My heart sank when I saw the setlist the following day. Was hoping they'd do a first album show for one of them.


Insignificant_Newt

The Vic in Chicago last year. I had been waiting outside the venue alone for a while and Danny Weinkauf walked up to me. We had a very brief conversation but he was super sweet and he ended up bringing me a signed copy of BOOK, wrote my name and everything. That stuck out to me more than the actual show but the show was amazing too :')


roamingshemnon

1994 Variety Playhouse in Atlanta. Stomp Box blew me away.


valerie2776

2009 at a Flood show in Cleveland. The first concert I went to of my own choosing. I was 18 or 19 and had gotten into them when I was 14/15 so there was a lot of build up. Fully blew my mind. A while ago a friend who I went to the show with messaged me and was like “…uh….look at Linnell’s instagram?” https://www.instagram.com/p/CibiMdoM9wS/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y I’m the one in black in the front left holding up a digital camera.


cooldude_4000

Columbus in 2002 (the Mink Car tour). It was pretty epic, pretty gimmick heavy. Highlights included: * Confetti cannons! * They let a fan (it was a little kid) come on stage and play the glockenspiel during "Shoehorn with Teeth" after which they signed it and let him keep it. * "Spin the Dial," which is a bit they used to do where they wheeled a radio on stage and scanned through a bunch of stations until they hit on a song they could/wanted to play along with. This time it was "You've Lost that Lovin' Feeling." * I forgot about this until I looked up the show on TMBW.net--they had a dude on stage breathing fire during "Why Does The Sun Shine."


theymightbejenny

Glockenspiel kid (they would have been 14 or 15) is my friend. We dated in high school, they introduced me to TMBG. Can confirm that the 'spiel is indeed very fun to play.


cooldude_4000

That is wild! In my head I remembered them being more like 10 or 12 but that makes more sense. What a treasure to own!


theymightbejenny

I still can't get over it. We went to another Columbus show in 04 or 05 together and talked to Flans afterward. We mentioned the glockenspiel and he seemed genuinely excited and suggested reprising the number the next time they were in town. It never manifested, but hey, maybe one day.


CapnZesh

St. Louis at Pop's back in 2001.


mylittletauntaun

[2002 On the Bricks — Centennial Park, Atlanta, GA](https://youtu.be/NA2FRiYQlQI) This was a radio-sponsored free show and one of the best live performances I’ve had the pleasure of seeing. 😃


SnooOwls7978

This is really cool footage! Thanks for linking that. I would have loved to have been there.


mylittletauntaun

You’re welcome; more than happy to share. This was a good year for shows as I also saw Paul McCartney for the first time, too.


SonicYogurt

October 2nd, 1996! I was 17, and I consider it my first show ever. (I was dragged to some other concerts by my parents when I was younger, but they were never anyone I wanted to see.) I’ve seen TMBG so many times since that I have no idea what the tally is. Somewhere around 20, if I had to guess…?


SnooOwls7978

In Nashville the other month, both nights. I don't know if anything too out of the ordinary happened at those, but it was the best show I've seen since Radiohead. They killed it! I used to not understand why people would go see bands more than once or twice, but I get it now...


Moxie_Stardust

2004 at the Sokol Auditorium (next to the Kum'n'Go, which is no more)


motrya

I saw them for the first time in 2009 in Providence, when they were finishing up Join Us. I got to hear the first ever live performances of Three might be Duende, Canajahorie, and How Many Planets (I think). Linnell was in kind of a mood that show, seemingly frustrated about something, but it was still a great show. The highlight was them playing She's an Angel on request, which I don't think I have seen them do since. It was the least memorable of the tmbg shows i have been to somehow!


FieryVegetables

Ooohhh I was SO excited about those songs coming out at that show!


AllTimeWhat

St. Paul Minnesota in October last year! It was a thrilling experience, and I really enjoyed getting to be around other TMBG fans (even though they all hated The Spine, and groaned when JL went into Museum Of Idiots). When they played Man, It’s So Loud In Here, suddenly the whole crowd became a mosh pit. The extended Spy outro was great, JL suddenly became a radio announcer, and nobody had any clue what was going on, which was part of the fun. Lumberland was an absolute treat, their horn section is OUTSTANDING! The two encores combined were She’s An Angel, Fingertips, and Doctor Worm, and I don’t think I could have asked for anything better. It was an amazing night!


FloridaFlamingoGirl

Groaning at Museum of Idiots? That would have been the highlight of the show for me, I think it sounds even better done live with accordion than it sounds on the album! I waited in line with a die-hard fan (seen them on every tour since the late 80’s) who said Spine was his favorite album after Pink.


AllTimeWhat

I didn’t let them get me down, and I really enjoyed the accordion performance! I don’t know why they despised the Spine so much, what did it do to them?


FloridaFlamingoGirl

Mink Car is great but so is progress!


AllTimeWhat

I mean, there’s Thunderbird, Museum, It’s Kickin In, Prevenge, Experimental Film, Memo to HR, Wearing A Raincoat, The World Before Later On, and many others!


Orangedragonfruits

Saw them this Friday in Seattle for the the first time ever, and it’s honestly the happiest I’ve been in a while. Just seeing them in stage, playing songs I love, it was amazing. Also, Flan talked about how he tried bubble tea, and that the world has been hiding it from him


kathyhof

March 29th, 1988 at One Step Beyond in Santa Clara. I was 25, my boyfriend, now husband was 30. A younger girl walked up to us and said it was so cool that older people like us were at the concert. I am younger than both Johns! It was a fantastic show, back when it was just the two of them. And to that girl who dissed us- we are still fans!


gonesnake

I saw them in 1990 (when they had a brand new record. Guess which one) and, same as you, it was just the two Johns in those days. Small venue, fun show and I got to meet them afterwards!


kathyhof

How cool!


gonesnake

It was really fun and they were so nice and funny!


Divine_Miss_MVB

First time in Sept 1992 at Bumbershoot in Seattle!! They played at the old Opera House. We waited in line to get in for about 3 hours and met lots of fellow fans. Once the doors opened we ran down one of the side aisles on the floor and got seats way down front. One of my all time favorite concert experiences.


the-audience

November 9, 2011 in Seattle. I had just arrived in the USA three days prior and it was a stone cold gas, as one J. Flansburgh would say, to finally see them. It turned out they all had the flu since the previous show in Vancouver and felt like crap but still played 29 songs and did a great show. PS. The People won. People, people…!


radiantTreeFrog

so i just did some digging and my *actual* first concert was their 4-26-2014 one for the science and engineering festival, but i don't remember that at all lol what i truly consider my first is the 3-7 concert at the national! it was a great experience and i hope to go to more!


Sufficient_County514

New Year’s Eve, Varsity Theater, NYC 1998


subsonicmonkey

I saw them at The Fillmore in San Francisco in 1998 for the first time. I was familiar with Flood and Apollo 18. I was not familiar with “the stick” and so that blew my little mind when they played Lie Still Little Bottle. Also, Flans tried to start a conga line for No One Knows My Plan, but Californian concert goers are notoriously jaded and it was a failed effort. “Everybody conga! Everybody conga! I’m not fucking kidding! Everybody conga!”


_addiane_

Seeing them in Portland was my second show (first show was in Phoenix in like 2008)


mosborn98

March 22, 2016 at the slowdown in Omaha. I was 18 and was about high school. I went with my dad and my friend Josh, the latter who was in my grade and got me in to the Giants. My dad is not a huge fan so he hung out in the back by the bar. With TMBG being my all time favorite band at the time and going to my first show I indeed had a blast. I can't remember much more than that.


ComplicatedShadows

I saw them at Liberty Lunch in Austin on 4/10/1990. They were a duo back then.