{"id":247980,"date":"2026-05-29T18:09:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T18:09:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/247980\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T18:09:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T18:09:12","slug":"they-might-be-giants-bring-big-brass-bigger-surprises-at-brooklyn-steel-show-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/247980\/","title":{"rendered":"They Might Be Giants Bring Big Brass & Bigger Surprises at Brooklyn Steel (SHOW REVIEW)"},"content":{"rendered":"

They Might Be Giants brought The Bigger Show Tour into their home base of Brooklyn on Thursday night, May 28th, to kick off a three-night stand at Brooklyn Steel. The first show was the only non-sold out night of the run, as the diverse crowd filled in as the band went on promptly at 8pm.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Billed as \u201cAn Evening With\u2026,\u201d this tour features TMBG playing without an opener, using the first set to focus on a different album from their past and the second set to play a wide range of tunes from their expansive back catalog. As the title of the tour suggests, there are a lot of musicians onstage supporting John Flansburgh and John Linnell: a three-piece horn section (Dan Levine, Stan Harrison, Mark Pender) and Danny Weinkauf \u2013 bass, Dan Miller \u2013 Guitar, and Marty Beller \u2013 drums, who revved the sound up to arena rock heights on a few numbers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That powerful musical energy was on full blast for the opening \u201cThe Statue Got Me High,\u201d which featured huge brass, pounding drums, and screeching guitar as Flansburgh announced the first set would focus on\u00a0Apollo 18,\u00a0the fourth studio album from the band, released in 1992.<\/p>\n

Linell strapped on the accordion for \u201cTurn Around\u201d while \u201cShe\u2019s Actual Size\u201d was a dramatic Broadway production complete with an early show drum solo. The horns took a breather for \u201cNarrow Your Eyes,\u201d which sounded like a lost Turtles track from the 60\u2019s with grooving acoustic strums and gorgeous harmonies. The horns returned for the bands take on \u201c\u201dThe Guitar (The Lion Sleeps Tonight)\u201d which got funky, had singalongs and a few unexpected noise rock breakdowns.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

One of the appeals of a TMBG show is the stage banter, and the two Johns chatted with witty charm about celebrities in Knicks courtside seats, pre-show naps, and \u201cbro-y\u201d barber shops in Brooklyn. The full band dove into an impressive rendition of the hyperactive \u201cFingertips\u201d and challenged themselves by playing \u201cSilver Bullets of Pure Love\u201d backward. A newer tune, \u201cWu Tang,\u201d had the crowd singing along while a banging version of \u201cDr. Worm\u201d closed the first set.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After a video proving they really played the song backward, the second set started via Miller\u2019s gorgeous acoustic work as the band eventually joined him for a dramatic spin through \u201cIstanbul (Not Constantinople)\u201d which contained multiple horn solos and fake endings. Flansburgh mentioned that \u201cI\u2019ll Sink Manhattan\u201d was written in the neighborhood as the band gave it a jazzy workout before \u201cThe Darlings of Lumberland\u201d delivered odd tempo changes and coordinated dances.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The excellent \u201cAna Ng\u201d was sped up with stomping punk intensity, \u201cNew York City\u201d was dreamy and hip-swinging, while \u201cSee The Constellation\u201d rocked hard. One of the band\u2019s classics, \u201cParticle Man,\u201d was a joy to close the set with a surprise verse of\u00a0Dolly Parton\u2019s\u00a0\u201cHere You Come Again\u201d dropped in the middle.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The first encore was highlighted by the funky \u201cGet Down\u201d and more dynamite brass solos, while the second encore started with a James Bond-inspired take on \u201cSpy\u201d before ending the night with a bouncing, upbeat \u201cBirdhouse In Your Soul\u201d. It is great to see the quirkiness of TMBG mixed with top-notch musicianship as the band continues to delight their obsessive fans over forty years into their successful career. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\"They<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"They Might Be Giants brought The Bigger Show Tour into their home base of Brooklyn on Thursday night,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":247981,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-247980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247980\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/247981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}