John Flansburgh and John Linnell have been writing and recording under the moniker of They Might Be Giants for over 30 years. So it’s fair to say they know a thing or two about how to put on a good show. The duo have mastered the art of writing quirky, yet extremely accessible pop songs. At this point in their career, they're basically the Lennon-McCartney for nerds, given their penchant for writing beautifully melodic pop rock songs that can’t seem to ever leave your head. On this particularly hot, stormy night in early November, the two Johns and the rest of They Might Be Giants saw it fit to light up the hallowed halls of The Tivoli their spectacularly fiery brand of geek rock. Safe to say, their performance was nothing short of amazing.

Lead singer John Linnell stood in the centre of the stage, his nasally vocals perfectly accompanying the tinny Roland keyboard planted in front of him, with Linnell occasionally swapping the keyboard out for an accordion when the song demanded it. His bandmate John Flansburgh, meanwhile, spent the majority of the show in the back of the stage, shredding along on the guitar and singing along as if his life depended on it. The rest of the band members were no slouch either. Drummer Marty Beller kept time and banged along like an absolute pro, while guitarist Dan Miller and bassist Danny Weinkauf put everyone else to shame with their musical abilities. Behind the band was a massive screen, projecting images of both the band and the crowd for the entire venue to see.

When it came to stage presence, The two Johns felt more like stand-up comedians than your typical singers, with in-between banter eliciting laughs aplenty from the audience. Running gags ranging from Jazz Cigarettes to The Tivoli’s supposed enforced curfew were just several of many topics touched upon throughout the night. The duo’s rendition of The Four Lads’ “Istanbul (Not Constantinople)” in particular devolved into a demented, reverb-laden comedy routine that probably had many crowdmembers confused and awed in equal measure. Their cover of Destiny’s Child’s “Bills Bills Bills” (which the two Johns described as only containing “about 40%” of their total effort) was one of the more surprising numbers in the night, sounding less like a half-arsed karaoke rendition and more like a complete transformation, with They Might Be Giants remaking the song their own image. Follow-up songs such as “Twisting”, “Don’t Lets Start” and “Let My Tell You About My Operation” kept the geeks in the audience incredibly happy throughout the night.

Up the front of the crowd were several TMBG die-hards, who were gyrating and screaming along to the lyrics like their lives depended on it. Back to back encores of fan-favourites “Birdhouse In Your Soul” and “Doctor Worm” elicited the loudest crowd response imaginable, with nearly everybody in The Tivoli shouting the words back at the band in a combined display of affection and massive energy. At more than 30 years into their career, one would fully expect They Might Be Giants to simply ride off the strength of their hits in the 80’s and 90’s (which the two Johns even joked about, stating the crowd “probably just wants to hear the songs from the 80’s”). However, tracks from the groups latest album Glean received quite significant representation alongside several more obscure tracks from their immense back catalogue. Playing two 40-minute plus sets, there was no denying They Might Be Giants weren’t completely and utterly devoted to their audience. Even clearly jet lagged and quite tired, the band put on a hell of an intense performance that you wouldn’t expect from a band their age. John Flansburgh pointed out at the start of the show that ‘We’ve pretty much given up at this point’ before segueing into opening track “Can’t Keep Johnny Down”. Given the calibre of their performance, that thankfully couldn’t be further from the truth.

- Patrick Connors