Week In Rock: They All Came From Brooklyn

TMBG Hit Home Turf

It's kind of unfair for everyone else that when Brooklyn wants to hold a benefit concert featuring hometown heroes, they get They Might Be Giants. Playing to benefit the Northside Town Hall Community Center project, the Johns pulled out obscure favorites and hits alike, from both adult and kids albums. Hits like "Birdhouse in Your Soul" and "Ana Ng" had everybody singing along, while more obscure songs like "Subliminal" made hardcore fans happy. However, some of their best stuff has been off of their recent kids albums. Their upbeat sing-along "Why Does The Sun Shine (The Sun Is a Mass of Incandescent Gas)" was only upstaged by their newer, more accurate version "Why Does The Sun Really Shine? (The Sun is a Miasma of Incandescent Plasma)," written when they discovered the lyrics to the original, taken from a 1960's Encyclopedia, were wrong. And towards the end of the night, "Istanbul (not Constantinople)" brought the house down, with an incredible Spanish guitar intro by Dan Miller. They were energetic and funny, and it's always good to see them on their home turf. — Jaya Harrover Saxena (Photo by John Del Signore/Gothamist)