Reviewed on Friday November 6
If you type the phrase “Smaal Cats” into Google, the search engine enquires as to whether or not you meant “small cats”. Even the 21st century’s most powerful source of information is still not entirely convinced this band actually exists. A little investigating – once correctly prompted – introduces these Northern Beaches 20-somethings, raised on a diet of surf rock and slacker indie-pop to create something with knee-bopping energy and enough chutzpah to get it over the line. Anyone’s guess as to how it fits in with tonight’s headliners, but it’s nice to discover some bright-eyed and bushy-tailed new talent kicking around.
When They Might Be Giants toured here in 2013, it was after a 12-year absence. The rousing reception to that visit is most likely the explanation why it hasn’t taken another 12 years for the Johns to return to Australia. Tonight was a test to see how Australian audiences deal with them on a deep-cut basis – two sets, spanning two hours and 50 songs (including the infamous ‘Fingertips’ suite), from their hits to their rarities and back again. It’s a big ask, but ultimately, it’s a triumph: a celebration of a band over 30 years strong and still releasing material on a rapid-fire basis.
Certainly, the biggest cheers of the night go to the obvious whiffs of nostalgia – ‘Istanbul (Not Constantinople)’, ‘Don’t Let’s Start’ and a jazzed-up ‘Particle Man’ among them. The great thing about They Might Be Giants, however, has to be the fact they can get their audiences to go along with most anything they decide to throw at them. This much is apparent with main set closer ‘Robot Parade’, normally an 80-second ditty found on their 2002 children’s album No! Here, it’s turned into a ten-minute opus, complete with various solos and John Flansburgh commanding a “human theremin,” in which he gets the audience to go from low to high by the movement of his hands. You would have never expected this to be the way the show ends – and that’s what makes it so entertaining.
A huge finale of ‘Birdhouse In Your Soul’ and ‘Dr. Worm’ has the audience roaring for more long after the house music has started back up and the lights have gone back on. Even after two sets, two-plus hours and 50 songs, They Might Be Giants still leave the crowd wanting more. How many acts can say that?
