They Might Be Giants - The Bigger Show Tour tour poster

They Might Be Giants Setlist

S-E-X-X-Y
The Bells Are Ringing
New York City (Cub cover)
Spiraling Shape
XTC vs. Adam Ant
Till My Head Falls Off
Pet Name
Exquisite Dead Guy
How Can I Sing Like a Girl?
James K. Polk
Wu-Tang
Overnight Sensation (Hit Record) (Raspberries cover)
stelluB (Sapphire Bullets of Pure Love, backwards)
The Glamour of Rock
Brontosaurus
Sapphire Bullets of Pure Love (reversed recording)
Subliminal
Damn Good Times
Wearing a Raincoat
Authenticity Trip
O, Do Not Forsake Me
Doctor Worm
Drink!
Man, It’s So Loud in Here
Fingertips
Experimental Film
I’ll Sink Manhattan
Call You Mom
Particle Man (with Here You Come Again)
Minneapolis
Get Down
Birdhouse in Your Soul

Tour Dates

10/3-4 – St. Paul, MN @ Fitzgerald Theater
11/6-7 – Austin, TX @ Emo’s
11/10-11 – Houston, TX @ The Heights Theater
11/13-14 – Dallas, TX @ The Echo Lounge & Music Hall
11/19-22 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
12/30 – Montclair, NJ @ The Wellmont Theater
12/31 – New Haven, CT @ College Street Music Hall

Explore More

■ They Might Be Giants
They Might Be Giants (TMBG) is an American alternative rock and children’s band formed in 1982 in Brooklyn, NY, by core members John Flansburgh and John Linnell. Initially a duo, the band expanded in the early 1990s and is known for satirical, offbeat music blending punk, polka, and vaudeville.

As a high schooler, I was active on the They Might Be Giants message boards. I made friends, traded tapes, and followed the rock duo’s rumors and news. But, having reached an age where I could go to concerts and finally see my idols, I was met with a challenge: their Spring 1994 tour would come no closer to me than Milwaukee (a 300+ mile road trip). I mentioned it to some friends (a few of them legal adults of 18, one with a van) and somehow we convinced our parents to let us go.

We embarked on that adventure at great risk and great expense, all because we weren’t sure we’d ever get to see them again. They were less than a decade into their recording career, with four studio albums under their belt. They’d played in town only six times, but never with a backing band (which they added in mid-1992) – what if they never did? We might not get another chance.

John and John (and a full band) would, eventually, play dozens of Minnesota shows. I saw them again Friday, for what some historians believe could be the 11th time. They’ll play two more shows over the weekend, closing a four-day near-capacity run that’s largely without precedent in Twin Cities music history. Their performances remain unpredictable, but consistent – utterly professional, but not self-serious.

So, eleven shows in, I knew what to expect, but not what to expect. The 2026 “Bigger Show Tour” promises an opening set focused on one of their older albums, but which album is a surprise until showtime. Thaddeus got a generous helping of 1988’s Lincoln on Thursday, and Friday started with ten songs from 1996’s Factory Showroom. Unlike Thursday, the optional horn section began on stage, with opener “S-E-X-X-Y” requiring them. (One big surprise: next on the setlist was Factory Showroom‘s “The Bells Are Ringing”, and that’s been very rare.) The hour-long first set steered back to selections from their latest album (this year’s The World Is to Dig), and included “stelluB”, which is “Sapphire Bullets of Pure Love”, performed backwards.

The recorded “stelluB” video was then played back in reverse (opening the second set), revealing a largely accurate version of the Flood classic. 1994’s John Henry was limited to two second-set songs, but “Subliminal” saw Linnell back at the accordion, while Flansburgh’s “O, Do Not Forsake Me” (also kind of rare) featured the mysterious large stick that Thaddeus noted in his Thursday review. The second set also included a truly impressive version of “Fingertips”, the pastiche medley of incomplete and unrelated song snippets from 1992’s Apollo 18. It closed with “Particle Man”, including a mid-song detour into “Here You Come Again”, a somehow seamless and poignant tribute to Dolly Parton.

The horn section would continue to cycle in and out, coming back during the encore to play the latest single, “Get Down”. That song, by itself, serves to explain a lot of TMBG’s appeal: the execution is top-shelf, with powerful horns, the funk bass, the stabbing guitars – it’s all dressed up like a straightforward dance number. While the Motown-soul influence is real, it’s also held with an ironic distance. And the lyrics play on common genre tropes (how many times have you heard a funk song tell you to “get down”?), but the meaning is overly literal and, then, alarming: for safety reasons, the listener is encouraged to actually get down. The joke is hidden away in misdirection, unless there’s actually no joke at all.

They Might Be Giants are industry veterans, in the fifth decade of their recording career. Some of the hardest working musicians in alternative, they almost never stop touring. If you’re at all inclined to see them play, I’d do it. You might not get another chance.