_ther Fan
Hootiejams
with Giants
at concert
By Cliff Hicks
Music Critic
OMAHA — The thing that sets Hootie &
The Blowfish in a category of its own is Darius
Rucker’s voice. / •
At the show Saturday night, while Rucker’s
voice was a little poorly amplified, it still rang
through Civic Auditorium.
Fans seemed extremely enthusiastic and con
tinued to trickle in to the awkward seating while
They Might Be Giants played its opening set.
TMBG snuck on as a tape of “Lady Is A
Tramp” played over the speakers. Without wam
ing, the band broke into “Istanbul (Not
Constantinople).”
John Flansburgh, one of the two founding
members, said to the audience, “If every one of
you buys our record, I’m talkingtotal life change
here.”.
TMBG kept its set tight, clocking in under
45 minutes, a little shorter than a lot of the audi
ence would have liked. Only three of the 10
songs played were not off the new album, which
was also a bit disappointing, but the new mate
rial was great and the fans loved it.
One of the high points of the set was when
Mark Bryan, lead guitarist from Hootie & The
Blowfish, came out and played mandolin on
“Spy,” a giant improvisation conducted by John
Linnell, the other founding member of TMBG.
The crowd went into an almost deafening
cheer when Hootie & The Blowfish took the
stage. .
-
Hootie played for more than two hours,
counting both encores. The sound quality started
pretty poorly, but gradually improved.
When the band came cm, Rucker’s voice was
almost non-existent and the guitar could’ve been
the only instrument on stage. At the end of the
show, before either of the encores, the sound
quality was at a decent level. Rucker’s voice was
clear and fit into the whole scape of the band’s
sound.
Hootie played all of their big hits, from
“Time” to “TXicker’s Town.” The best of the big
hit songs was, of course, “Let Her Cry,” which
began with only Rucker and his acoustic guitar.
With swirled multicolored lighting, the band
put on a really good show. Once the sound was
cleared up, the band and the audience really got
into a groove together. The band loved the show
and the audience loved the band. . s v |
, Some of the band seemed to be having the
most fun, however, when they were playing other
people’s material—they played RJE.M.’s “Get
Up” during the main show and during the sec
ond encore they jammed to The Surfaris’ “Wipe
Out.”
By the end of the show, in addition to the *
band and Peter Holsapple, who played guitar,
mandolin and keyboards the whole show, there
were two additional drummers and the two horn
members of They Might Be Giants. The show
turned into one giant jam session.
The band even drank a shot on stage to their
“good friends,” They Might Be Chants. It was
evident from that point on that the band was just
cutting loose and enjoying themselves.
It was a fun show for both band and fans,
and whenever either of these bands returns to
the Heartland, they will probably be welcomed
with open arms.
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: Mark Bryan,
guitarist for Hootie & the Blowfish, fires
off a jazzy riff. Playing the accordion, Peter
Holsapple adds to the sound that filled the
Omaha Civic Auditorium Saturday
evening. They Might Be Giants co-founder
John Linnel helped open the evening
concert. Hootie & the Blowfish made the
audience stand and dance to the rhythm.
Darius Rucker; the lead singer for Hootie
and the Blowfish, sings to the near-sellout
crowd. V
Photos by
Daniel J. Luedert
