They Might Be Giants played the first of two nights in Cleveland at the Agora on Friday (November 21, 2025). Playing to a sold-out crowd, they pulled out all the stops. They showed off their wide range of musical ability and genre-spanning songs, covering four decades, from B-sides to Grammy winners and everything in between. And, they did it all with their characteristic humor.
Each stop on the current tour features two shows played over two nights in the same city. As if that wasn’t already a feat, every show has two sets, and each of those sets is different. Cleveland’s stop was even played at two different venues, the second night being at the Globe Iron. These most recent dates were added to the tour due to demand, and all sold out, unsurprisingly. The band has an incredibly loyal following.
Lead singers and founding members John Flansburgh and John Linnell entered the stage unassumingly, grabbed their guitar and accordion respectively, and kicked off the set with “Subliminal,” the opening track in 1994’s ‘John Henry.’
The first set consisted of pretty much all ‘John Henry’ songs, save for three: “The Famous Polka,” “Stuff is the Way,” and “Synopsis for Latecomers.” “Stuff,” blew up on TikTok a few years ago, briefly turning it into one of their most popular songs of all time, they explained. Then they made a Casey Kasem reference about it falling 40 spots, giving the crowd a good laugh at the absurdity of it all.
That fun nature carried throughout the show. They made references to all sorts of things, like memes about newly elected NYC mayor Mamdani teaching Arabic numerals and feeling like they were at a press conference because of all the photographers in the photo pit (including me). Linnell joked about sounding like Stephen Merrit from the Magnetic Fields because of his lower-than-usual voice, and so on. They joked about how they lost two Grammys to people who were dead, causing a “Grammys suck” chant to break out in the audience. But, they explained, they also won two Grammys, and then the Grammys were cool.
Their years of playing on stage really made them comfortable up there, but you got the sense this silliness is probably how they are off stage as well, and has probably helped keep them together as a band since the early 1980s. It’s also a smart element to their stage show, breaking up the long sets.
Even if you haven’t listened to They Might Be Giants intentionally, you’ve likely heard some of their songs. They of course wrote the Malcom in the Middle theme song (they didn’t play it either night) as well as the cover of The Four Lads’ song “Istanbul (Not Constantinople),” which they played at the end of the first set, with a very impressive saxophone solo by Stan Harrison, backed by drummer Marty Beller. Whenever the horn section made an appearance was a delight in general, and the crowd erupted every time.
One of the more impressive feats of the night was the second-to-last song of the first set, “Sapphire Bullets of Pure Love,” which they played in reverse, including the vocals. Then, for the opening of the second set, they projected the video and audio recording of them playing it backwards, but this time it was the correct way. Pretty impressive.
They also played their crowd pleasers for the first and second encores, including “Particle Man,” “Birdhouse in Your Soul,” and “Dr. Worm.” Although the band has such avid fans, they all seemed to be crowd pleasers.
Overall, it was a night of fun and celebration, of animated classics and underappreciated gems. It’s these shows, meant for the fans, but accessible to even the uninitiated listener, that really make the evening memorable. Next time they’re around, I won’t hesitate to check them out.
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