Why is the world in love again? Why are we marching hand in hand? Could it be because They Might Be Giants kicked off their fall tour with a two-night stint at Milwaukee’s Pabst Theater on September 24 and 25? And could it be because each show, in addition to featuring big hits and deep cuts, highlighted a different classic TMBG album?

Well, could it? Milwaukee Record checked out both shows—a near sell-out on Thursday, a real-deal sell-out on Friday—to find out. Behold! It’s a brand new They Might Be Giants recap for 1990 2026! [Night 1 recap by Cal Roach, photos by Melissa Miller. Night 2 recap by Matt Wild, photos by Ty Helbach.]

NIGHT 1

During They Might Be Giants’ early-’90s commercial heyday, a two-night engagement at a 1,300-capacity venue in Milwaukee would’ve been a tough sell. Yet three decades on, the Brooklyn band’s esteem seems only to have swelled; here they are in 2026, nearly selling out two shows at the Pabst Theater, for the second time in two years.

Their strategy for the last couple tours is one of the most ingenious in the business: each show of a multi-night stand heavily favors a different beloved album from the TMBG catalog, plus a generous helping of tunes from across their 40-years-and-counting recording career. Local fans could expect around 60 different songs across the two nights with only a couple-two-tree repeats. Thursday night turned out to be a showcase for 1996’s Factory Showroom album.

John Flansburgh (vocals, guitar) and John Linnell (vocals, keys, accordion) started TMBG in the early ’80s, writing goofy songs together and performing with pre-recorded tapes and/or drum machines; not unlike Ween, the duo eventually assembled a band and developed into an unlikely rock powerhouse. Although this move dismayed some fans at first, by ’96 few could complain; Factory Showroom displayed a confident yet still irresistibly quirky alt-rock sound that essentially set the course for the rest of the band’s career, excepting their forays into children’s music. It was a fitting pick for Milwaukee, considering their 2024 Pabst run had only boasted two Showroom tracks. We were due.

They played all but two songs from the album to start the show, bolstered by a three-piece horn section for several, most effectively during opener “S-E-X-X-Y” and substituting for cello in “Exquisite Dead Guy.” Banter is an additional TMBG selling point, jovial Flansburgh playing off excruciatingly dry Linnell until newcomers begin to worry that they’ve forgotten how to play the next song. “Were you partying your brains out all summer?” asked Flansburgh. “Um, my brains are still firmly ensconced in my head,” Linnell replied, “but I saw the total eclipse in Spain…My brains actually did try to escape at that moment.”

“Nice!” said Flansburgh. “Total eclipse is different from partial eclipse,” Linnell went on. “You know, Bonnie Tyler didn’t record ‘Partial Eclipse Of The Heart.’ That wouldn’t have been a hit song.”

This bit led into “Spiraling Shape,” one of the lesser Showroom cuts that really flourished in the live setting (ditto for “XTC vs. Adam Ant” and “Metal Detector”). And of course, “Till My Head Falls Off” and “James K. Polk” were expected show-stoppers. The first set concluded with songs from the two most recent TMBG albums, plus the now-traditional playing of “Sapphire Bullets Of Pure Love” sonically backwards and recording it for reverse-playback to start set two. Get it?

Overall it wasn’t the tightest, smoothest TMBG set—opening night of the leg, probably some jitters. After a 35-minute intermission, the band re-emerged to play a bunch of mostly treasured oldies, culminating in a mid-set “Birdhouse In Your Soul” that lifted spirits in the way only it can. As the band was transitioning into “Wearing A Raincoat,” Linnell, still basking in the glory of “Birdhouse,” had to stop them, confessing he wasn’t prepared! They duly played the song anyway, followed by the 21-part (five-minute) epic “Fingertips,” the closest brush with avant-garde theater in the TMBG catalog. “Cowtown” was the oldest song of the night, going back to 1988’s Lincoln, and then an impressive horns spotlight for “The Darlings Of Lumberland.”

After a quick run-through of “Twisting,” the set closed with “Experimental Film,” the song’s first post-pandemic appearance, a nerdy delight for the nerdiest fanbase in the history of alternative rock. But the air of irony saturating most of the TMBG experience evaporated for about a minute during the final encore, a very loose arrangement of “Particle Man” that became a Linnell solo rendition of Dolly Parton’s “Here You Come Again” in the middle—on the eve of Dolly Parton Day (9-2-5), no less. Don’t let the cerebral lyrics and goofing around fool you; They Might Be Giants will find a way to tug hard on your heartstrings if you let them. [Cal Roach]

NIGHT 2

Everyone knows that They Might Be Giants’ stone-cold-classic second album Lincoln was released on September 25, 1988. So would the band use their second (and fully sold-out) night at the Pabst to celebrate the record’s all-important 38th anniversary? They would indeed.

The Johns were still in their scrappy two-piece, drum-machine era when they originally recorded Lincoln; witnessing a sizable chunk of the album’s songs come to life with a full and boisterous band nearly four decades later was a joy. “Santa’s Beard,” “Stand On Your Own Head,” and “Piece Of Dirt” opened the show. (Linnell joked that a Christmas-themed song was a strange choice for an opener; Flansburgh replied that it was a good way to get a jump on selling holiday merch.) Secret hits like “Where Your Eyes Don’t Go” and the devastating “They’ll Need A Crane” followed, along with legitimate hit “Ana Ng.”

Since many of Lincoln‘s tracks fail to crack the two-minute mark, the Johns wondered aloud at one point if their between-song banter (charming and befuddled as always) would be longer than the actual songs. Later, they engaged in some off-the-cuff reminiscing on the making of the album. It was a tale complete with seedy NYC liquor stores, the band’s first computer, and said first computer starting on fire. (Flansburgh: “It was exactly like in an old cartoon when you ask a computer to do too much.”)

Overall, the Johns and company seemed to be in a looser mood Friday night. Drummer Marty Beller took center stage to dramatically ring a bell a total of three times during “Shoehorn With Teeth.” For “Lie Still, Little Bottle,” Flansburgh produced a fan-favorite stick (fans: “Stick! Stick! Stick!) and pounded it in time on an amplified wooden plate. A pre-planned call-out for Milwaukee radio station WMSE caused some onstage confusion, but all was forgiven a few songs later when the capacity crowd lost it for “Cowtown” and set-ender “Doctor Worm.”

The group’s second set, especially, benefitted from some more playful and out-there moments. An extended take on “The Guitar (The Lion Sleeps Tonight)” led directly into an extremely extended take on “Istanbul (Not Constantinople).” The latter featured horn players Dan Levine, Mark Pender, and Stan Harrison each embarking on slightly tongue-in-cheek solos that stretched the song’s runtime to nearly 10 minutes.

The non-Lincoln songs scattered throughout the night played well, too, especially Mink Car banger “Man, It’s So Loud In Here,” odds-and-ends single “We Live In A Dump,” and new songs “Wu-Tang,” “Get Down,” and “Eyeball.” One of the Giants’ most sublime and perfect songs, “The End Of The Tour” (from 1994’s John Henry), capped the set proper; the two subsequent encores included “Synopsis For Latecomers” and “Brontosaurus” (both from 2021’s Book), as well as evening-closer “Particle Man.”

With lyrics about tours running aground and things coming to an end, “The End Of Tour” would seem to be a strong candidate for the show’s most poignant moment. Instead, that moment came earlier during wonky/wistful Lincoln track “Snowbell In Hell.” The two Johns stood near each other—Flansburgh on guitar, Linnell on accordion—and though they were backed by their full band, all attention was on them. It was a sweet reminder of They Might Be Giants’ humble beginnings, and of how two friends have somehow managed to forge a celebrated personal and musical partnership that has lasted more than 40 years. The band’s self-titled debut came out in 1986; their 24th studio album The World Is To Dig came out this past April. A snowball’s chance in hell, indeed.