If you have kids and I know you, then I’ve probably passed on some of TMBG’s (and BNL’s) kid’s music to you. They are packed with educational sing-a-longs that kids love and parents can actually bear. So when the chance came to get Nolan to his first real concert, it seemed like the perfect CHRISTmas (hee hee) present. While his initial reaction wasn’t to the level of excitement that I expected, anticipation did grow as the concert came closer into February. So we (yet again) made that hellish trip (129-75-675-70) on a Sunday afternoon (is 3 PM even an acceptable time for a kid’s concert?) to the Capitol Theatre at the Riffe Center in CBus.
Getting there was pretty much a breeze. Stopping on the way to get some DQ was a bonus! As we walked into the lobby for the theater I noticed a common thread throughout the crowd… It looked like an all male, mid-thirties IT nerd convention that required you to wear black-rimmed glasses as part of the dress code. I’ve never seen such a conglomeration of nerds… and I work in IT!!!
On our way to our seats Nolan picked up his complimentary TMBG giant foam finger (a nice touch). We still had a little time to kill sitting there in our seats, which were thankfully quite comfy. The Capitol is a fairly new constructed theatre with spacious seats and aisle ways. While not as engaging as older theatres, it’s modern lines and soft colors are welcoming… and as with most theatres, the acoustics are terrific (guess that’s the point of a theatre).
The show started off a little slowly as the band made a very uneventful entrance. Having never seen TMBG before, I was a bit thrown off my the in between song ill-planned banter that would continue throughout the show. Not that I’m not used to performers talking between songs, but it was just very awkward chatter. They were somewhat playing to the kids, but as I soon found out… they were mostly playing to the parents. I’m pretty sure the parents enjoyed the show more than the kids. Hell, there were even adults there without kids (including a couple in their late teens/early twenties directly in front of us).
They played through some of the songs off their newest “Science” CD and progressed to some number songs we weren’t familiar with. I had to look them up on my phone and damn if they didn’t release a “Here Come the 123’s” album that we didn’t know about. This pattern of unfamiliarity continued through the set as they played a lot of the “123’s” stuff and even 4 or 5 of the “regular” songs like “Dr. Worm” and “Istanbul”. We were sorely disappointed that they didn’t get to any of the tracks from the “ABC’s” album until the encore. The most entertaining parts of the show had to be the segments of “sock puppetry” which were mildly hilarious and of course the CONFETTI!
Overall I found the show to be kind of flat… but then again I’m not a big TMBG fan. Only being familiar with what my son listens to was simply not enough to hold my (or his) attention for most of the show. I’m not saying we wouldn’t see them again, but we probably wouldn’t inconvenience ourselves so much to do so. And by the time they come through again he’ll probably have outgrown them anyway. So for now I’ll enjoy his little fandom, including his request for me to put “Dr. Worm” on his PSP for him to sing aloud to. “I’m not a real doctor / But I am a real worm”… so damn cute!
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