Setlist:
Space Krickets / Deeply Felt Puppet Theater: Puppets Gonna Fuck You Up / Birdhouse in Your Soul / Cyclops Rock / Wicked Little Critta / I've Got a Fang / S-E-X-X-Y / Doctor Worm / Au Contraire / Another First Kiss / I Palindrome I / John Lee Supertaster / Doctor Evil / Dead / Violin / Spin the Dial / Older / Ana Ng / Clap Your Hands / Bed Bed Bed / Minimum Wage / Particle Man / Jazz Waltz / Working Undercover for the Man // Santa Claus / The Future of Sound (band intros) / Why Does the Sun Shine? // Stalk of Wheat / Fingertips

mp3s as linked, and also here, with photos.

This was a fun show, and long, but it seemed way short. Possibly because the ratio of number of hours (well, to be more honest, months) spent waiting for the show to the number of hours of actual show was so disproportionate. But I'm not saying it wasn't worth it.

The Vic is a nice venue, not too large, but it was very dark onstage and it was completely black—the floor was black, and the sides and back of the stage area had black draperies, all of which produced the effect of the band performing in the void of outer space. Also, Linnell's keyboard stand was draped in black cloth, which gave it a funereal aspect (apparently he no longer has his blue keyboard stand? at any rate he didn't bring it with him to Chicago). Dan Miller had just three guitars with him: the acoustic, the Danelectro, and what I believe was a Gibson ES-335 (like Flans's), in yellow. I'd gotten so used to seeing the black Strat that this change somewhat disconcerted me.

Anyway, I enjoyed the show as always. The crowd was energetic, but respectful, and the band looked like they were having a pretty good time too. And I am in love with Robin Goldwasser.

Notes and banter now:

The foul-mouthed Deeply Felt Puppet Theater was a gas.

Wicked Little Critta:
JL: This is a song that hails from the Boston area of [confused pause]...Boston.

S-E-X-X-Y:
JF: When I say "Dan Miller" you say "heck yeah!"...When I say "Dan Miller" you say "geeez!"...When I say "Dan Miller" you say "yes siree bob!"...When I say "Dan Miller" you say "that's some tasty playing!"
I guess all of us, including Dan, are used to the "fuck yeah" thing, but I think this routine was new, and it actually made Dan laugh. (He seemed unusually relaxed, though, and was frequently looking out into the crowd, which I haven't really seen him do much before.)

Doctor Worm:
JF: It's not because this song is about a worm that we must play this song...our doctors have told us we must do more songs about doctors! Here's the song we like to call: The Very Next Song!
JL: [silence]
JF: What do you want to call it, John?
JL: Um, I don't know. I can't think of an answer to that. Let's just play the song...y'all. I'm gonna start saying "y'all" a lot. All right, I'm ready, y'all.
JF: Kick it! I'm gonna start saying "kick it." You say "y'all," and I'll say "kick it."
JL: Okay, that'll be our thing.
Then when they were doing the song, whenever Dan Miller was singing, Danny would come around the side of the keyboard and throw his head back and open his mouth wide to imitate him. It was very adorably goofy.

I Palindrome I:
JF: Here's a song that my mom really hates. I don't know why.
JL: She's hated this song from the moment that she wrote it.
JF: She is very, very tough on herself as a writer.
JL: "Polly (?), look: this is one of the best songs you've given us."
JF: Don't tell them about the parents writing the songs. It's just not cool.

Doctor Evil:
Robin Goldwasser: So did those puppets fuck you up? 'Cause they fucked me up. I mean—backstage, the monkey puppet? What an asshole! He was like, all paws, and he was like touching my skirt, going "oh, is that felt?" I'm like, "no." And he goes, "it is now!"
Dan Hickey: [rimshot]
JF: She's here every Friday night, ladies and gentlemen.

JF: I bought this Quattro shaving thing, and it is like, fuckin' crazy blade. I don't think I'll have to shave for a couple of months now. Four! I can't wait 'til they come out with the eight one. It'll just be like—whoosh—done!
JL: Right. I bought a toothbrush and it's like the brush part is twice as long as a normal toothbrush. Check it out. That's not a joke or an interesting anecdote, it's just a true thing that happened to me. I got this crazy toothbrush that's really long.
JF: Is it really hard at the tip?
JL: No...it's just like a normal toothbrush but it's like twice as long, and it says Walgreens.
JF: Oh. Maybe they just forgot to turn the machine off as it was coming out.
(When Flans started talking about his new razor I did suddenly notice that he was much more stubble-free than usual.)

Spin the Dial was not very successful; there was just nothing on but commercials. Flans started at the right-hand side of the dial but gave up around 98.7, the fine arts station, after having a lengthy vocal duel with an operatic soprano. I had noticed that the radio had antennae, which seemed new; and in fact Flans told us that John Carter had gone out that day to buy the antennae at the very same Walgreens where Linnell had gotten the really long toothbrush.

Clap Your Hands
At the end Flans did the usual "everybody scream" thing, then he added "everybody cast your vote for the next president of the United States!" I yelled "John Flansburgh" and I don't think I was the only one.

Minimum Wage:
JF: You guys wanna do Minimum Wage?
Linnell had already started putting on his accordion, so he said: What, are you kidding? Is that a joke? I gotta change instruments, I gotta change...my shirt.

The night ended on something of a down note, though, because as soon as the lights came up security came out and made us leave immediately. And they were very aggressive about it. And Flans didn't come out, which was disappointing. But the show was good anyway.