My mate Glen and I turned up at The Metro at around 6:50 pm, scoffing fast food as we stood in line outside. The anticipation was high; we had heard great things about this amazing band when they played live. We met a friendly girl, Jade, in the line; a more dedicated TMBG fan we had never met (she flew to Melbourne for two concerts, then back to Sydney for the two up here).

She informed us that the things we'd heard were definitely true, and that it only got better as the night wore on. We waited patiently for the doors to open

Around 7:30 the doors opened and we wandered into the theatre itself (however, not before we had to cram the fast food remnants into an already overcrowded bag - damn The Metro's anti-competitive behaviour!).

Standing at the barrier, we chatted with Jade, who turned out to be a corporate editor (or, as she put it, "I write reports, and get paid lots for it.") and a rather knowledgable person on the subject of TMBG.

The ticket said that it would be a 7:30 start with two supports. When 7:50 rolled around and no band had showed, we began to get restless. When

8:15 rolled around, the definite beginnings of a riot were forming. Finally, at

8:30, our patience paid off, and The Titanics took the stage.

The Titanics were the perfect support band; frontman David McCormack's odd but amusing delay box antics and a stylish, half-serious cover of Magic Dirt's "Dirty Jeans" got the audience in the mood for a good night out. When they performed their signature track,
"Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun", the audience erupted in a frenzied cheer.

For an unknown reason (though Jade believes it was because they are "fairly puerile; not worth your time"), Lazaro's Dog did not perform. Over the course of forty minutes or so, the stage was set for the headliners. At around 9:45, they appeared.

And what an appearance. Without further ado, TMBG erupted into "James K. Polk",
from Factory Showroom, and with a mighty bang their confetti cannon poured little coloured scraps of paper over the audience.

Some of the standouts this was the Mink Car tour, and so a fair few of the songs from that album were played. The best was "Man, It's So Loud In Here" - a tribute to 80's bands such as Pet Shop Boys and Icehouse.

When the drum machine kicked in, the room was lit up with a disco ball and an eerie blue light on the stage. The atmosphere was amazing, with the audience dancing to the funky track like there was no tomorrow.

The infamous "Spin The Dial" segment, in which John Flansburgh spins a radio dial to a random station and then the band attempts to play along was a success - kind of. After hitting an odd dance tune and a talkback station, Flansburgh happened upon an Arabic station - singing in what was undoubtably Arabic. So the Dans took up the tune and the two Johns began singing in what was - kind of - Arabic, in a way.

They then proceeded to Nova and picked up the Wheatus tune "Teenage Dirtbag". With slight alterations to the lyrics ("We are singing so high that I think that my/Vocal chords might just break and now I/Am getting some girl with a higher voice to sing/Oooh ooh oooh ooh"), Flansburgh began to sing in an incredibly high pitched voice and wowed the crowd yet again with his prowess and versatility.

Birdhouse In Your Soul, considered one of the two signature tunes of TMBG (the other being "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)") caused the audience to sway in joyous abandon. A point that should be made here is that a great deal of the audience knew the majority of the lyrics to almost all the songs, and the crowd atmosphere was great; a general feeling of camaraderie and well-being was felt.

The solos of each of the Dans (Dan Miller on guitar, Dan Weinkauf on bass, and the cheeky Dan Hickey on drums and - inexplicably - the glockenspiel), were thoroughly fantastic and showed the huge amount of ability these guys have.

Hickey played 16 different styles of drumming in a row, followed by Weinkauf's wicked bass solo, and ending with Miller playing an acoustic solo.

"Yeh Yeh" showed off John Linnell's sax abilities, with Miller taking over on keyboard while Linnell whaled like a master. The audience jumped enthusiastically as the band played the 60's hit.

The Johns' audience interaction was also great. At one point, Flansburgh quipped in response to Linnell's comment on the roars and cheers of the crowd, "Oh come on, John they're drunk! They've been drunk for hours. That rare 2 percentile of the Australian population who actually enjoy beer are here tonight."

Many a song was played during the set, which ran for around an hour and a half. As well as those listed above, "Particle Man", "Bangs", "Mink Car", "Dr. Worm" and many others were played.

When the band departed at 11:15, the audience sat cheering, clapping, and shouting for an encore. They were not disappointed, and TMBG returned to play "Twisting" and "New York City". They left the stage again, but still the crowd demanded more - so more they gave, returning to play a couple of more songs and finishing with their hit from Flood, "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)". With that, they left for good, but not before telling the crowd what an incredible time they'd had, and what an incredible audience we were.

Without a doubt, one of the greatest concerts I have ever been to - there haven't been that many, granted, but this was still a life altering experience. I plan to go to both shows the next time they come out. All in all: BRILLIANT!!!