Venue Songs is a 2004 album by the group They Might Be Giants

They Might Be Giants

They Might Be Giants is an American alternative rock band formed in 1982 by John Flansburgh and John Linnell. During TMBG's early years Flansburgh and Linnell were frequently accompanied by a drum machine. In the early 1990s, TMBG became a full band. Currently, the members of TMBG are...

. Although technically it is a live album

Live album

A live album is a recording consisting of material recorded during stage performances using remote recording techniques, commonly contrasted with a studio album...

, as all the tracks were performed live, it is different than a standard live album in that, instead of live versions of the band's popular songs, it is composed of all new songs. At each stop of their 2004 tour, They Might Be Giants wrote, arranged and performed a new song dedicated to that venue. Each song came together in one day as a surprise to the audience.

Initially, the album was only released in MP3

MP3

MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...

 format from They Might Be Giants

They Might Be Giants

They Might Be Giants is an American alternative rock band formed in 1982 by John Flansburgh and John Linnell. During TMBG's early years Flansburgh and Linnell were frequently accompanied by a drum machine. In the early 1990s, TMBG became a full band. Currently, the members of TMBG are...

' online music store

Online music store

An online music store is an online business which sells audio files, usually music, on a per-song and/or subscription basis. It may be differentiated from music streaming services in that the music store offers the actual music file, while streaming services offer partial or full listening without...

 with the purchase of $9.99 or more during the 2004 holiday season. It is now available on They Might Be Giants' online music store in MP3 or FLAC

FLAC

FLAC is a codec which allows digital audio to be losslessly compressed such that file size is reduced without any information being lost...

 format for purchase by itself.

In 2005, Venue Songs was re-released as a CD/DVD combo

Venue Songs DVD/CD

Venue Songs DVD/CD is a compilation album released in 2005 by They Might Be Giants on their own label, Idlewild Records. The bulk of the material comes from 2004's Venue Songs, which is included in here in its entirety, although its order has been rearranged. Venue Songs was composed of original...

. It included studio versions of some of the venue songs, and other non-album tracks. The DVD includes music video

Music video

A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

s for some of the venue songs as well as other bonus videos.

Miscellanea

• A venue song was recorded for Irving Plaza
  Irving Plaza
  Irving Plaza is a 1,200-person ballroom-style music venue at 17 Irving Place and East 15th Street in the Union Square neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City...
  
   in New York City
  New York City
  New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
  
   on October 2, 2004, but it was not included on the album. From mentions in interviews, it appears that the band did not like it very much and as such chose not to include it. The song is available with the purchase of the rest of the concert it was performed at through the band's online music store.
• Some of the recordings on the album were the versions that were performed during the soundcheck as opposed to the version that was recorded live in front of the audience.
• While the official track names seem to be the city they were performed in, they are sometimes referred to by the band by the venue name instead.
• Additionally, no song appears to have been written for the Nashville show (July 23, 2004).

Track listing

1. "Celebrate Brooklyn" – 1:30
2. "Starr Hill Music Hall" – 1:55
3. "Sokol Auditorium" – 1:13
4. "Houston-Meridian Theme" – 1:35
5. "T-H-E-G-A-R-A-G-E" – 1:11
6. "Richard's On Richards" – 2:00
7. "The Stone Pony" – 1:05
8. "The Egg" – 1:21
9. "Leeds Irish Center" – 2:01
10. "Anaheim House of Blues" – 1:04
11. "House of Blues" – 2:09
12. "The Blue Note" – 1:35
13. "The Catalyst" – 2:03
14. "First Avenue Stage" – 0:51
15. "Mr. Small's Theatre" – 1:22
16. "City Limits" – 1:55
17. "Fillmore" – 1:01
18. "Gibson Lounge" – 1:13
19. "Music Farm" – 1:06
20. "Trees" – 0:44
21. "West Hollywood House of Blues" – 1:41
22. "Variety Playhouse" – 2:04
23. "The Downtown" – 1:04
24. "Toad's Place" – 1:41
25. "At The As-tore-eye-yea" – 1:19
26. "Lincoln Theater" – 1:41
27. "Recher Theatre" – 2:52
28. "Mississippi Nights" – 1:16
29. "T.L.A." – 1:33
30. "Stubbs" – 2:45
31. "The Orange Peel" – 1:30

External links

• Venue Songs at This Might Be a Wiki
• Venue Songs page at They Might Be Giants' online store