So hands up who remembers They Might Be Giants? They had a big hit about 20 years ago called Birdhouse in Your Soul. Since then, between writing and recording music for Austin Powers and the Grammy-winning theme tune Malcolm in the Middle, they have carved a niche for themselves as makers of music for kids that grown-ups like too. Literacy and numeracy are not obvious subjects for the average alternative rock acts, but TMBG have covered both with the albums Here Come the ABCs and Here Come the 123s. Earlier this summer, the band were in London performing songs from their latest kids’ album Here Comes Science.
I took my 18-month old daughter to one of their family shows at the Royal Festival Hall and she loved it. Support was provided in the unlikely form of a robot penguin flying around the auditorium (this show was part of a science festival) which was greeted with plenty of oohs and aahs from kids and adults alike. The band were funny and the music was great – and not too loud for little ears. The kids were dancing (or crawling) in the aisles and everyone enjoyed being blasted with the bands’ giant confetti machine. What a blast!
