The Flaming Lips were set to go on at 11 p.m., but at 10:50 the crowd is much emptier than I’d ever expected. Not to worry, though. The band goes on a few minutes late and by 11:05 the crowd has almost doubled.
The indelible Wayne Coyne and bandmates help walk out two inflatable mushrooms (equipped with real humans inside) and an inflatable rainbow (also with people inside) before taking their places on the stage, beginning with “The Abandoned Hospital Ship” from 1995’s Clouds Taste Metallic. Two minutes in, the three-pronged crash of the snare triggers the lights, snapping to bright, fluorescent neon, and a flood of confetti pours from both sides of the stage. The song builds, then slowly dies out in one of the most beautiful stage sequences I’ve ever seen. Throughout the production the Lips pull out all of the bells and whistles, as they usually do, and after “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Part 1,” Coyne invites two fans onstage as we witness a nervous man propose to his girlfriend.
“She had no idea about that,” Coyne says, which goes down as the only other words muttered by the singer besides “Come on, come on!” “How’s everybody doing?” and “Come on, come on! Some f*cking aliens from outer space right here, mother f*cker!” By the end of the set, I’m so exhausted by Coyne demanding that the crowd “come on,” that I want to do anything and everything except “come on.” It all starts to feel … completely inorganic. Is this what Miley Cyrus’ show feels like? All of a sudden the odd pairing makes sense. Everything is calculated, down to Coyne restarting a song because he didn’t get enough “karate chop” from the crowd. It’s rainbow-colored hysteria, minus the twerking.
Life Is Beautiful
But I’ve seen this before. And yes, the production is stunning—some of the visuals and lighting effects are truly breathtaking. But Coyne himself does little throughout the entire set besides sing off key, dance in a dinosaur hoodie and silver leggings (with colored puff-balls strategically placed on his … parts) and thrash around a giant clump of silver tassels. Then there’s the donut inner tubes and inflatable sunflowers that got launched into the crowd during The Chemical Brothers’ “The Golden Path.” Instead of listening to the Singles 92-03 cut, I’m preoccupied with making sure I don’t get bonked in the head by rogue donuts.
Throughout all of the chaos, how many people actually noticed the band members—the magician Drozd balancing vocals, guitar and keyboards; two drummers, a guitarist, bassist, percussionist and more—creating the music Coyne used to fuel his egomaniac circus? And when Coyne got on that giant illuminated podium, standing high above his band, overlooking the crowd while creepily rocking a baby doll, no one else thought, this is probably what a hipster Kim Jong-un looks like?
Maybe I’m not on enough drugs. Maybe I just need to recalibrate my chakras, cleanse some crystals and accept Wayne Coyne into my life. But as the band closed with “Do You Realize” and Beatles’ cover “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,” I couldn’t wait for the set to be over. The music remains classic, but the show I can do without.
