The Mac Weekly

Issue date: 9/14/07 Section: The Arts

All of my favorite live bands have one thing in common: they are able to capture a special magic live that they couldn't replicate in the studio. Except for the Flaming Lips. Their music wasn't any better live than it is in the studio. In fact, it's probably a little better in the studio than it is live. Yet their show Sunday night at the Myth Theatre was undoubtedly one of the best shows that I've ever seen. How do they do it?

The answer is that a Flaming Lips show is not a concert. It's an experience. The music is still the focus of the show, but there is so much else going on that I'm convinced that one could hate the music but still love the show. Words can't really do justice to the Flaming Lips experience, but try to imagine hundreds of balloons, thousands of laser pointers, a complex light show, an accompanying video, and of course, all the great music. But before the Flaming Lips could introduce us to their freak show, Black Moth Super Rainbow played an hour-long opening set.

The name Black Moth Super Rainbow just oozes psychedelia, and they did not disappoint in that regard. Their music was somewhat similar to the neo-psychedelia of the Flaming Lips but way more "out there." With trippy keyboards and synthesizers layered over a heavy drum beat, Black Moth Super Rainbow used spacey electronic grooves to get the audience dancing. It was an interesting sound, but repetitive, and it made us all anxious for the Flaming Lips.

The Flaming Lips kicked off the show with an extravagant entrance. Front man Wayne Coyne emerged wearing a pair of giant hands and dancing around the stage, as the band opened with the ethereal instrumental "Ta Da!" In addition to Coyne and his giant hands were dancing people dressed up in alien and Santa Claus costumes on either side of the stage, as laser pointers, confetti, and balloons flew into the crowd. Was their entrance pretentious and over the top? Yeah, it probably was. But they surpassed my old definition of "over the top" by so much that I thought their entrance was just plain awesome.

The show got even crazier when the band launched into the more energetic "Race For the Prize" as Coyne continued to shoot confetti and throw or kick every balloon on the stage back into the dancing crowd. I've been to a lot of shows in my life, but I had never seen anything close to this before. It had only been two songs but the Flaming Lips had already transported me into their perfect, happy, psychedelic world.

Continued...

Page 1 of 2 next >

Article Tools