The circus has come to town

I’ll admit I was having my doubts about how the Lips were going to pull off their infamous live show in the Burton Cummings Theatre, but they showed me. I truly witnessed the most amazing, most magical experience of my life. Q Magazine was right when they said the Flaming Lips were on of the 50 bands to see before you die. I would urge everyone to see them at least once if you can help it.

The nice, refreshing thing about the Lips is that they are not your average rock band. Even though they have been in the business since 1983 they still helped the road crew set up their own gear, and you could see them standing just off stage left watching opening act Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti play their set.

The way the Lips opened their show was fantastic, the most phenomenal thing I have ever seen. The huge video screen at the back of the stage lit up, the lights went down, music started with smoke wafting in from off stage. Then the roadies built a ramp, and a little door opened in the video screen and three of the four Lips took turns making their entrance. The the ramp was taken down to reveal front man Wayne Coyne on the floor in a still deflated plastic bubble.

Once the bubble was filled with air Coyne walked out over the outstretched hands of the fans all the way to the back, where he couldn’t fit beneath the balcony. So some girl dangled herself off the balcony until all that was seperating her hand from Coyne’s was the plastic bubble.

As Coyne returns to the stage the band kicks into Worm Mountain and the real celebration begins. Confetti is shot into the air, a whole host of balloons are released into the crowd, and Coyne shoots streamers towards the ceiling from some sort of pop gun. Then a bunch of dancers come out and line either side of the stage, and they’re wearing orange suits, and fuzzy orange hats, in fact the whole stage is orange - the equipment, the confetti, the monitors are wrapped in orange duct tape. As I look around to all the people around me everyone seems to have a look of amazement or sheer joy on their faces.

But part way through The Sparrow Looks Up at the Machine, everything goes dead: the mikes, the instruments, the video screen, everything. Coyne talks to the audience through his megaphone covered in orange tape, until the problem is resolved. But it doesn’t faze the band, they start the song over again and go on like nothing happened.

But the fun didn’t stop there. The Lips show was full of freaky and amazing things: Coyne being hoisted onto the shoulders of some guy in a bear costume; Coyne donning oversized foam hands that emit lasers from their palms, and he points them at the disco balls hanging from the ceiling and green light goes reflecting everywhere; during the W.A.N.D. the strobe lights Coyne warned us of kicked in, and they were so strong you could barely see the person beside you for the white light, never mind the constant flashing. Coyne even had a strobe light strapped to his chest.

But the ending was what the Flaming Lips are all about. For an encore the band played Do You Realize??, a song that often seems depressing on its own, but Coyne turned into a joyous celebration of life. It was something of pure joy. The crown sang along, and more confetti was shot into the sky. Once the band left the stage and the house light went up Louis Armstrong’s It’s a Wonderful Life wafted through the theatre, and everyone left smiling. It was truly magical.

Set List:

The Fear
Worm Mountain
Silver Trembling Hands
She Don’t Use Jelly
The Sparrow Looks Up at the Machine
In the Morning of the Magicians
I Can Be a Frog (acoustic)
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1 (acoustic)
See the Leaves
The Ego’s Last Stand
Pompeii Am Gotterdammerung
Sagittarius Silver Announcement
The W.A.N.D.

Encore:

Do You Realize??