I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: August 6, 2023] The Flaming Lips

I have now seen The Flaming Lips seven times.  I’ve wanted to bring my kids to a show because there’s really nothing like a Flaming show. Last year, their set was on my daughter’s birthday and she didn’t want to spend her birthday seeing a band she didn’t really know (fair enough).

So this year, the show was in the middle of the summer with no other commitments around us  And, it was the anniversary show of Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots–a catchy album with a song (“Do You Realize??”) that they knew.  My daughter’s friend also wanted to go, so I wound up getting five tickets for us.

Since there was no opening band I wanted us to get there fairly early so we could be in the confetti blast zone.  My daughter (who typically doesn’t like to be up close) and her friend wound up really close (they were at the barrier by the end), although they were off to the side quite a lot.

The rest of us got right in the middle (behind some tall people, sadly) and could see as the giant pink robots (all FOUR of them) inflated and the test began …  NOW!

It was great to hear “Fight Test.”  And then to hear the song segue into the rest of the album.  That mellow song morphed into “Yoshimi Pt.1” which I’ve heard five time and never get tired of.

By the way, the confetti included pink robots, which was a chef’s kiss touch on the Lips’ usual fun nonsense.  I was pretty excited to hear Yoshimi Pt. 2, a weird instrumental in which lots more confetti came out.  Wayne grabbed his tiny confetti tubes and shot them at everyone–there’s still streamers in the rafters I’m sure (they must pay extra for cleanup).

Wayne finally said something , figuring that anyone who had never been to a Lips show before would wonder what the hell was going on.  He explained that they’d play the album and then take a break and play…until they kick us out.

I think this was the first time the screen behind them projected the words to all of the songs as Wayne sang them.  This was pretty cool as I don’t know all the words to songs that I love, much less ones I don’t know well.   It was nice to learn the words to “Ego Trippin at the Gates of Hell.”

The crew (who must get paid a lot, too) brought out a huge mirrorball for “Are You a Hypnotist?”  Then Wayne said something about the next song “It’s Summertime” being a sad song, and it was okay to be sad.  Wayne has a lot of compassion for others and for people with depression.

They brought out the inflatable rainbow for “Do You Realize??”  I really wanted to see my daughter’s friend’s reaction to hearing this song live, but they were pretty far.  But afterwards she said it was incredible.

They ended the album with “All We Have is Now” and “Pavonis Mons.”  All in all 6 songs I hadn’t seen them play before and a great live experience.

My son had been camping for the weekend and was pretty tired, so I was worried that a really long show would wipe him out.  He was pretty tired after the first set (plus it was stupidly hot in there).  So I got us some waters and we waited a rather long time for them to come out for set two.  And a lot of people pushed to the front during the break.  Wasn;t the Yoshimi part the more desirable part?  Weird.

So the band had the full complement of players.  Steven Drozd playing guitar and keys and singing all kind of manipulated things.  The two drummers [“The Brothers Griiin”, Matt Duckworth and Nic Ley] in their green wigs.  Tommy McKenzie plays the fantastic Lips bass lines from the middle era that I love so much.  Derek Brown fills out the stage on the right side (facing the stage) playing mostly acoustic guitar (but really everything else too).

Finally around 10, Wayne came back out and the band launched into “She Don’t Use Jelly,” a wonderful throwback that I was so excited to hear.  I love that when he said that he blows his nose in magazines, Wayne himself said “what the fuck?” They followed it with “The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song.”  My daughter’s friend said she loved both of these songs ans was thrilled that they played them both in a row.   I was too, thinking this was going to be a greatest hits section for me.

But they went in a very different direction.  Their newest album American Head was my least favorite Lips album in a long time.  It just never grabbed me.  When I saw them tour for it, I thought the songs sounded better live.  But it seemed like Wayne and Co. had a drug theme that they were going to explore.  So he told a story about him being terrified when he was a kid and his brother took LSD and how everyone needs to be careful if they take it.  This led to “Mother, I’ve Taken LSD.”

I really like “How??” although with the whole “legalize it every drug right now” it was kind of a weird follow up.  Although I understand the difference between decriminalization and endorsement.  The problem is that it’s really slow.  As is “Always There, In Out Hearts.”

Wayne told another story about Kacey Musragves doing LSD and seeing Lightning Bugs do weird things and they sang the song that they wrote about that experience “Flowers of Neptune 6.”

I do really like “Vein of Stars” so it was fun to hear that. The third song from American Head was Assassins of Youth.  And I feel like this whole middle segment of the show was just kind of downbeat and frankly a little dull. Of course, no Flaming Lips show is dull, because there’s always something going on. Like laser beams, guys dressed in pink blowing bubbles out of bubble guns, Wayne dressed in a Wonder Woman costume (!) and more and more confetti.

Back in the old days they used to do more with balloons but they have since stopped–I believe for latex reasons or globophobia, I’m not sure.  But that’s kind of a bummer as it was so much fun to have the crew just hurling massive balloons at everyone.

They surprised everyone (I would have been more surprised had I not seen this on the setlist–I don’t normally check but I was curious what era they would be playing ) with a cover of Borderline by Madonna.  Interestingly, when I saw Pool Kids the other day I had seen that Borderline was on their setlist as well and I assumed THEY would be doing the Madonna song.  It was weird and almost unrecognizable–perfect.

They ended with the near instrumental “Pompeii Am Götterdämmerung,” a really wonderful ending that brought my spirits back up.

My kids were wiped out by now (I think the visuals are truly overwhelming), but I said there’d be a couple of encore songs and we’d go home.

Wayne came out with a little bird and explained that back when they used to play “My Cosmic Autumn Rebellion” back in 2006 he had a mechanical bird that would fly around.  Last time I saw them he was working on this bird trick.  And tonight it worked really well.  Wayne also got into the plastic hamster ball.  I did hope he would roll out

The show ended with two of my favorite songs.   “A Spoonful Weight a Ton” (which is so powerful as a show ender when the word Love just keeps fleshing on the screen) and the typical show opener “Race for the Prize” (with a little less confetti than usual during this song–it’s usually first and shoots excess confetti–of course they usually have an opening band, so they needed a LOT more confetti for this).

And that was that.  The kids had a great time.  They were overwhelmed and mentally exhausted from everything.  And physically exhausted too, I’m sure.

I really enjoyed having them there and I’m so glad they enjoyed it.  I’m cranky that I would have loved to hear more older songs, but since the kids didn’t know many of the songs anyway, they didn’t care.  I still appreciate Wayne’s concern for everyone (someone passed out near us and he made sure they were alright before continuing) and telling us that the reason he keeps asking for more and more noise is because someone who is sad made the decision to come out to the show tonight.  Our cheers and noise and screams and laughter might just help that person lift out of their sadness.  And if that’s true, that’s worth it to scream and scream some more.

Oh, and the show, thankfully ended with a huge FUCK YEAH PHILLY balloon.  (Last time they spelled out Philadelphia, which was absurdly long).  I hoped to grab a letter for the kids, but rather than crowd surfing it back, the front row grabbed the balloons and tore them apart right away.   Too bad.  Maybe next time.

 

		Philadelphia (Fillmore) 2023 [Yoshimi]
		SET 1: Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
		Fight Test ¥ [3]
		One More Robot/Sympathy 3000-21 ¥
		Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1 ¥ [5]
		Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 2 ¥
		In the Morning of the Magicians ¥
		Ego Trippin at the Gates of Hell ¥
		Are You a Hypnotist ¥ [3]
		It’s Summertime ¥
		Do You Realize?? ¥ [5]
		All We Have Is Now ¥ [2]
		Approaching Pavonis Mons by Balloon (Utopia Planitia) ¥
		SET 2: Other songs
		She Don’t Use Jelly ≅ [5]
		The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song (With All Your Power) ϖ [2]
		Mother I’ve Taken LSD ‰
		How?? ⊗ [3]
		Always There, In Our Hearts Ô
		Flowers of Neptune 6 ‰ [2]
		Vein of Stars (Tour debut, first time since 2016) ϖ [2]
		Assassins of Youth ‰
		Borderline (Madonna cover)
		Pompeii Am Götterdämmerung ϖ [3]
		encore
		My Cosmic Autumn Rebellion ϖ [2]
		A Spoonful Weighs a Ton ß [5]
		Race for the Prize ß [6]

 

Philadelphia (Fillmore) 2021	Bensalem (Parx Casino) 2018	Philadelphia (Fillmore) 2017
My Cosmic Autumn Rebellion ϖ (first time played since 2006)	Also sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30	Race for the Prize ß [3]
Do You Realize?? ¥ [4]	Race for the Prize ß [4]	Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1 ¥ [2]
Dinosaurs on the Mountain ‰	Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1 ¥ [3]	There Should Be Unicorns ⊗
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1 ¥ [4]	Fight Test ¥ [2]	Pompeii Am Götterdämmerung ϖ [2]
Flowers of Neptune 6 ‰	The Star-Spangled Banner	What is the Light? ß [3]
At the Movies on Quaaludes ‰	The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song (With All Your Power) ϖ	The Observer ß [2]
She Don’t Use Jelly ≅ [4]	There Should Be Unicorns ⊗ [2]	How?? ⊗
Silver Trembling Hands ♦	Space Oddity [David Bowie] [2]	Space Oddity [David Bowie]
Will You Return / When You Come Down ‰	How?? ⊗ [2]	Feeling Yourself Disintegrate ß [4]
Waitin’ for a Superman ß [5]	Are You a Hypnotist?? ¥ [2]	The Castle ⊗
Why Does It End? ϖ (live debut)	The W.A.N.D. ϖ [3]	Are You a Hypnotist ¥
Feeling Yourself Disintegrate ß [5]	Waitin’ for a Superman (piano) ß [4/1]	The W.A.N.D. ϖ [2]
encore	A Spoonful Weighs a Ton ß [4]	A Spoonful Weighs a Ton ß [3]
Sunship Balloons Σ	encore	The Abandoned Hospital Ship [2]
All We Have Is Now ¥	Do You Realize?? ¥ [3]	Waitin’ for a Superman ß [3]
Race for the Prize ß [5]		Do You Realize? ¥ [2]

 

Bethlehem MusikFest 2015	New York (Irving Plaza) October 2000	New York (Irving Plaza) April 2000 [based on next show]
The Abandoned Hospital Ship ©	Race for the Prize ß [2]	Race for the Prize ß
Fight Test ¥	The Gash ß	Riding to Work in the Year 2025 (Your Invisible Now) ζ
She Don’t Use Jelly ≅ [3]	The Spark That Bled ß [2]	Thirty-Five Thousand Feet of Despair ζ
Pompeii Am Götterdämmerung ϖ	A Spoonful Weighs a Ton ß	Feeling Yourself Disintegrate ß
The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song (With All Your Power) ϖ	Lightning Strikes the Postman © [2]	Sleeping on the Roof ß
Psychiatric Explorations of the Fetus With Needles ©	Feeling Yourself Disintegrate ß [2]	She Don’t Use Jelly ≅
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1 ¥	Sleeping on the Roof ß [2]	Slow Nerve Action ≅
Feeling Yourself Disintegrate ß [3]	The Spiderbite Song ß	Over the Rainbow (cover)
Vein of Stars ϖ	She Don’t Use Jelly ≅ [2]	Lightning Strikes the Postman ©
Butterfly, How Long It Takes to Die Ô	What Is the Light? ß [2]	Waitin’ for a Superman ß
The W.A.N.D. ϖ	Waitin’ for a Superman ß [2]	What is the Light ß
A Spoonful Weighs a Ton ß [2]	When You Smile © [2]	The Observer ß
encore		When You Smile ©
Do You Realize?? ¥		The Spark That Bled ß

‰ American Head (2020)
⊗ Oczy Mlody (2017)
Ô The Terror (2013)
♦ Embryonic (2009)
ϖ At War with the the Mystics (2006)
Σ Ego Trippin at the Gates of Hell EP (2003)
¥ Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (2002)
ß The Soft Bulletin (1999)
ζ Zaireeka (1997)
© Clouds Taste Metallic (1995)
≅ Transmissions from the Satellite Heart (1993)