Spectacle at its best
Posted: Sunday, June 17, 2007 9:53 PM by John Roderick
Flaming Lips
After the Police finished there was a mass exodus to the other side of the festival grounds for the Flaming Lips. There were no video screens on this stage, but to the Lips’ credit they obviously blew a wad on their lighting and special effects rig, sparing no expense to make the show a madhouse. And a madhouse it was.
Wayne Coyne is one of the most intelligent men in music, smart enough to know which part is serious and which part is fun, and he obviously works feverishly to ensure that the crowd has the time of their life.
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To start the show a life-sized spacecraft descended from the lighting rig and expelled Wayne, in a giant plastic bubble, out over the crowd. Then the confetti cannons started blasting, then the beach balls, then the 50 dancers in alien costumes, etc. It’s an impressive spectacle, especially considering that most of the production is homemade. The audience was packed into the field — maybe the same number as saw Tool the night previous, in half the space — and the atmosphere was one of joyful celebration. Surprisingly, I noticed for the first time how much Wayne Coyne’s voice sounds like Jerry Garcia’s. It can’t be a coincidence.
The crowd was so large I found myself swept back and out, like an irritant being expelled from a giant clam rather than being turned into a pearl. Soon I was far enough back that I could hear Gov’t Mule playing on a nearby stage, so I gravitated over to the other show thinking I would surely find it almost empty. Not so!
