Info
Live: Flaming Lips' theater of the absurd
Los Angeles taping for the indie rockers' live DVD brings out eclectic, eccentric frontman Wayne Coyne and company.
LOS ANGELES--It was like Christmas in July, with about 30 volunteer Santas filling the right side of the stage. Or was it an alien invasion, with the gaggle of folk on the left side dressed as extraterrestrials? Then there was the group of women, topless in purple glitter body paint and sporting green wigs.
The Flaming Lips
Amid it all, the madcap ringleader, Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne, stepped into a giant clear balloon and walked inside the bubble on the edge of the orchestra pit, aided by Superman and Captain America. And it was only the introduction.
Welcome to the world of the Flaming Lips and their absurdist celebration billed as a concert. At the Hollywood Bowl on Sunday, the Lips' normally over-the-top theatrics were cranked up several notches because the spectacle was being taped for a DVD release. The bombastic opening left fans wondering what the Lips could possibly do for an encore, or even the remainder of the 65-minute set, but Coyne had a few ideas up his sleeve.
The Lips--Coyne and multiinstrumentalists Michael Ivins (in a skeleton suit) and Steven Drozd, augmented by a touring drummer, Kliph Scurlock--played material from their past three albums, but the music was often overshadowed by the sheer madness of it all.
Coyne stretched out the end of "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1" so he could turn it into a sing-along duet with a nun hand puppet. The more subdued "Vein of Stars" turned into a hail of glow sticks and fluorescent necklaces as Coyne encouraged the Bowl crowd to turn their giveaway tchotchkes into projectiles.
In interviews, Coyne has stated that he unleashed the Lips' latest album, At War With the Mystics, to show his angry side, which was displayed in the falsetto-sung "Free Radicals" and the power chords of "The W.A.N.D." Yet it was all good vibes when the Lips closed the set with their life-and-death epic "Do You Realize??"
Those good vibrations were blown away with an encore cover of Black Sabbath's "War Pigs." Coyne covered his face with fake blood as images of war, President Bush, vice president Dick Cheney, and members of their cabinet appeared on the video screen. With that song and its accompanying images, Coyne effectively flipped the switch from the absurdist celebration of fantasy to the harsh absurdities of reality.
The show, part of KCRW's World Festival at the Bowl, also featured an enjoyable set by the reunited '60s Brazilian popsters Os Mutantes, who would have been more at home during last month's Sergio Mendes show. Second-billed Washington, DC-based Thievery Corporation got the party started early with a mix of turntable wizardry, live instrumentation, and a revolving lineup of guest vocalists.
Just added
