WOW! What a show!
I normally don’t start reviews like this but….WOW! The Flaming Lips have been, for many years, on a short list of bands I have always wanted to see and finally got the opportunity to go see.
As the Flaming Lips crew started bringing all the instruments and gear out for the show I noticed one thing that I have never seen before. The band set up their own gear, tuned their instruments along side the crew until everything was set. The stage went dark and then this happened…
Here’s the opening song of the set. Watch it in HQ:
From that point on, even though I didn’t know a single Flaming Lips song, I was blown away not only by the musicianship but their stage show as well. Four guys putting out sometimes technical yet brilliant music for the entire duration of the set isn’t an easy thing to do. Yet, they’ve been doing this for 25 some odd years.
The songs they performed, the Prince and Madonna cover song excluded, weren’t catchy or poppy tunes. No, the music they put out to the masses that evening was like a harmonious symphony, with a touch of complete and utter chaos, and a whole heaping pile of plain and simple fun! I don’t think there is any other way to describe the coolness of this show to the lay person.
What a way to close out the McDowell Mountain Music festival! I’ll say this, I know I’m not the only one who has been converted to wanting to listen to more Flaming Lips songs.
Set List (from the Flaming Lips Message Boards):
Ta Da / Bubble
Race For The Prize
Lightning Strikes The Postman
Purple Rain (Just a minute or so)
Borderline (as in the Madonna cover)
Fight Test
The Process
(I heard a couple notes of What Is Light)
(Happy Birthday to Jake the tech)
Vein Of Stars / Firebird Suite
Mountain Side
Yoshimi part 1
Pompeii AM Gottemdaumerung
Taps
The WAND
She Don’t Use Jelly
Do You Realize
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I did not have the opportunity to go to this concert but my nephew went and his greatest passion is music. He was so blown away by this group and the whole concert that he called me that night after the concert ended to tell me how incredible it was. So yes, I think many others were blown away by this group!
Nina Laveson
http://www.kinkzmassage.com