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November saw Wayne Coyne and his band of psychedelic-punk
musicians feature at The London Troxy for two sold out
nights of Flaming Lips based mayhem, accompanied by
their usual array of props, toys and stage dancers.
After emerging from behind a giant video screen the
band rolled into opening song ‘Race for the Prize’ while
Coyne sent the crowd into delirium by performing his
fan favourite party trick of taking to a human hamster
ball and clambering over the welcoming audience. It
was an energetic start and set a good benchmark, heightened
all the more with a shower of balloons and confetti
raining down on a packed out Troxy - more a circus than
a concert.
A mixture of dry ice, lasers and an over-sized gong
kept this festival of noise pumping along and proved
to the masses that a Flaming Lips gig is definitely
something worth experiencing. The set list included
hit tracks ‘The W.A.N.D.’ and ‘Yeah Yeah Yeah song’
but it was ‘Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Pt 1’ that
provided the biggest sing along of the night.
The number of songs from the sprawling and unpredictable
new album ‘Embryonic’ were kept to a minimum, which
some might say was a good thing, uncomfortable as they
were next to the older and much loved pop songs. Extended
crowd interaction from singer Wayne Coyne ate up stage
time during the gig, but the audience seemed pleased
to hang on every word that fell from his lips as he
rambled on about early Flaming Lips gigs and the band’s
rise to fame.
Closing song ‘Do You Realize?’ prompted this excitable
audience into another mass sing-along and was accompanied
by a further shower of orange and yellow streamers,
leaving the London venue looking like it had been hit
by an arctic blizzard.
After leaving the gig feeling very satisfied, and knowing
my £25 had been well spent, my only disappointment came
with the exclusion of personal favourite song ‘My Cosmic
Autumn Rebellion’ but I guess you can’t have everything.
more info:
http://www.flaminglips.com
Report ~ Tom Collins for Crud Magazine 2009©
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