Concert Review: The Flaming Lips in Boston, MA on 8-30-09

The Flaming Lips have a reputation for having pretty wacky concerts and I had great expectations going into the show this past Sunday. I was not disappointed. On the way to the show I rode on a bus filled with people who were obviously Flaming Lips fans. At the show I saw a man dressed as an Ewok, wearing a Oklahoma state flag, and another guy dressed as Beaker from the Muppets. I could tell it was going to be a good night

The venue was the Bank of America Pavilion. Located on the water, it was essentially a giant tent with open sides. The weather was beautiful and every now and then a breeze would waft through. Though the Pavilion is across the water from Logan Airport there was no noise from the airplanes taking off or landing. The Pavilion was spacious but not too big. Even the farthest seats had a decent view of the stage.

The opening bands were Star Death and White Dwarfs (headed by Wayne Coyne's nephew) and Explosions in the Sky. Overall, I felt that the opening band's sets went on too long, in comparison to the headliner's set which seemed kind of short. Explosions in the Sky really wore on my patience. They played instrumental guitar songs, transitioning back-and-forth from crunchy, hard-hitting rock to drawn-out ambient musings. While the sounds were often beautiful it seemed like the band was over-indulging themselves in their delay-and-reverb-heavy noodlings.

But soon after the opening acts the crowd began to get fired up as Wayne Coyne walked around the stage as the crew began setting up. He waved at the crowd, pausing every now and then to inspect this or that. Then the show started.

The giant half-circle screen lit up showing a naked woman dancing (there would be many images of dancing women, clothed and unclothed, throughout the night). The woman on her screen laid back and the camera zoomed in on her vagina (which was some sort of psychedelic rainbow void). The screen opened up and out came the band members as Wayne Coyne was kneeling in a deflated the plastic bubble. Now, you know you're in for a good show when the band comes out of a giant, electronic, psychedelic vagina (because chances are you're at a Flaming Lips show). Coyne's bubble was inflated and he walked out onto the ground. 

The concert had the kind of energy that only a Flaming Lips show can have. Confetti and balloons rained down as smoke machines blasted. Coyne spent a lot of his time on stage throwing balloons out into the crowd and shooting streamers into the air. There were dancers on each side of the stage. Stage right had guys in animal costumes and stage left had girls in skimpy space costumes. Eventually the guys were joined by a giant butterfly with a crown and a catfish wearing a captain's hat. The lights and visuals were amazing.

The band played materially spanning much of their catalogue, from Transmissions from the Satellite Heart to material from their upcoming album Embryonic. Their last albums, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots and At War With the Mystics were the best-represented. They debutted "See The Leaves", one of their new songs which they had not played live before and some other material that I'm not allowed to talk about.

The crowd's excitement level was high and Coyne definitely fed off of it. He teased the crowd through slow, stripped down versions of "Fight Test" and "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1". The music would stop between phrases and he would wave his arms to try and keep the cheering going and insisted the crowd do karate chops for "Yoshimi". For most of the songs he either encouraged audience participation or encourage the crowd to sing a long and go nuts. 

One of the highlights of the show was when a giant balloon filled with confetti popped on Coyne during "The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song" causing him to say "fuck" instead of singing the lyrics. Another high point in the show was when Coyne held up a bugle to the microphone while "Taps" played behind him, before the band burst into "The W.A.N.D."

For the encore the band came out on stage and led everyone in singing "Happy Birthday" for a girl named Lindsay towards the front of the crowd (making "She Don't Use Jelly" only the second-best sing-along of the night). Finally, they wrapped up the show with "Do You Realize??", a cathartic end (a wonderful breeze came in just at the climax of the song) to a fun-filled night. The only way the night could've been better is if I had a seat closer to the stage, in range of the confetti and balloons.