The Flaming Lips: Festival Pier, Philadelphia, PA 8/29/09

Rock concerts are supposed to be unpredictable.   When the torrential monsoon of rain halted the Flaming Lips show on August 29th at Philly’s Festival Pier, some complained while others just accepted that this kind of mayhem is the way of the rock world.  What this creative force from Oklahoma was able to squeeze in offered us a glimpse of the past and future from a group going strong since 1983.  

We watched Wayne Coyne direct the placement and workings of their elaborate stage show during what I’ve come to recognize as a typical Lips setup.  Hot stage lights burned bright as the band emerged one by one out of a doorway cut into the giant half-moon backdrop screen.   It cradled the image of a giant rainbow colored female with her genitalia strategically placed so that the band was literally birthed out onto the stage.   Their waves to the crowd were met with cheers as Coyne stayed underneath a ramp, wrapped in his clear human hamster ball. 

After a few ceremonious bows to the temptress that wiggled in the lights of the elaborate backdrop, Coyne emerged tumbling and crawling over the masses.    The “Race for the Prize” beginning to their shows has become a must-see-to-believe moment.  Coyne is an absolute master of connecting with the crowd and he demonstrated that once again.   He pulled his homemade confetti shooters out one after the other as the girls in white faux-chesty tops and fury wolves’ costumes tossed gigantic balloons into the crowd.  Wayne couldn’t be any happier during these opening moments.   He watched his hard set-up work pay off in spades as the audience collectively flipped their lids all covered in smoke and garnished with sacks of confetti.

The Flaming Lips uncorked the first of two new compositions, performing a frantic version of “Silver Trembling Hands” one of the early released tracks from the upcoming new album Embryonic.  The new track dipped between the Lips raucous punk roots brought on by Michael Ivins thudding bass and Kliph Scurlock’s rock solid anchor of  the drums.  Coyne’s ability to bring songs from the tippy-top of a scream fest and back to the softer croon was never more obvious than during “STH.” 

After a weaker rendition of the “Yeah, Yeah, Yeah” song, the Lips busted out an acoustic sing-along of “Fight Test.”  The softer reworking was an intriguing experimental bit of sound as Coyne took long pauses between verses, receiving and accepting the audience’s applause before carving the claps into the next verse.  By this point we had received no less than two-three announcements from him about the approaching storm and as he finished the fourth song of the night, bursts of lightning could be seen over the city.  It was a bad sign and despite Coyne’s encouraging words that they would play through the rain, the festival pier was not quite ready to be another Ben Franklin electricity experiment. 

The lead up to the shows’ finale was grand and after an exceptional “Enthusiasm Defeats” and “Bad Days” the second of the new songs jumped out at us. "Convinced of the Hex," with its thick and impenetrable rhythms and all out raging guitar finish was the evening’s first clear highlight.  The Flaming Lips have added a new guitar man Derek Brown to their mix and man, does he do wonders for the music.  It was really noticeable as he and Steven Drozd just wailed on the close of the second new song surrounded in a veil of smoke. 

The second highlight was the “Vein of Stars” landing before the show was called off.  It was a thoughtful rendition that was only improved upon by the sky dropping a steady drizzle.  The whole scene just made you feel wonderful to be standing outside.  The ensuing rain storm hit before the Lips could start another song and it sent 3,000 freaks running for a white tent that ran along the side of the venue.  Inside sheets of water pounded the windows and despite a few rowdy attempts at rekindling the spirit of the show, it was over.   Before the crowd dispersed Wayne obliged the chants for him to get back in the bubble and he pleased the soaked and huddling masses once again. 

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