GIG NUMBER FORTY
Who
Before the second support came on something incredible happened. Wayne responded to our shouts and came to the front of the stage to sign things!! He left before I had a chance with the line "I'll be back", but he did indeed return! I utilised my poster and Wayne signed it with the genius "hey Gavin - thanks a billion. Wayne." This was doubly clever as it was pointed out to me over a year later that Wayne had written the "y" in his name to resemble a penis - what he was saying I don't know but this simple signature highlighted his boundless imagination! He also spoke a bit about how pleased he was with the album artwork and, when I questioned him about the seated venue, he said that "you're welcome to stand up if you can't control yourself!" to much laughter. My mate Dan had the equally brilliant "hey Dan - you rock!" signed on his poster, but Tom's attempts to get Wayne to hold up a sign saying "eggy bread" didn't quite work. He spoke to us with inhuman politeness and shook hands with everyone. Wayne stayed until "ordered" offstage by a bouncer to make way for the second support. What a meeting and it never would have happened in a standing venue! David Kitt played very, very long songs that sounded OK although not as good as Goldrush. He responded to a heckle by saying "sorry, I don't do charisma" to much laughter. But the main event was approaching!! Wayne demonstrated his guitar that just seemed to make techno noises and he carefully set up the camera in the mic giving great face close-ups for the bloody moments. The crowd were having much fun playing volleyball with the large balloons and, as someone found out when one popped, they were filled with confetti!
There were several recurring things to note in the gig: Wayne has a habit of smashing the cymbals on the drums during the exciting bits. And perhaps this is where I should mention the three gigantic rotating crystal balls, and the fact that the rest of the band were wearing headless rabbit costumes, plus we had two more guys dressed like a frog and dog who, apart from playing on one song, seemed to be there solely to control the balloons! At strategic points during the gig Wayne pointed at them and they threw a big balloon in his direction. He crouched on the floor then jumped up and popped it with the top of his guitar: strange but brilliant! The dog spent most of the gig smoking and afterwards praised me for my SFA Furrymania T-shirt! He has since become Kliph, their regular drummer. But in my excitement I'm rushing ahead, so maybe I should talk about the start of the show... After he'd carefully set all his wonderful gadgets up, Wayne went to the mic and said "OK we're nearly ready now!!" The lights dimmed and the video screen started up. We were treated to some chat show host holding up the Yoshimi album sleeve whilst declaring his next guests "are to perform a number from their latest album Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots. All the way from Oklahoma, please welcome... The Flaming Lips!!" The word "lips" was looped and distorted, repeated again and again before fading out. Then we heard FIVE FOUR THREE TWO ONE being chanted whilst the numbers were flashed on the screen. Then, like a nuclear explosion, Wayne struck the opening chords to Do You Realize?? I'd heard a fuzzy version of the song over and over again on my PC the previous night but it only struck me how stunning it was in the live arena. The emotion in it was unbelievable and was enough to silence any sceptic in that room.
Things kept going for the "second opener" Race For The Prize, which featured a similar chat show intro and another intense explosion of brilliance. It made the record sound totally inadequate by comparison. Before our heads exploded, things were wisely slowed down for The Spark That Bled that, as per usual, featured Wayne pouring fake blood over his head. Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Pt. 1 followed, featuring scenes from Battle Royale in the background that perfectly fitted the song. Somewhere around this time Wayne produced his dry ice gun, warning us he "can shoot pretty far!", while taunting us for being too embarrassed to stand up. Things then went up to eleven for an impossibly mighty Lightning Strikes The Postman which was sung/screamed by Wayne through a loudspeaker which I guess is the only way it could be done justice. A glove puppet was then dusted down for Feeling Yourself Disintegrate: it mouthed the chorus in such a way that I can no longer imagine hearing that song without a puppet handy!! The brilliant instrumental Sleeping On The Roof followed this, featuring a close-up of a guy's mouth on the video who was making noises in time with the tune whilst trying to smoke at the same time, which also proved to be a touch of random genius! Wayne then apologised for wanting to play some new songs, acknowledging that "you guys came here coz you wanna hear your favourite songs!" and how he was annoyed when bands he saw missed out their hits: a lesson that needs to be learnt by several artists I've seen!! This was followed by a shocking story of a band he'd seen who dedicated a whole show to songs they'd just written a few weeks after an album had came out!
So he then played Fight Test, which may or may not have featured a strobe light around Wayne's neck and a bizarre video featuring Bjork. Then things took a shock turn. Wayne went into a lengthy speech about how much he likes this song and how it sounds slow and painful and how he wanted to make it seem even more so!! At this point he responded brilliantly to someone quickly standing up to take off their coat with "there's no need to get naked!" So the song started up to a gigantic laugh as people realised that they were performing Can't Get You Out Of My Head!! The frog and the dog joined the band on instruments and the song was delivered in aching slow motion. It worked brilliantly and the band made a nice but shallow disco number into something truly moving and wonderful. Wayne was heckled with the brilliant "show us your arse!" afterwards too! And who'd had thought they'd cover the same song as The Electric Soft Parade did for me earlier on in the year? The band followed this with their biggest hit She Don't Use Jelly and another chat show host introduction. Confetti was poured over Wayne's head but, sadly, the guitars didn't quite match their brilliance on the record: the one thing that could be termed a disappointment. Jelly was followed by In The Morning Of The Magicians, another new song. Things then reached top gear again with the glorious Waitin' For A Superman, featuring a very interesting video of Wayne walking around a park with blood all over him after walking into a lamppost! He also produced a fake bird with flapping wings for some reason during this tune.
At this point, Wayne decided to say that he knows he's a bad singer (the crowd all said no) to which he told us we didn't need to pretend (for the record, he's a fantastic singer). He then gave an uplifting speech about how he'll just try to do this song as best as he possibly can. The lights dimmed and the sun from the Teletubbies appeared to huge cheers, as this was A Spoonful Weighs A Ton! Wayne did the surreal thing of waving at the sun and trying to see his shadow on the projector and somehow this seemed the most appropriate thing to do! The Teletubbies then appeared for the verse, the video screens in their chests coming on as the song got going and it all built up for the perfect chorus: the Teletubbies bumped into each other in time with the bass and this was interspersed with shots of a virtual drummer. Never has an image fitted in so perfectly with the song and this glorious song ended, of course, with the sun going down, although I suppose you just had to be there to get it. The main set was then closed with a number I'd never heard from Zaireeka called How Will We Know? Wayne finally ordered everyone onto their feet and told us that the best sound a human being can hear is the sound of someone else going mental. He ordered us to applaud continuously then to go insane when the rocket appeared onscreen. We did and the song was glorious albeit short.
Of course the crowd now remained on their feet and we were treated to an encore of What Is The Light? and The Observer, which was a strange choice but worked perfectly well as we continued to go mental. The last thing I recall Wayne saying to us was the totally appropriate "it might be love!" Sadly though, this spectacle was over. I purchased a T-shirt outside to go with my signed poster and returned home. There had been no soundcheck, gong or feramin and the band had failed to play The Gash or Talkin' Bout The Smiling Deathporn Immortality Blues (Everyone Wants To Live Forever) but there's only so much excitement you can take in one day, and anyone reading this who has yet to see The Flaming Lips is someone who has yet to live! The most shocking thing is the difficulty I still have persuading others to come and see them, which I take as the definitive example of others being terrified of judging for themselves and proving me right. But this was very much their loss, and one of the greatest shows of all time, comparable only to other Flaming Lips gigs!
Mark: 10.0/10
The Flaming Lips
Support
David Kitt
Goldrush
Where
Birmingham Alexandra Theatre
When
4th July 2002
Price
£12.50
Who with
Tom, Dan
Position
Seated, at the front towards the left
Comments
Wow. Quite simply no exclamation can sum up the amazement of anyone with a soul after witnessing The Flaming Lips live spectacle. All I can do is go into every detail to inform you and remind myself just how incredible this concert was. It wasn't a perfect night and the few flaws will be listed here but, when it hit the heights, it really did beyond all comprehension and far beyond anything I'd seen in my previous 39 gigs. Although it probably wasn't quite as special as their V2000 appearance was I have to admit. Firstly, I nicked a poster from outside, little realising it would become my most treasured possession before the end of the night! My initial feelings upon entering the (very posh) venue were of disappointment: it was seated for Gods sake!! But I suppose it did give me somewhere to stash my poster plus the free CD we were given by Truck Records. Goldrush opened the night with a very nice set. Like in some bizarre dream, Wayne himself was sitting on the side of the stage (in his new attire: a very smart cream suit) watching the band himself. "There he is and nobody cares" somebody appropriately commented. Both supports thanked Wayne and the most interesting thing to note about Goldrush was that they had a handheld camera pointed at a plastic fish all night, which was their video projection. Wayne actually took his praise of them so far in the main set that he imagined us saying in a few years time (when Goldrush are big) "wow! I saw them and they blew the Lips away!" - obviously to much laughter as Goldrush didn't come anywhere near blowing the Lips away as nobody could! But Wayne then reminded us who'd bought all the balloons along, just in case there was anyone who needed more convincing!
Setlist
Do You Realize??
Race For The Prize
The Spark That Bled
Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Pt.1
Lightning Strikes The Postman
Feeling Yourself Disintegrate
Sleeping On The Roof
Fight Test
Can't Get You Out Of My Head
She Don't Use Jelly
In The Morning Of The Magicians
Waitin' For A Superman
A Spoonful Weighs A Ton
How Will We Know?
What Is The Light?
The Observer
