GIG NUMBER EIGHTY-FOUR
Who
As I hinted at above I had barely got round to hearing At War With The Mystics but heard the first half on the train journey there. Going to a gig straight after work presents problems that may put me off it in future, particularly having to lug a large bag around and the general rush to arrive at the venue for a reasonable time. Most trains had been randomly cancelled (continuing the utterly shambolic service I'd experienced over the last week and that very morning) but mine was only delayed by ten minutes. The trip provided a nice chance to chill-out and enjoy a couple of beers to put me in the right attitude, but the rush to the Apollo on arrival (doors opened 7pm, I arrived 7:30) and being unable to secure a brilliant position somewhat soured the vibe. As I'm sure I've said before, I'm very happy to know other people are finally catching up with me and getting into The Lips, but I hate it when the volume of new fans disrupts with my personal gig experience. The concept of standing behind the tallest person in the venue was also taken to ridiculous new extremes as five persons of giant proportions somehow found a way in front of me to strategically obstruct my view and give me serious neck-ache. I also chose to chance it and keep my backpack on me despite the incredible number of people here.
Anyway, I think I've gave enough background so perhaps should move on to an account of the occasion. Everything was already set up for The Go! Team to come on but first Wayne came onstage to unleash a confetti firework! He stood at the side as he usually does giving me something extra to look at as The Go! Team took to the stage. They provided an entertaining and tuneful spectacle that went down a storm with the crowd. The group featured a seemingly random array of people (white, black, Asian, male, female) and were exciting and original, although some of the backing vocals were hideously loud. In a strange turn the band left the stage after just a few songs to leave a random woman onstage who delivered a nice-but-quiet tune and it took a while to realise she had been one of The Go! Team. The band then took their places on the stage for an instrumental bit before the singer returned. The Flaming Lips had set up a screen (as per usual) that was showing videos to go with the songs but the only one I remember for The Go! Team was a collage of car crashes and a spelling out of the bands name! I was very surprised to find that I recognised the song Lady Flash that they finished with, ending it with an irritating flurry of strobe lights. As they were given an ovation and left the stage I realised that they had generated a level of excitement which many headliners fail to achieve, highlighting what an agreeable live band they are and also how up for it the crowd tonight were (even though nobody had joined in the singing along the band had tried to incite).
The Flaming Lips always set up their own equipment, presumably because they don't trust anyone else to do it properly. As Wayne was going around checking out all his gadgets I remarked how strange it was that the band could so demystify their entrance yet still open stronger than any other act on Earth. I noted that the stage was relatively bare and deduced that this was to create as much space as possible for furry animals! There was also a couple of strange cannon things that looked like they would release confetti but I never saw them being set off. It was an interesting contrast to V2000 where the band had left a space of barely metres between the video screen and the front of the stage. Everyone then vanished to get changed: a guy emerged in a superhero costume, Michael was wearing a nifty skeleton outfit, Wayne was in a relatively sober suit and we had dancing Santa Claus's (possibly the people from The Go! Team) appearing stage left and aliens stage right. Due to the freakishly tall people in front of me, I'm afraid I can't recall as much of the visual spectacle as I'd like, and can barely even remember anything that was on the video screen. Before the band appeared, a bizarre intro tape featuring Gruff singing Psyclone! but with altered lyrics along the lines of "Flaming Lips, from Oklahoma, Flaming Lips, coming to town" was played. Then Wayne emerged and, after briefly showing off the legendary gloves from The Gash, got to work on inflating his bubble!
This would have been the most astonishing entrance in history (this side of V2000!) but lost that edge of surprise as I had heard that they would probably be doing this. Nevertheless, the sight of Wayne stepping into the bubble and being launched into the crowd, where he rolled around clumsily for a good few minutes, was one of the craziest things I've ever seen. I think it also stands as an excellent gauge of taste: if you think the idea of Wayne Coyne floating above the heads of a crowd in a bubble isn't amazing, then you are either a humourless conservative twit or are absolutely determined to be cynical about the band no matter what amazing evidence displays itself! I took my only photo of the night here but only captured a strange glowing orb! Whilst Wayne was rolling about a fanfare was playing and words of introduction appeared but my attentions were elsewhere. Wayne returned to the stage as the count-in started up: tonight was going to open with Race For The Prize! Instantly orange balloons overloaded the place, including a few super-sized ones, Wayne spun round his massive swirly thing, and the animals danced like crazy and waved their flashlights at us. However I was indulging in my only proper bout of moshing of the night so missed the spectacle and enjoyed the music. Although having a backpack proved extremely uncomfortable and this was a deeply unoriginal opening for the fifth time viewer, this was still The Flaming Lips performing one of the greatest songs ever and that will never become dull!
I probably should warn that between every tune was lengthy banter from Wayne only some of which I recall. Towards the start he claimed that this show was going out on radio and to pretend that the 4000 people here were in fact 40,000 and urged us to go insane as if we were on crack! He also used some distortion to say "thank you" in a hilariously high-pitched voice from time-to-time. I can honestly say that this was the loudest crowd I have ever heard, where the sheer volume of screaming and applause was enough to deafen you, which has never literally happened before! Free Radicals was second tune and kept things ticking over. I still had yet to acknowledge it as an amazing song, but it worked nicely live. Things returned to (even) more crowd-pleasing form with Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Pt. 1. Sadly the intro sounded a bit off to me but everybody still went for it and screamed like crazy. I just sung along and extracted much pleasure from the outro with the nun puppet as Wayne dragged out every line to a degree I can't begin to convey in words! And this of course points me towards the same problem that has affected SFA live: as inventive as the band may be and as incredible as the gimmicks are, the unexpected becomes expected and the repeated themes become predictable. To know what was coming (in most cases) took my enjoyment level below that of previous shows, although for the first-time viewer everything would seem beyond incredible.
Wayne then explained the concept of the evening. The Santa's represent Christianity (cue lots of boos) whereas the aliens represent Scientology (cue deafening boos!) and they were fighting each other for supremacy. However, The Flaming Lips in the middle were fighting to win the war themselves. Wayne very wisely pointed out that we don't need to believe in an invisible God being in charge of us to appreciate life and, if the subtext of the evening was that The Flaming Lips (key philosophy: enjoy yourself and go for it rather than being cynical) have more to offer than Christianity and Scientology combined, then I'm converted! This war was represented by most unexpected tune of the evening Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Pt. 2. On record this feels like an unnecessary tacked-on ending, but in the live arena it made sense as the soundtrack to an imaginary fight! Next up was Vein Of Stars from the new album. I'm afraid to say that this one drifted past me, although this was possibly down to my ignorance of the song rather than any fault of the band. Then-current single The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song came across as baffling on Top Of The Pops. Tonight it made more sense as Wayne threw a few of its statements at us and asked us to sing "yeah yeah yeah yeah" or "no no no no" before launching into it. The crowd became noisier and more downright crazy than before and it made much more sense to me now. I then looked at my watch - somehow far less time had passed than I'd imagined - exactly the opposite of what I'd expected!
In The Morning Of The Magicians was OK, but I don't think I'll ever go crazy over it. Tonight it was special because I finally broke away from the giants in front and managed to get a comfortable view. This seems the point to clarify most of the negatives that held back my enjoyment, albeit through little fault of the band. Having to crane my neck was really painful as was wearing the aforementioned large backpack, which massively affected my concentration. Also the reaction of the crowd (who moshed to this slowie from a recent album but didn't seem to enjoy all-time classic She Don't Use Jelly) was deeply frustrating, and I hated being stuck behind them. However, the setlist also proved weaker than before. The W.A.N.D. might have been a good song, but when it features the apparatus from Lighting Strikes The Postman, it felt like a cruel teaser for my favourite live song that had been substituted. Again it is no fault of the band that Postman was dropped, and can be put down to the crowds failing to appreciate it in past shows, no doubt thanks to most of them having never heard it. By raising the ticket price, altering the balance of the set for the worse and thwarting my deserved position near the front, a genuine reason for wanting my bands to remain obscure comes about.
Wayne then introduced us to a machine that makes animal noises and, as he promised, the band somehow managed to create a good song with the noises as vocals! Perhaps it's the way they want it, but I'm afraid the other members of the band didn't register much at all tonight. Everything sounded great so they deserve credit, but The Flaming Lips show is all about Wayne and you can't imagine it being any other way. Around this point he launched a screaming contest between us and the people in the balcony, which he controversially ruled in favour of the upstairs. He also successfully threw a balloon upstairs to perhaps the largest-ever applause to accompany the throwing of one! He praised us as the best crowd ever several times, highlighting that people come to their gigs out of love and not because they are following fashion. I'm not sure about his sincerity (as every Lips gig seems to be received with similar insanity), but the sheer volume of noise coming from around me made me think at times that perhaps he was serious and this really was the loudest crowd ever! However, as great as they were in parts, the audience let themselves down by not treating She Don't Use Jelly with enough reverence, as it was left to me to go crazy to the chat show intro and try to mosh. The extended ending (repetition of the third verse) was sung along to as it should be, but I can't help wondering how many actually knew the words. Steven borrowed the loudspeaker for the backing vocals and the ending was the now-traditional blowing up of an enormous balloon until it exploded!
Do You Realize?? ended the main set, featuring exactly the same intro and video as before. By this point I had acquired a bit of red ribbon to keep as a memento but was also choking on some confetti! The guys in front of me seemed to have been showered with stuff making me yet again wish I were further forwards. I had been singing along throughout but had still kept my voice. The band then returned for a Black Sabbath song called War Pigs that sounded fantastic. They claimed they'd been playing it live for over a year (first I'd heard of it) and also pointed out that yesterday they'd been in Birmingham - home of the Sabbath! George Bush and other symbols of evil accompanied it. Wayne wisely pointed out that booing at him for a bit won't make any difference, but letting out our frustrations would make us all feel better! They then left the stage and the show was over, interestingly before the curfew and with only 11 songs played. The DJ played We're Off To See The Wizard as I left (narrowly beating Street Fighting Man as his most inspired choice of the evening) and we waiting around afterwards in the hope of meeting Wayne, but my heart wasn't quite in it as I'd already mt him and couldn't believe a second meeting would ever top the first, so we didn't wait too long!
Writing this review just the day after the show makes it a difficult one to call. For some strange reason I didn't really come out on a high or thinking of all that I'd seen. The problems I've already highlighted no doubt played a large part. If I was down the front with no backpack I'm sure I'd had enjoyed myself even more. It was also a shame that there was little to take me by surprise, as even the bubble I'd known about in advance. The only problem I could even attempt to attribute to the band is the setlist: I'm looking at it after the event and it seems weak. I was devastated to miss out on Lightning Strikes The Postman, and also found myself really missing Waitin' For A Superman, even though I never enjoyed it that much in the past. I guess you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone! Also, A Spoonful Weighs A Ton, The Gash and, as usual, Talkin' 'Bout The Smiling Deathporn Immortality Blues (Everyone Wants To Live Forever) were not played. The guys could have squeezed in one or two more in theory, but the real fault is that the omitted tunes are only appreciated by the proper fans like me so the band have little motivation to play them! Afterwards, I noted that I hadn't been deafened so deduced that the sound quality must have been perfect, and I also got to see camera phone footage of Wayne in the bubble that some wonderful soul had posted online. My provisional opinion of this night was that it was miles ahead of everyone else, yet the worst Flaming Lips show I'd seen to date, for what that's worth!
Mark: 9.0/10
The Flaming Lips
Support
The Go! Team
Where
Manchester Apollo
When
25th April 2006
Price
£19.50
Who with
Jon
Position
In the middle
Comments
I saw them previously on 28th October 2003, knowing then that I wouldn't witness The Flaming Lips Experience again for a long time. It certainly doesn't feel like well over two years have elapsed since I was last here, in the same venue, watching their show. The band have since completed (but at the time of writing still not released!) the Christmas On Mars movie and released a couple of DVDs and other oddments, but as the release of At War With The Mystics has clashed with perhaps the most intense period of musical love in my life to date (triggered by putting literally 10,000 songs on my home P.C.) I simply had not had the time to get back into The Lips as much as I should have. The instant those super-expensive tickets were released I'd purchased them, deciding a long trip to Manc (a place of good crowds) with a friend was preferable to the short trip to Birmingham (piss-poor crowds) all alone. I simply gave a single email warning to everybody who has been foolish enough to continue missing out on seeing The Flaming Lips time and time again that it would be the greatest show they would ever see and that they would be absolute retards to miss it. No surprises that my message was ignored by all: am I destined to be the only person with an open mind?
Setlist
Race For The Prize
Free Radicals
Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Pt. 1
Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Pt. 2
Vein Of Stars
The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song
In The Morning Of The Magicians
The W.A.N.D.
Cow/Duck Jam
She Don't Use Jelly
Do You Realize??
War Pigs
