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If there was a show that somehow managed to turn its audience
instantly into children, one would imagine this show would be
highly popular. Well once you experience a night of The Flaming
Lips you'll see that this is exactly the kind of show they
put on. And recently the Oklahoma boys came through Kansas City,
so yours truly gladly turned into a child (or at least a teenager)
for a night.
After the star-studded introductions of Mike (bass), Steven
(guitar/keys) and Kliph (drums) were over, a previously
floppy piece of plastic began to transform. This plastic would
eventually (after about 5 min) become a life-size version of a
mouse ball. But instead of a furry little creature inside, there
was a furry headed lead singer by the name of Wayne Coyne.
And once the ball was fully inflated, Wayne took it for a stroll
across the crowd, you know, just to introduce himself. If you're
a Lips fanatic, you know that this is a common scene for their
set. But what's common for them is absolutely out of even the
semi-norm for the rest of the "band touring" nation.
After Wayne made it back to his post, then things got really
crazy. With 3' tall balloons flying and showers of confetti, the
music finally began. And already within the first 3 songs we were
met with a classic "The Yeah, Yeah, Yeah Song." As a
long time fan of the Lips, having this song come up during my
photo-shooting opportunity made focusing my camera nearly impossible.
Good photos do not come out of photographers that are singing
and dancing along. It was an extremely small price to pay, because
being between the band and their adorning fans for that song made
it completely worth it. The faces of the "children"
were ecstatic to say the least.
With the recent release of Embryonic, naturally the set
was dotted with new songs, including "Worm Mountain."
It was a song that set off the psychedelic nature of everyone
in that audience. It's full of pure '70s rock, i.e. its nothing
short of an synthetic explosion set to a highly intense electric
guitar. Following "Worm Mountain" was what I like to
call the storyteller song, but on album it's known as "She
Don't Use Jelly." You know a simple story about a young woman
and a young man who don't follow normal logic for the everyday
activities. Just listen to the lyrics: "I know a guy who
goes to shows/When's he's home & blows his nose/He don't use
tissues or his sleeve/He don't use napkins or any of these/He
uses magazines." But as mentioned before, this set turns
even the most straight-laced business professional into a teenager
for the night, so naturally there must be a sing-a-long to accompany.
Ending the base set were two trippy numbers, "The W.A.N.D."
and from the new album "Convinced Of The Hex." The first
of the two being a personal favorite and purely for the electronic
guitar at the beginning, that's twisted in a slightly synthed
kind of way. After a couple basic beats and hand claps, an almost
alien sound comes blaring from the stage. Just a few notes which
are repeated throughout the song yet seem to hold it all together.
The latter of the two is a song that has got to be really interesting
under the influence of well, something. Written like it was straight
out of the '70s, the nearly muted vocals are easily overpowered
by every piece of equipment that was plugged in. There was no
making sense of this song selection, there was merely absorbing.
With the sky illuminating with bright flashes, otherwise known
as lightning, we decided to make a break for the door (before
the masses). Naturally this included us missing the encore, which
was rumored to have included 2 Pink Floyd covers, "Brain
Damage" and "Eclipse" and then finally their major
hit "Do You Realize??" Even without these numbers, the
show was still easily a success. The one thing you can never call
a Flaming Lips show is boring.
-Rachel Fredrickson
The Flaming Lips
w/ The Dead Weather, Minus The Bear, White
Rabbits
Sandstone Amphitheater
Bonner Springs, KS
April 23, 2010
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