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The Warfield May 28, 2003 Review by Jake Thomas No matter your feelings about the Flaming Lips, it is virtually impossible to have a bad time at one of their shows. They delight and excite, not unlike one of those creepy clowns at a kid's birthday party (not that the Lips are creepy, just those clowns à they give me the heeby jeebies). I guess the only appropriate place to begin is at the start. I was nearly as excited for the Starlight Mints as I was the Lips, but not quite. I saw them open for Beulah a few years back at Great American Music Hall, and enjoyed it immensely. This show was no different. If you've never heard them, think The Pixies meets Of Montreal or something along those lines. Sometimes pop, sometimes rock, weird elephant 6-style instrumentation, very catchy. They played a lot of stuff off the old record and plenty of new tracks too. I really need to get the new record now, because every new song that I heard was fantastic. So Liz Phair played next. Not originally on the bill and obviously out of place, my only assumption is that this was the doing of the label, trying to get her more exposure with a new album either out or getting ready to be. Not that this is her fault per se, she just came out and played some of her songs and smiled a lot. Her music is a little too 'opener for Sheryl Crow' for me, but I digress. She mostly played old tracks (to the delight of my friend with me who is a huge fan), even playing that one song I like by her 'Stratford-on-Guy' or something like that. But she also played two of her new songs, and whoo boy were they atrocious. No need to really get into it, but I'll just say they certainly weren't winning over new fans as far as could tell. Finally, it was time for the Lips. I weaseled my way up front into confetti territory as well as I could without making an ass out of myself. A lot of people complain about how they play the same show every time, and that might be true à but what a damn fine show it is, and it never gets old to me. Obviously most of the material is culled from their last two albums, but those are the ones I listen to the most anyways (yes, I'm one of those people that all you die hard 'I saw the Flaming Lips in 1987 and only 12 people were there' types want to stab with a rusty fork). There were tons of people in animal costumes on the stage with flashlights and what not (one of my friends was one of the animals! God only knows how he pulled that one off), balloons, confetti, crazy lights - it was, as I heard someone exclaim, like a 'kid's birthday party on acid'. I felt drunk the entire time even though I had consumed no alcohol, just giddy with the euphoric happiness that only comes from a live Flaming Lips experience. Words fail to convey just how great it is, it just must be seen to be believed. Actually, not just seen, but experienced because merely watching is not the same as actually being down front and center, a part of the whole big mess. Next time they are in town, that's where you'll find me. ©2003 playinginfog.com |