Music > Live Reviews

The Flaming Lips

The Nick Rayns LCR, UEA

27/06/17

 

Where to begin?

 

There are giant inflatable toadstools onstage, LED curtains and an LED screen behind the DJ’s Bros Grinn, aka a drummer and a keys player from The Flaming Lips. They wear luxuriant fluorescent wigs and play everything from Bump n Grind to North American Scum via Dancing Queen.

 

 

And they’re just the support act.

 

Yes, it must be a Flaming Lips gig. They last played in Norwich back in ’99 as support to their mates Mercury Rev, and The Soft Bulletin, one of the best indie albums of that decade had just come out. Bear in mind that that was their ninth album and they’ve released eight more since then. Prolific, sure, but also they have a superbly high quality control for their music. We are well overdue a visit then, from this madcap, big hearted, unique and constantly evolving band, and there is much excitement in the busy LCR tonight.

Before Wayne Coyne, visionary, spaceman and lead singer wanders onstage in the most unpretentious way imaginable, we have a little insight into what we can expect from this show. The mic stand has flowers wrapped around its base. There’s the largest disco ball I’ve ever seen sparkling above the stage. Two drum kits, three sets of keybords, armfuls of silver foil and odd homemade machinery are crowding on. Amidst clouds of dry ice, mad haired, red suited, eye-patched Wayne arrives, says hi, and we all wait for the rest of the band to emerge. Stephen, drummer, keyboard player and guitarist, inspiration and some say the musical backbone of the band is in a multicoloured cape, of course, whilst the other drummer wears a glow in the dark t shirt that has butts all over it. The bass player Michael sports a Norwich top. They all look simply marvelous. In fact I more or less fall in love with Stephen during the night, especially when his eyeshadow melts down his cheeks and his lovely indie-boy hair is stuck down with sweat and his musical skills are so fricking great. Nice one Stephen. Love you.

 

So, back in ’99 they were just starting something new with The Soft Bulletin – a little more commercial, a little more strings, a lot more popular. Wayne explains that that gig 18 years ago was a turning point for the band, especially as the crowds were enthusiastic about the new music, and rightly so. And so, they play the same first song of their set as they played first in ’99, Race For The Prize. There’s a beautiful, long, drawn out intro to it, with Wayne conducting the band, before….OHHHHH MY GOD…everything happens. Everything. Confetti shoots out of cannons and fills the air. Huge coloured balloons fall from the sky into the crowd. There’s billowing smoke, silver glitter raining down on us, and coloured party streamers. Bright lights flash everywhere, all colours including white, which makes me feel like I’ve kind of blacked out for a minute, in an amazing way. It’s like a mad disco wedding but also incredibly transcendental…I feel like I might have just stuck my head around heaven’s gate and had a peek of what to expect. Such joy bursting out of my heart, such goosebumps and chills, so many grins around me. I’ve never felt anything like it before, and I doubt I will again, at a gig anyway. Musically it’s absolutely huge, epic, emotional and heartrending, and utterly fills the room and our beings.

 

 

And that’s just the first song.

 

A huge silver helium balloon shaped to say ‘FUCK YEAH NORWICH’ flies into the crowd to cheers. An enormous inflatable frog, star and toad appear onstage and proceed to dance and bounce around to the sounds of Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots. Despite all the distractions, the music is spot on -beautiful and smooth and elegant and accomplished – my only criticism is that on occasion the music is so incredibly, mind-blowingly monolithic that his voice gets a little lost. There Should Be Unicorns, from their latest album is a dark and funktastic number, and definitely the best on the album. Enter Wayne stage left on a beautiful lit up model unicorn wearing wings, grinning and spraying glitter as roadies push him around the edge of the auditorium. Unbelievable. The band move between instruments freely and easily, and are both steady and flexible, according to what’s needed at any given moment. Pompeii Am Gotterdammerung sees a huge gong appear with lights around it that Wayne belts with gusto before returning in a bright orange camouflage jacket, wrapped in a silver sheet for no clear reason and singing The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song and encouraging us to sing along. The band take it down a notch energy wise in the middle of the two hour set with The Observer, What Is The Light? and the dreamy How?? from Oczy Mlody…”I TRIED TO TELL YOU BUT I DON’T KNOW HOWWWWWW” we all yell along as the band create a warm, enveloping sound with a heavy bass and a cranky little keys tune. Wayne plays guitar, and the mood turns from party central to pensive and gentle while we take a breather. Throughout the night, Wayne asks for us to scream and cheer, perhaps due to Norwich’s reputation for quiet audiences, but this is probably the loudest and most excitable crowd I’ve been in for a while. The thing is with Norwich is that we might not show it but we do truly love it.

 

It’s space bubble time. A spot on cover of Space Oddity (and who could think of a better Bowie song for the Lips to do) is their choice for Wayne to be sealed in a clear bubble and run across the heads of his audience whilst singing. I mean. It’s just WONDERFUL. He’s grinning, we’re grinning, we’re all trying to push him along. Once returned safely onto the stage, The Castle from the new album shimmers and beats. Crowd favourite Are You A Hypnotist is followed by  a pair of inflatable eyeballs dancing onstage (how do you get this job? Someone please tell me), and Wayne holding a giant pair of lips for the utterly bonkers The W.A.N.D. It’s a mammoth and full on rock number with handclaps – very Super Furries – and we’re assaulted by super white strobes and blinding lights and it's all mind meltingly loud and noisy and bright and hot and just WOWWWW. There’s a delicious slice of noodling around between the two guitars during A Spoonful Weighs A Ton, ending with “love love love”. Simply perfect.

 

 
But we’re not done yet.

 

 
An inflatable rainbow appears in front of the stage framing Wayne as he appears in his final outfit of the night, a shirt, trousers and waistcoat. I’m whooshed back to dancing in my late teens (and having the verse about “she’s always changing the colour of her hair” sang AT me many times) by She Don’t Use Jelly – I know every word still, and it seems my fellow audience members do too – it gets the biggest response of the night, which is quite something as it came out back in 1993 and obviously they’ve released a motherload of great songs since then. But there’s just something about that song, man. Unforgettable.

 

To close, we have the delight that is Do You Realise? It’s heartbreakingly beautiful and tender, just as it should be. Tonight was a show unlike any other I have experienced. Two hours of visual and aural delights and surprise and innovation and the sheer joy of being alive and in the company of fellow humans, all full of love and sparkles and rainbows and glitter. In the turbulent world of 2017…hell, the turbulent times of ANY time, The Flaming Lips raise us up to be the best we can be, the most giving, creative and open humans. The vibe as I left, covered in glitter and confetti was that of having seen something very very special indeed, and everyone was wreathed in smiles.

 

 
The Flaming Lips. Dudes. Please don’t leave it so long again. Norwich loves you and needs you.

 

 

Photos by Andi Sapey. Full gallery here!