I recently went to a Flaming Lips concert at the Uptown Theatre with my son, Chris. He is 25 and has been sharing music with me since he was 8 years old. He has introduced me to String Cheese Incident, Les Claypool, and recently the Flaming Lips.
After a quick dinner at our favorite sushi restaurant we were headed downtown to the Uptown Theatre.
I knew this was going to be a unique experience when the roadies began handing out lazer pointers to every person in the crowd before the show began. Aren't lazer pointers frowned upon and banned in some venues?
I pointed to the balcony that was filled with large orange beach balls that were about three feet in diameter. Chris smiled and said that they would soon be falling onto the crowd below. Really? This was going to be fun.
The crowd was primarily of my son's generation with a few of us older gals speckled throughout the crowd. We had the same expressions on our face. Anticipation, bewilderment, and delight. Alot of the veterans were blowing up tangerine balloons and throwing them below into the crowd.
Wayne Coyne, the front man for the Flaming Lips climbed into a large clear sphere and his crew pushed him off the stage into the crowd. He walked, crawled and rolled around the lower level of the theatre being supported literally by his enthusiastic fans. This was awesome!
Once back on stage the show picked up speed and it was a thrilling ride. Everyone was on their feet singing along with the band knowing each song word for word.
On one side of the stage were girls dressed up like Santa Claus dancing with flashlights. On the other side of the stage, girls dressed up like aliens dancing with flashlights. The stage was covered with props. A video screen behind the group at one point featured Richard Simmons "sweating to the oldies" in his trademark red and white striped shorts. He seemed to be dancing along with the music as the band played.
The Flaming Lips perform with a grand sense of humor, have a gift for crowd interaction, and promote good will.
The lazer pointers blazed, the tangerine beach balls bounced from hand to hand and confetti fluttered into the crowd below. It was a combination of New Year's Eve, Mardi Grais, and Halloween. Some of the crowd came in alien costumes, as mustard and ketchup bottles, etc. Their fans are loyal, enthusiastic and exuberant. The crowd is as much fun to watch as the performers. It was a good group and I told my son Chris that his generation is such a nice group of people. He smiled and said that they weren't all like that. They never are....
Later in the performance glow sticks were thrown out to the crowd and purple sticks now flew with the tangerine beach balls, yellow confetti, and red lazer pointers. What a spectacle. This was great!
Wayne Coyne would stop the music and his image would pop up on the big screen from the mini cam on his microphone. The crowd would go silent and Wayne would share his sage advice with his fans. Like be kind to one another. Be enthusiastic in your life. He commended the members of the audience that came in costume saying that it's the things we didn't have enough courage to try or do that cause us regret.
Kay Barnes, former Mayor of Kansas City presented the Flaming Lips with a key to the city. I thought this was an odd bit of trivia but maybe it had to do with the message the Lips give to their fans.
Like you can't control the world but you can control what you do. If you are unhappy with the world make a difference by exercising your right to vote.
Last, he held up a bugle and explained why it had a speaker in the bell. The bugle was developed during the Viet Nam War due to the number of military funerals that require the song "taps". There were not enough musicians that could play "taps" so the bugle with the song built in was invented. You push down the valve the song begins to play from a recording built inside. Wayne explained why the bugle was developed and that it is again being used now in the current war. He asked that the current generation make a difference so that this type of instrument would not be necessary in the future.
Their song "Ya ya ya ya" has become a political statement song among their fans.
If you could blow up the world with the flick of a switch
Would you do it?
(Ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya)
If you could make everybody poor just so you could be rich
Would you do it?
(Ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya)
If you could watch everybody work while you just lay on your back
Would you do it?
(Ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya)
If you could take all the love without giving any back
Would you do it?
(Ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya)
And so we cannot know ourselves
Or what we'd really do
With all your power
With all your power
With all your power
What would you do?
With all your power
With all your power
With all your power
What would you do?
For me it caused me to reflect on how I use my power and this led me to sponsor the Turner House Organization at our recent Gypsy Festival. Do I use enough of my power for bettering my community, helping those in need, sowing good seeds? I think we can all make a difference by realizing that we have power in the first place and then choosing ways to use that power wisely.
It occurred to me that this type of entertainment is perfect for my son's generation as they grew up playing video games. Images flashing across the screen, lively music and a little boy sitting in front of the television with a controller in hand with fingers rapidly moving the controls. This concert was very much like that. Very visually entertaining, great music and a crowd interacting with the band and each other. The band never stopped performing, the balls never stopped bouncing, the confetti fluttered and Wayne would pick up a streamer gun periodically and shoot streamers into the air toward the ceiling.
I encourage you to step outside your routine and venture out to a Flaming Lips concert. You will never forget it and you will leave pondering how a man of our generation has taped into our children's generation by using great music, old fashioned showmanship, and a youthful playfulness. My son calls him the hardest working man in the business as Wayne creates alot of his own props in his garage in between tours.
