Photo by austin.happel
How do you close a 3 day festival with dozens of excellent bands? You put on a show. The Flaming Lips did exactly that at Pitchfork last night.
After making quite an entrance - band members were essentially given birth via a gigantic animation - lead singer Wayne Coyne climbed into a clear plastic bubble and rolled out over a sea of hands. The sides of the stage featured costumed dancers: young ladies as kittens on the right, guy dressed in frog suits on the left. The Lips put the random beach balls bouncing around the crowd to shame by unleashing a few dozen of their own. Cap it off with a blast of a confetti cannon, and things were off to a rollicking start.
Photo by austin.happel
The Lips partook in the "Write The Night" festivities, which was the basis for all four sets on Friday night. Ticketholders were able to choose the songs each of the participating bands played. But with only 11 songs in their set including two new ones and a treat for long time fans that follow them on the road, that left only 8 songs. Coyne shared (truthfully, I think) the rank of each song and promised to cover the top 10. But my count, based on Coyne's numbers, was that they played just half of the top 10- Race For The Prize (9), The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song (7), Flight Test (3), She Don't Use Jelly (2) and Do You Realize?? (1). They threw in Bad Days (#25) for Chicago rock critic Jim DeRogatis and Mountainside from In a Priest Driven Ambulance (66, if you believe Coyne), which lent itself very well to the vast outdoor setting.
When they announced that do to city regulations they had to end the show after 2 more songs, fans were naturally disappointed, as was I. They should have started earlier to accommodate for their extended concert renditions and generous helping of onstage banter. Coyne expressed great love for Chicago, citing that they are often mistaken for being from the Windy City. "We played here 16 times in 1994...we owe you guys our (expletive) lives."
So obviously, they will be back with the 3 hour show Coyne says he wishes the band could play. Judging by the two new songs last night, it will be a damn good one. The Lips were an awesome festival closer, taught any young bands hanging around a thing about showmanship, and (hopefully) signaled to festival organizers that if they get an awesome closing band next year allow them enough time to stretch out.
Check out Tim's blog at http://blog.vasilcastle.com/
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TimV
I'm a 40-something dad/husband/working stiff/music pack rat who enjoys food, beer, soda, books and writing about music when he can find the time. Oh, and I like pie. More
Comments
Here is a video of their crazy intro and Coyne rolling around in the giant ball. Kinda NSFW Warning - Pixelated thermal animation of naked women giving birth to rock band.
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