First, thanks to Gaynor for the tip-off about the sound being appalling at the back of the Apollo (née Odeon), those of us in row Z (I kid you not) found that the Lips clearly had the best sound engineer in the business, every word that Wayne (not a very rock’n’roll name for someone who is) said came through loud and clear.
Second, a word on the two support bands; Steve Burns (from Brooklyn) was terrific. Very funny videos, catchy songs and bags of chutzpah (which is the correct term I believe), check out his website for some great QuickTime movies and a flavour of the man. Alfie, on the other hand, need to find themselves. The sub-Beatles Yellow Submarine graphics and the Gallagher-esq swagger of the lead singer were tiresome. In fact the whole lolloping around the stage like the aforementioned neanderthal was so hopeless that I really have to mention it again.What about the Lips? Well, most concerts start with the house lights being dimmed and an electric sense of anticipation in the air, caused in no small part by the fact the audience have been sat there for a couple of hours with no sight of the main attraction. Then the music starts, this can be either the bands’ latest song (“Beautiful day” by U2 at their gigs last year) or by a suitably monumental classical piece (I believe Elvis started this with Strauss’ “Also Sprach Zarathrusta” – the 2001 theme for those not of a classical bent but a sci-fi one, or the moon landings music for those of us old enough to remember, if none of these give you a clue well what are reading a music site for? Go out and get some CDs!). Anyway, this is not the case at a Lips concert. Firstly, Wayne Coyne (lead singer, main songwriter and only ever present member in their near 20 year history) is almost constantly on stage throughout the support acts (watching them mostly), then he helps the roadies set up the Lips equipment (and waves at the crowd as he is recognised). Finally, when it comes time for the Lips to begin he wanders up to the mike (with sundry people in animal suits wandering around behind him) and asks us if we are ready to begin? We obviously reply in the affirmative.
Coyne clearly has some Elvis in him because when we start it’s option B, monumental classical piece to open: namely, Carl Orff’s “O Fortuna” from “Carmina Burana” (for those still without a classical section that’s the Old Spice music). Then the band launches into “Race for the Prize”, surely the best opening song written in many years. The music is always accompanied by a film of one sort or another, for the singles it is the official video for the rest it is bizarre shorts filmed by Coyne himself. However, the most striking feature is just how chatty Coyne is; most artists say a few words of thanks and then launch into another song, Coyne rambles on abut numerous topics. He announces that festivals apart this (and the previous evening at the same venue) is the largest audience that has paid to see the Lips, he is clearly moved by this and mentions it a couple more times during the evening. He mentions that the band were supporting Beck in San Francisco when Arnie was elected Governor of California, cue booing, so he starts talking about what a bad move that is then he name checks Bush, cue louder boos (it is clear where the Lips core audience is drawn from politically), finally, almost to see what the British really think of our leader he talks about Blair, cue the loudest boos of the evening, clearly a surprise to Coyne.
In fact the chats are as much a part of the show as the music. All told there is only an hour of recorded music in the whole performance but the gig lasts an hour and 45 minutes. The musical highlights are mostly the singles, with “Do You Realize?” and “Waitin’ for Superman” performances of particular merit. As the concert ends it is almost as if Coyne cannot bear to halt proceedings but the world must keep spinning and reluctantly he finally leaves the stage. We can only hope it will not be long before the circus comes back to town.
The Flaming Lips official site
BBC review of Lips gig in Southampton
Independent review of Lips gig
Originally posted November 16, 2003
