FLAMING LIPS // STARDEATH AND WHITE DWARVES

Last night marked the return of the Flaming Lips to Charlottesville, and you couldn't pay me enough money to miss that show. Well, you probably could, but it's doubtful anybody would give me that much money to miss a concert, so it seems as if this is now a lost point of discussion. sob.

I know that the Flaming Lips aren't exactly super underground and indie and exclusive etc, but we can't all be hipster kitty, so here you go.

Opening up for the Flaming Lips this time around were Stardeath and White Dwarves, a band that has Wayne Coyne's son in it. So yeah, how do you think they got on this bill? Maybe I'm being too hard on this band. However, there is a downside to being the Flaming Lips: when you have been doing so well at live shows for so long, it's hard to top your previous concerts. When you compare them, Stardeath and White Dwarves really have nothing on Deerhoof, the opener the last time Wayne & Co. came through town. But overall, not bad. Don't think they would have been able to get on the bill sans massive coattail riding, but still not a bad band.

45 minutes and $5 worth of hot dogs later, The Flaming Lips took the stage. It looked like this:

Photo by Sydney Schmit

Once again, find me in there for bonus points.

HERE'S THE THING: The Flaming Lips always put on a great show. When it comes to energy, theatrics, and a general compassion for the audience, there are very few other bands out there that can match (GWAR only meets two the above criteria, and the Polyphonic Spree lacks sufficient theatrics by comparison from what I have heard). MY ONLY COMPLAINT about the show is that they played a bit too much new material during the show, and when your old repertoire is as good as the Flaming Lips, the lack of old material is going to get some heads shaking in disappointment. No, scratch that, disappointment is the wrong word, as I wouldn't want to associate this show with being disappointing (because it wasn't). I would merely say that it didn't live up to what it was the last time they came to Charlottesville. No "Race for the Prize" to start of the concert? You opened with "Worm Mountain"? Really? There's no comparison between the two songs.

Photo by Sydney Schmit

I would say that the thing I liked the most about this show was the first encore, in which the Flaming Lips brought out Stardust and White Dwarves to collaborate on "Brain Damage/Eclipse," the last two songs off Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, one of my favorite albums growing up (me and everybody else in the world, I think that album was on the Billboard charts for like 700 weeks or something). So yeah, that was AWESOME.

Overall, another great notch on the bedpost for Wayne Coyne's awesome show count. You probably already know that though. So I'll end this by saying IF THE FLAMING LIPS PLAY WITHIN 300 MILES OF YOU THERE ARE NO EXCUSES PEOPLE. //

I believe they'll be playing Bonnaroo (sp?) this year and performing the entire Dark Side of the Moon, and if it was anything like the preview that we saw last night in Charlottesville last night I can't recommend going to see them enough.

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SEACREST OUT