The Flaming Lips!

Went to my first Flaming Lips show on the 19th at Roy Wilkins with my mom.  Excellent! 

It really lived up to all the hype you hear about F'Lips shows.  It was absolutely awesome, in the real sense of the word. 

We got there, and the crowd was really pretty young and friendly.  Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti opened, and although I commend them for trying, I can't say I really liked them at all.  Too much synth, too much awful, if you ask me.  But that didn't matter; they kept the set fairly short.  Wayne kept peeping out during it, too, just to make us more antsy.
So then they set up the elaborate F'Lips stage, what with nets full of large balloons swelling up from behind and confetti guns and aliens and everything.  Wayne kept coming out, smiling, assuring us that he loves us too, and being an all-around coolguy.  Finally everything was ready, and he announced a sort of disclaimer thing regarding the strobe lights, and shortly then after the show began! Whee!

So, the balloons and confetti were released, and they came out from behind the screen with the yellow dancing woman (whee!) and got in their places and Wayne got in his bubble.  And then he rolled out onto us.  It's such a strange feeling, to be looking above, and seeing the soles of Wayne's shoes, and realizing that he's standing on top of you, in a bloody plastic bubble.  It's rather insane, I'd say.  Brilliant though. We pushed him back to stage, and they started playing some songs.  A lot of their newer ones, but they also played "She Don't Use Jelly," to which everyone sang/yelled along.  I enjoyed the theatrics, what with the strobes and bear-costumed man giving Wayne a piggy-back ride, the green laser hands, the wonderful use of darkness, Woo Hoo!, the video backdrop, everything.  It was really quite a trip.   Everything was so fun, the jumping the dancing and singing.  Good stuff.  For encore, they played the Yeah Yeah Yeah Song and Do You Realize?, both of which were extended and very good for the singing along.  When it was all said and done, the place was a huge mess, and people were lingering around, dancing amongst the garbage all over the floor.  It was great!