The Flaming Lips are well know for their surrealistic and truly psychedelic rock show, advice which often includes a human hamster ball, health a dizzying light display, and a shit load of confetti. This year, the Lips released their thirteenth album, The Terror, a plunge into the darker nooks and crannies of front man Wayne Coyne’s psyche.
The 55-minute ode to love lost and loneliness is sparse and very personal. The album has earned mixed reviews from fans, and many weren’t quite sure what to expect from the Oklahoma five-piece as they made their first appearance in Boston since 2009 at Agganis Arena. Here are two dissenting opinions of the show.
Opinion #1: Loved It
Last night at there was no hamster ball. The confetti was black.
The Lips took to a smoggy stage lathered in stringed lights hanging every which way possible. Coyne emerged from the haze wearing a metallic blue suit and cradled his infamous baby doll.
The audience was launched into “Look…The Sun Is Rising” and “The Terror” off of the 2013 release. I immediately closed my eyes and let myself get lost in Coyne’s soundscape. When performed live, these tracks give an eerie tangibility to despair; a fullness to otherwise completely hollow and bleak emotions.
Boston got the Lips, but perhaps not the Lips they anticipated. Coyne repeatedly told the audience he was going to sing a sad song and consequently begged for our help to pull him back up.
While a good chunk of the set was made up of multilayered cosmic Terror tracks, fan favorites like the ever-infectious “The W.A.N.D.” were sprinkled in. Despite the heavy heartedness, I couldn’t help but beam up at Coyne as he towered above us on his futuristic bubble podium. The Lips have always explored existential questions of love, life and death – this year we are just seeing it from the band in a different way (as they are, within themselves).
Coyne’s set list choices were honest, and for fans who see the Lips’ new material as disappointing– I urge you to listen again. Coyne put it best in an interview with emusic, “It feels depressing and triumphant at the same time. A triumph isn’t ‘Hey, this is the greatest thing! We’re gonna live!’ A triumph is saying, ‘We’ll just get through this.’ We don’t have to make it any more sparkly than that.”
Opinion #2: Not Impressed
For Flaming Lips fans, it looks like the party might officially be over. From the opening buzz of “Look… The Sun Is Rising” all the way to Coyne’s final bow, the band did a tremendous job of using their live show to convey the feeling of hopeless expressed on The Terror. Is this a compliment? Probably not in this type of environment.
While the band’s performance was intensely emotional, the fact that they avoided most of their better-known tracks didn’t seem to sit well with many in the audience. A live show that had once felt like an all-night rager now felt like a funeral, complete with black confetti and a closing track titled “You Are Always There In Our Hearts”.
In the end, this would have been a near-religious experience if it were held in a club in front of a few hundred die-hard fans. But Agganis arena is the polar opposite of that setting, and in front of a few thousand people who had paid $50 a pop to be there, the performance fell a bit flat.
The Flaming Lips have repeatedly proven themselves happy to challenge convention and the expectations of their fans. Their current album and tour are no different., While the crowds have continued to show up for nearly three decades, you have to wonder if this is the point where some start staying home.