Last Night: The Flaming Lips at the Paramount

All photos by Marcella D. Volpintesta. See more on our slideshows page.

The Flaming Lips
Paramount Theatre
September 20, 2007
Better Than: A child's birthday party

By Travis Ritter

At this point, twenty-four years after forming, Oklahoma's fearless freaks, The Flaming Lips, are legends, and their live shows are legendary in their own right - the wings of the stage are packed with devoted fans who showed up early to dress like Santa Claus and aliens, wielding high-powered flashlights, singing and dancing, and hurling massive balloons into the crowd.

By the time the band came on, there was so much shit onstage, I understand why it took a full thirty-minutes to set up. There were at least eight strobe lights, two giant cone-shaped confetti blowers, other little gadgets, and at least twenty dressed-up fans. 

The band launched into "Race for the Prize" off their stunning 1999 album, The Soft Bulletin, and then into a call-and-response "Free Radicals". "You're Fanatical/ Fanatical, FUCK!" They followed with "Fight Song," a well-known song amongst Lips fans, who sang-along, as more than thirty large, white balloons bounced over the crowd. Coyne marveled at Paramount's architecture, calling it an "ornate work of art" followed with "you are all a work of art." He certainly knows how to work the crowd.

There were seriously too many great moments to note all in one review - the show lasted two hours. A highlight of the night was watching and hearing the band play "Riding to Work in the Year 2025," off their four-disc surround sound experiment Zaireeka. Coyne noted that they rarely play it because it's difficult. No shit.

I didn't spot any UFO's, as previous shows had unveiled, but Coyne and Co. packed their set with so much fun in one night, I won't hold it against them.