GOING BIG >>
It's not unusual, of course, for an artist to try to make the audience feel special. And I'm sure some in the half-filled Puyallup Fair Grandstand thought it was a little presumptuous of The Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne to declare his show to be the greatest Puyallup Fair concert of all time. Far greater, he remarked, than anything Kenny Chesney has ever accomplished at the Fair. But, that's how 50-something Coyne approaches his shows. He and his crew - musicians, prop people, 25 young Dorothy Gales cheerleaders dressed in modern-day lederhosen - go big, real big, spaceball crowd-surfing big.
The Oklahoma art rockers went REAL BIG last night at the Fair. And, for the most part, the Puyallup Fair staff let them. The fans crowded the stage before the show - a big no, no during Fair concerts. After Coyne pleaded with head of security Tony, the Fair staff agreed to let the crowd flood the aisles for the first three songs. By the fifth song, the aisles were cleared.
Entering the stage from an LED vagina on an arched HD screen backdrop, The Flaming Lips delivered nearly two hours of trippy, ambitious, marvelous music with stunning visuals, giant balloons bursting with confetti, ginormous fake mitts and lasers. Every party store in the state must be out of stock now.
"Tonight feels like the perfect night," claimed Coyne. I agreed.
The band opened with a wild version of Black Sabbath's "Sweet Leaf," which also permeated the air. As the night progressed, and the Grandstand filled with giant toys and confetti, The Flaming Lips treated the crowd to "Pompeii Am Gotterdamming," "The Yeah Yeah Song," "She Don't Use Jelly," "Is David Bowie Dying" (off the new EP Flaming Lips 2011: The Flaming Lips with Neon Indian), "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robot, Part 1," "See The leaves" and "What Is The Light?" and a few instrumentals.
A camera mounted on Coyne's microphone caught close-up angles of both he and drummer Kliph Scurlock (wearing a Red Fang T-shirt), while Coyne strapped on giant mitts for "Laser Hands."
The crowd roared when the band launched into Pink Floyd's "Brain Damage," complete with air raid sirens and cannon sticks shooting confetti into the crowd.
The night ended with "Do You Realize??" in a Technicolor explosion with all the toys, confetti and props unleashed. In the end, The Lips thanks the crowd and head of security Tony for being so cool.
It was a special night.