The Flaming Lips - Live at Lovebox

The Flaming Lips closed the Lovebox festival in magnificent style on Sunday in a show that featured the usual copious amounts of confetti, balloons, explosions and lights. An audio visual feast for all to behold. The Lips are the best band on the planet with a devout following around the world, and the reason is that they make every indie band in the world look lazy and arrogant for feeling that it is good enough entertainment to simply watch them play on stage. The Lips play some of the best music ever made, as well as put on the best show in the world, and seem totally thrilled to be doing it.

As ever, the show opened with Wayne rolling around the crowd in the bubblezorb (see picture), followed by 'Race for the Prize' which was absolutely brilliant. Wayne then led the crowd in a mass swear-along to 'Free Radicals'. Then came a superb version of Zeppelin's 'Song Remains the Same' which was as uplifting and summery as the weather, complete with psychedelic naked hippies running around on the screen behind them. Following that was 'Fight Test', the first song off 'Yoshimi...' which got a huge cheer and mass sing-along. The Lips played then played 'Mountain Side' off 'In a Priest Driven Ambulance', something I never thought I would get to experience live, which was amazingly fuzzy, psychedelic and heavy, ending with a massive chord on repeat. After dedicating a beautiful version of 'Vein of Stars' to Alison Goldfrapp (who had played earlier), the Lips then played a stripped down, sing along version of 'Yoshimi...' with everyone singing every word. Mr Coyne looked absolutely thrilled at the reaction. Then came the instrumental 'Pompeii am Gotterdammerung', which sounded so much more epic than on the record, during which Wayne played some gong by firing streamers into the cymbal and causing lights to start flashing all around the instrument. 'The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song' continued the singalong vibe, which sounded much more like old Lips tonight than it does on record. 'The W.A.N.D' followed before epic version of 'She Don't Use Jelly' and 'Do You Realise??' complete with masses and masses of confetti, streamers, smoke, strobes and balloons so that you couldn't really focus on quite what was going on. throughout the whole show, it felt like you were in another place where, in Lipsland, everything and anything is possible, all you have to do is live in a duplex for a couple of years, and legions will follow you. Their creativity, talent and nature is untouchable. Long may they continue on their adventure into absurdity, and long may we follow Captain Coyne and the boys.