I love when my evenings go from nada to brilliant in a matter of seconds. And that's exactly what happened last nite. I got offered a last minute ticket from my main man BenJAMMIN' to go see Explosions in the Sky with the Flaming Lips at the Bank of America Pavillion here in Boston.
Dan and BenJAMMIN'
I was thrilled to go, even though I had never heard any tracks from the Lips. I was a big fan of EITSky though - I used to fall asleep to their music, and it's also featured in the Friday Night Lights TV series. I used to watch that show because, let's be honest, Minka Kelly is a total babe.
Reason number 8,347,475 why people don't like Derek Jeter.
In addition to these two bands, there was another band that was billed with them playing early in the nite named "Star Death & White Dwarf". We didn't hear much of their music, but both Ben and I commented on how we thought the band couldn't possibly be anything other than a long running joke from a Spinal Tap cult gone awry.
I'm not much of a music critic, but I loved watching Explosions in the Sky create their sonic landscape of ultra-reverbed guitars crescendoing into a massive wall of sound that would please even the Maxell cassette man to no end.
The Flaming Lips put on a really fun show, though Ben and Dan, a bit more familiar with their music, were less than impressed by some of their live takes on some older tracks. Regardless, it's guaranteed to be at least a little bit entertaining when your front man has a multitude of confetti guns he shoots off at his leisure, and when the entire arena is flooded with oversized balloons filled with tiny pieces of paper that disperse everywhere when popped.
The start of the show
The very opening of the show was hysterical in it's own right. There was a colour-blasted naked woman dancing on the large video screen for a minute or two, and as the camera work got more suggestive, she sat down, spread her legs and each band member emerged one by one from her gigantic digital vagina. Brilliant. Welcome to Boston, Flaming Lips.
After the birth of the band, it was an epileptic's worst nightmare on stage, but the flashing lights and colours were downright cheery to everyone else around. On stage the entire time, were groups of people dancing in polar bear outfits, and every now and then a giant inflatable caterpillar/butterfly or catfish would emerge and dance in place for a few numbers. I guess it was kind of like a watered down take on Alice in Wonderland on stage. The Lips definitely get points for creativity.
I found out (a wee bit too late) that the audience members for Flaming Lips concerts also dress up in fun costumes. We saw teddy bear masks, a giraffe, and Beaker, from the Muppets among others. I wish I'd known this fun fact earlier, because it would've sealed the deal when I was floundering back and forth on whether or not to bring my Luche Libre mask out to the show. I didn't, but mostly because I've done it a few times already this summer not at a concert, but walking down the streets of DC, riding around the harbour of Scituate, and whilst scaring little kids at Boston Jen's place.
Simple pleasures
I took a few photos from the show with my pocket camera, my trusty Pentax W60. It doesn't take the best quality pictures, but it's waterproof and durable, and fits in my pocket, which is all I need when I don't want to lug the ol' workhorse D300 out.
Good show, good nite. Here are the pictures... (click for larger versions)
-JoeySee
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