NOTE: All photos are copyright of Howard Shiau Photography 2025
Many words can be used to describe the Flaming Lips: Eclectic? Brilliant? Or maybe just weird?? If you search for a band formed maybe ten years earlier than the Flaming Lips, you might be referring to the Talking Heads! But what’s one body part amongst friends? This year brought the second leg of the band’s twenty year anniversary of their most well known album “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots”. Even if you had seen Flaming Lips live before, an end to end performance of “Yoshimi…” was sure to be both an audio and visual delight. On Monday, July 22nd, the Flaming Lips brought the spectacle to ArtPark in Lewiston, NY. There was to be no opener since the Flaming Lips were going to play two complete sets: the first would be the complete “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots” and the second would be other songs from their vast discography. Giant deflated pink balloons filled the stage and photo pit and portended the attack of the “evil robots”! The eager fans, many dressed to the nines or in Halloween costumes depending on how you feel about it, were ready to go.
As the band took the stage, lead vocalist Wayne Coyne exhorted the crowd to cheer and scream. Then the show started in earnest. A Flaming Lips show is sure to be chock full of visual effects, costumes, balloons and just about any prop you can imagine…basically a giant spectacle! This show (and tour) was no exception. While certain items (and songs) have been retired (ie. the unicorn from “There Should Be Unicorns”) and Coyne no longer moves around the stage in the bubble or comes out into the crowd, there was plenty of action to satisfy any concert goer. There was some prop or gimmick for at least every other song. Whatever you think of the Flaming Lips’ music, their live show is something that must be experienced. Does Coyne spend a little too much time urging the crowd with “You gotta keep going, keep going, come on!”, raising both arms in celebration, or staring down at what must be lyrics sheets? Yeah maybe but it’s still a fun show and if you have a little bit of that weirdo in you, you’ll need to catch them in concert while you can. There are only three more shows on this current tour (two by the time this is published) before the band takes a break and then heads back out to support Weezer’s tour in September and October. As Coyne says “keep going, come on!”.
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