Flaming Lips @ Paramount

Heavy on visuals, light on vocals. That’s my take.

I’ll have more tomorrow — er, later today — but a) the stage was a launch platform for the Most Visual Effects I’ve Seen at a Show(tm), while b) singer Wayne Coyne’s voice was very poor, like he had a chest cold. <- yesterday

today -> It’s no secret that he and J. Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. have two of the most unPavarotti -like voices in rock. But I was alarmed at how poor Coyne’s vocals were… “paper thin” came to mind. Is his voice always like this? He held his chest with his left hand for much of the show, which could indicate pain, illness, or well, anything.

The good news about all of this is that — buck up, Sparky! — you don’t have to have a strong voice to front a rock band!

They played old and new hits, 1993’s She Don’t Use Jelly and Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots pt 1. And other material. It was ok, but I wasn’t blown away.

Coyne’s near-constant prodding of the crowd to sing along at a level he was satisfied with, plus his interminable, rambling monologues about George W. Bush, the US’s various wars, and love, got tiresome. Not that there’s anything wrong with speaking out against our insane puppet of a president, but if you do as the frontman at a concert, make your point (once) and get back to the music.

The Flaming Lips certainly do not fall under the Shut Up And Rock rock band header.

But I’m a critic. It’s my job to be critical. Overall, the crowd was appreciative, the sound at the Paramount was good, and the spectacle was grand. If you’re a diehard FL fan, there’s nothing I could say that would take away from your experience.

(In a 100% stoner move, I parked at a Taxi Cabs Only 11:30-2am spot (that’s not the stoner move, I was aware of it). My buddy Joe assured me we’d be out by 11:30. Halfway through the show I look at my watch and lo and behold, it’s 11:30. So I go out and move it. Then I come back and the band is not only still playing, but they play about 6 more songs, including an encore.

Then it hits me: having just returned from Denver the day before, my watch was still on Mountain time! It was 10:30 when I left. Pass the bong.)

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