Live Review: The Flaming Lips at Voodoo November 1, 2009

You could definitely tell it was the last day of a packed Voodoo weekend. No matter how hard Wayne Coyne tried, the rarely worn-out New Orleans crowd was tired. As a performer who feeds off the energy of his crowds, Coyne seemed almost desperate for the audience to wake up. Despite the quiet crowd, the Flaming Lips kept to their usual antics of confetti cannons, colorful balloons, and, of course, the space ball.

The set kicked off to a psychedelic video of a girl dancing to a beat backed by a heart-rhythm-changing bass. It only got louder as the screen zoomed to the middle of her legs, covered by a pulsating shape that would make many girls blush. After the band members emerged from the screen and Coyne was rolled back onto the stage, they played a set that leaned heavily on At War with the Mystics, and only included two songs – “Silver Trembling Hands” and “Convinced of the Hex” – from Embryonic, their latest album.

Between the balloons, confetti, video, Coyne, and the costumed dancers, there is a lot to see and experience at a Flaming Lips show. If you are not on some sort of illegal substance, it can be a little much when the lead singer keeps begging you to freak out with him. It would have been nice if Coyne and the rest of the crew would have let the audience experience the show instead relentlessly requesting that the crowd join in, but the point of their live shows is to whip the crowd into a frenzied fever that ebbs and flows as the songs transition, and so they kept trying. Eventually, Coyne’s efforts to goad the audience into action were largely successful, and the show managed to leave the crowd high, literally or otherwise.