The Flaming Lips pre-space bubbles, plushies and confetti guns, circa 1989.
Promoters of the Pitchfork Music Festival have announced that Oklahoma's venerated psychedelic-pop weirdoes the Flaming Lips will close out this year's three-day concert in Union Park on July 17 to 19.
The Lips have become a staple on the festival circuit in recent years with their low-tech whiz-bang stage shows, though many longtime fans have been disappointed by the lack of older material in their sets and the overabundance of shtick (bandleader Wayne Coyne singing "Happy Birthday"--that sort of thing).
At Pitchfork, however, the band will be reprising the opening night's "Write the Night: Set Lists by Request" concept, inviting fans to cast their votes online for the songs they'd most like to hear. If they vote wisely, the Lips actually pay attention to the balloting and Coyne deigns to pick up a guitar again, the results could almost be enough to make one forgive the band for selling out to those annoying Kraft salad dressing commercials or picking on those poor, sensitive kids in the Arcade Fire (among numerous other sins of late).
In any event, here is one veteran Flaming Lips fan's choice for the ultimate live set list, in chronological order from early in the band's career to the present. (If the group plays these songs, I'm happy to take them in any sequence they wanna give 'em.)
1. "Jesus Shootin' Heroin" (from "Hear It Is," 1986)
2. "Everything's Explodin'" ("Oh My Gawd!!!... The Flaming Lips," 1987)
3. "Chrome-Plated Suicide" ("Telepathic Surgery," 1987)
4. "Shine On Sweet Jesus" ("In a Priest Driven Ambulance," 1990)
5. "Unconsciously Screaming" ("In a Priest Driven Ambulance," 1990)
6. "Five Stop Mother Superior Rain" ("In a Priest Driven Ambulance," 1990)
7. "Hit Me Like You Did the First Time" ("Hit to Death in the Future Head," 1992)
8. "Frogs" ("Hit to Death in the Future Head," 1992)
9. "Turn It On" ("Transmissions from the Satellite Heart," 1993)
10. "Pilot Can at the Queer of God" ("Transmissions from the Satellite Heart," 1993)
11. "Psychiatric Explorations of the Fetus with Needles" ("Clouds Taste Metallic," 1995)
12. "Kim's Watermelon Gun" ("Clouds Taste Metallic," 1995)
13. "The Captain is a Cold-Hearted and Egotistical Fool" (outtake from "The Soft Bulletin," 1999)
14. "Waitin' for a Superman" ("The Soft Bulletin," 1999)
15. "Pompeii am Götterdämmerung" ("At War with the Mystics," 2006)
Yeah, yeah, many Pitchforkers may quibble with only one official song from "The Soft Bulletin," but the band has been playing much of that album in concert regularly since its release. Even more so with "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" (2002). This is a chance to get the band to revisit a rich catalog that stands with some of the best in rock history--and I mean, right up there beside Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and certainly any band of the alternative generation--and the vast majority of the songs I've chosen haven't been heard live in more than 15 years.
Anyway, this is my list, and I'm stickin' with it! If you think you can do better, I'd love to see it.
This was absolutely fantastic news, especially since I already had my Pitchfork weekend ticket! Never expected the Lips to be closing this festival out. They've only announced 11 bands so far, and the list is outstanding already.
It's going to take me a while to pick out which song I want to hear most. I think I'm going to have to vote for one of the rarer tracks from Transmissions though.
That sounds like a challenge, Jim! Let's see here...
1. With You (Hear It Is, 1985)
2. Everthing's Explodin' (Oh My Gawd, 1987) -- You're SO right on this one
3. Can't Exist (Oh My Gawd, 1987)
4. The Last Drop of Morning Dew (Telepathic Surgery, 1989)
5. Rainin' Babies (In a Priest Driven Ambulance, 1990)
6. Five Stop Mother Superior Rain (In a Priest Driven Ambulance, 1990)
7. The Magician vs. The Headache (Hit to Death in the Future Head, 1992)
8. Superhumans (Transmissions from the Satellite Heart, 1993)
9. Slow Nerve Action (Transmissions from the Satellite Heart, 1993)
10. Guy Who Got a Headache and Accidentally Saves the World (Clouds Taste Metallic, 1995)
11. The Big Ol' Bug Is The New Baby Now (Zaireeka, 1997)
12. Feeling Yourself Disintegrate / Sleeping on the Roof (The Soft Bulletin, 1999)
13. In the Morning of the Magicians (Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, 2002)
14. Assassination of the Sun (Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell EP, 2003)
15. SpongeBob and Patrick Encounter the Psychic Wall of Energy (The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, 2004)
Any word yet on where to vote online?
My dream lips concert (note that this setlist would assume a one-night-only return of guitar genius Ronald Jones):
Lights go dark. They play about 2 minutes of a filmstrip sound over the PA before coming out on stage.
1. The Abandoned Hospital Ship (Clouds Taste Metallic, 1995)
2. Be My Head (Transmissions, 1993)
3. Everybody Wants to Live Forever (Hit to Death, 1992)
4. The Gash (Soft Bulletin, 1999)
5. The W.A.N.D. (At War With the Mystics, 2006)
6. Slow Nerve Action (Transmissions, 1993)
7. Godzilla Flick (Hear It Is, 1986)
8. When You Smile (Clouds, 1995)
9. Ice Drummer (Providing Needles for Your Balloons, 1994)
10.The Gold in the Mountain of Our Madness (Mystics b-side, 2006)
11. Moth In the Incubator (Transmissions, 1993)
12. You Can't Stop the Spring (Oh My Gawd, 1987)
13. God Walks Among Us Now (In a Priest Driven Ambulance, 1990)
14. Pompeii am Götterdämmerung (At War with the Mystics, 2006)
15. Bad Days (Clouds Taste Metallic, 1995)
Once you buy your tickets they send you a link to the voting site. Should be a fun weekend. Was just going to go to Saturday to see The National, then figured I'd add Sunday for the FLips and then it was only $15 more for Friday, so I wound up buying the 3 day pass. Haven't been before since I'm more of a Lolla fan, but it will be cool to check out the Pitchfork scene.
I'm voting we stuff the ballot box and force 'em to center on pre-1996 material too!
this is great news, especially since the FL have been a carnival act for the last 7 years and I've all but given up on them. I can't wait to hear them play ROCK for once. I wonder if Ronald Jones will be there ? :)
my list would be (in no particular order)
from Oh My Gawd ...
1) One Billionth of a Millisecond
2) Can't Exist
3) Thanks To You
from Transmissions ...
4) Turn it On (opens)
5) Pilot Can at the Queer of God
6) Oh My Pregnant Head
7) Superhumans
8) Moth in the Incubator
9) When Yer Twenty Two
10) Slow Nerve Action (closes)
from Clouds ...
11) The Abandoned Hospital Ship
12) Placebo Headwound
13) When You Smile
14) The Punctured Yolk
15) Evil Will Prevail
16) Bad Days
and please, NOTHING from the last three records. they've done them to death.
Unfortunately, the democratic nature of this experiment likely means that many (most?) of the people who get a say in the setlist have probably never heard anything prior to The Soft Bulletin, and that's a damn shame.
I hear ya on this point, and the same occurred to me. It will be an interesting test to see just how "indie" the Pitchfork Festival crowd really is, and how deep its knowledge goes. I'm hoping for at least "Transmissions" and "Clouds" requests; "Priest" and earlier may truly be too much to ask for. But this IS P'fork, not Lolla -- we can hope voters don't just concentrate on "Soft Bulletin."
Whenever I've raised the point with the Lips that they have one of the greatest catalogs in rock history, so they ought to play more from it more often, they (and by that I really mean Wayne) always respond, "Aw, Jim, maybe you wanna hear that old crap, but nobody else does." I always disagree. I hope the P'fork voters prove me at least partially correct.
Can someone post the Flaming Lips voting choices that are offered when you purchase tickets? I'm an out-of-towner debating going to this if the list is intriguing enough. Thank you!
Wayne may be coming around on that, Jim. While it's laudable that the Lips haven't really looked back and become one of those irritating-as-f*ck nostalgia acts (which literally every single one of their surviving contemporaries has), they're starting to reach a little further back. Witness Summer Camp Festival last year, in which they played a raucous version of "Mountain Side," which, because of my age, I was never old enough to actually see performed before. That was something special. This might well be, too.
For the last three or four years, the Lips have indeed been playing one "classic chestnut" per show (and I mean deeper than "She Don't Use Jelly"). But one per show ain't really enough--not when so much time is spent blowing up giant balloons and singing "Happy Birthday," time that could otherwise be spent digging deep and mixing it up and rocking out. The shenanigans were fun at first... 2000... 2001... 2002... etc., etc.... but I think everybody's seen 'em by now, though Wayne's argument is, "People have come to expect all this stuff, and if we don't deliver it, they'll be disappointed." Well, there is a significant portion of the Lips' audience that has been disappointed in not hearing the more freak-out rock side of the band for a decade-plus now, and since that's the part of the audience that has been there for 10, 15, 20 years or more, it would be nice to throw it a bone. I'm not talking about the band becoming a nostalgia act -- at this point, it would be a new band tackling the old songs, and out of necessity, the older tunes would almost completely be reinvented -- Steven playing Ronald's old parts, Kliph playing Steven's, Wayne relearning guitar (and he really was a great player back in the day), and the availability of a whole lot of new technology to make the noise even more awesome.
I'm excited to see what the balance between the two sides of the Lips will be.
I love seeing the gerbal roller ball, the crazy flowing streamer guns and confetti, but would love to hear tunes from Hit to Death and even back to Jesus Shootin' Heroin, while still hearing stuff from the last three albums.
This format is almost a no win situation. The deep cut indie lovers could be dissapointed, while the newer fans, only familiar with their ranch dressing commercials, could come out wondering what the hell it was that just exploded their eardrums.
Either way, I'll be there.
Luke, you're essentially presented with the entire FL back catalog and provided an unlimited number of choices. So you can submit a vote for 1 song, or 25. Im assuming they will just keep a straight tally.
I want to hear me some She's Gone Mad
Dang! Just learned that they are NOT part of "write night."
i agree with all of you there are plenty of songs that deserve more play time. I have seen the lips before. but i would be upset not to have the stage show/video extravaganza. plus i do know plenty of people who have not seen the show yet.
so lets hope for a little of both. i voted mostly off of clouds/transmission/softbulletin
Oh, I'm with you on the "Happy Birthday" ridiculosity, DeRo. But I also think they deserve at least a little credit for avoiding some of the pratfalls of their alt-rock contemporaries.
In many ways, though, this set could touch off for them what Wilco's Winter Residency did for that band. I mean, I never thought I'd hear "It's Just That Simple" again unless the Autumn Defense covered it, but how special was it seeing him take the guitar that first time, with the spotlight shining directly on him? It'd be really, really neat to hear this incarnation of the Lips (which I think could be on par with the Transmissions/Clouds-era band if Wayne would play more guitar) tackle "Everything's Explodin'."
At the same time, it's important to understand what this band has morphed into. The freak-rock that you and I so loved is still there, but the Lips are as much about the spectacle now as they are about the music (which is to say a lot, because they devote a lot of energy to the shows). They're like a more anarchic, more cracked version of Pink Floyd. That's kind of why I want to see what they'd do with something like "Guy Who Got a Headache." The spectacle would be something worthy of Ken Kesey's Acid Tests -- between the sideshow of blown-up balloons and freaked-out background visuals and the song that sounds like the aural representation of a completely acid-fried brain, it would certainly be an experience to behold.
Oh, I'm with you on the "Happy Birthday" ridiculosity, DeRo. But I also think they deserve at least a little credit for avoiding some of the pratfalls of their alt-rock contemporaries.
In many ways, though, this set could touch off for them what Wilco's Winter Residency did for that band. I mean, I never thought I'd hear "It's Just That Simple" again unless the Autumn Defense covered it, but how special was it seeing him take the guitar that first time, with the spotlight shining directly on him? It'd be really, really neat to hear this incarnation of the Lips (which I think could be on par with the Transmissions/Clouds-era band if Wayne would play more guitar) tackle "Everything's Explodin'."
At the same time, it's important to understand what this band has morphed into. The freak-rock that you and I so loved is still there, but the Lips are as much about the spectacle now as they are about the music (which is to say a lot, because they devote a lot of energy to the shows). They're like a more anarchic, more cracked version of Pink Floyd. That's kind of why I want to see what they'd do with something like "Guy Who Got a Headache." The spectacle would be something worthy of Ken Kesey's Acid Tests -- between the sideshow of blown-up balloons and freaked-out background visuals and the song that sounds like the aural representation of a completely acid-fried brain, it would certainly be an experience to behold.
Well, no need to make setlists for this show since they're not going to be taking part in the Write the Night series.
PLEASE NOTE: The Flaming Lips will not be part of the "Write the Night" series, as was previously reported. We apologize for any confusion.
http://pitchfork.com/news/34934-the-flaming-lips-added-to-pitchfork-music-festival/
The write the setlist for Flaming Lips has been revoked. Updated on Pitchfork. It will be a regular set.
Pitchfork updates listing, Flaming Lips will not be playing requests.
"The Flaming Lips will not be part of the "Write the Night" series, as was previously reported. We apologize for any confusion. Any problems regarding tickets purchased due to what was previously reported can be addressed with TicketWeb for reimbursement at info@ticketweb.com. The incorrect story reported earlier today is after the jump. Thanks, and we hope to see you in July."
http://pitchfork.com/news/34934-the-flaming-lips-added-to-pitchfork-music-festival/
WTF?
We have a correction regarding the Flaming Lips' performance at the 2009 Pitchfork Music Festival. The "Write the Night" series, in which tickets holders get to vote on the songs that they want to hear, is happening on Friday, with Built to Spill, the Jesus Lizard, Tortoise, and Yo la Tengo. The Flaming Lips will be closing out the Festival on Sunday, July 19th, but they will not be part of the "Write the Night" series, as was previously indicated. We apologize for any confusion. Any problems regarding tickets purchased due to what was previously reported can be addressed with TicketWeb for reimbursement at info@ticketweb.com.
And once again, the FL let me down.
Well, maybe its not directly their fault, but its the fact that we even need a setup like Write the Night in order to get them to play their back catalog is whats truly sad.
Matt wrote:
And once again, the FL let me down.
Dude, get over it. This is disappointing, to be sure, but if you think the Flaming Lips had anything to do with it, you're not too smart.
Should they still play more of their back catalog? Sure, I think any Lips fan would agree they should. But blaming them for this is like blaming mp3 trading for the demise of the record industry -- it's not a good argument, and it doesn't hold up under scrutiny.
If you want the Lips to play old stuff, find ways to contact them and let them know you want to hear stuff they haven't done before. Otherwise, you're just being petulant, and that's not the mark of a fan; that's the mark of a child.
Here's my request and it's a good 'un.
A square field. On one edge, the Flaming Lips on stage. On the other three edges, Flaming Lips cover bands. And all four bands playing Zaireeka. In the centre, the crowd. Ooh baby :)