Reach out and (try to) touch me

The Flaming Lips at the Hammersmith Apollo, 14 November 2006

Hurray for Wayne Coyne and his anti-establishment, drippy-hippy, psychedelic live show. ‘If George Bush hasn’t got the answers, then pass on the fight to somebody who does’ announces the bearded and frock-coat bedecked town crier at the start of the show. And there’s nothing disappointing about what follows. Balloons, balloons, and even more spherical-type objects fall from the sky with visual and kinetic aplomb- cascades of ticker tape and confetti follow them periodically and add to the jovial, carnival feeling. First song in, and I’m sure that this is going to be not only great fun but unlike anything else I’ve ever seen in my life before. And I’m right.

Does life narrow down as you get older? Does time squeeze the life and enthusiasm and sensitivity out of you? Are people who tell this to younger impressionable people cruel and vicious? These and many other questions are tossed into the audience like philosophical arrows during the course of the 2 hour live set/extravaganza offered by The Flaming Lips at the Hammersmith Apollo tonight. Wayne Coyne is a garrulous soul with a love of philosophical treatise of the meandering kind and his obvious enthusiasm encourages an already well-meaning crowd into a frenzy of audience participation, especially during the Yeah Yeah Yeah Song- ‘Come on now, sing it like you really don’t give a f**k’.

So what did we all learn at the end of it?

Well, me personally, I learned: 1. Puppets are good and can even be beautiful in the right hands. 2. Balloons are more fun than I previously gave them credit for. 3. The venerable profession of town crier is a lost art and very underrated (surely all gigs should be introduced this way). 4. Most bands really don’t make enough effort in the theatrical staging department- fact. 5. The next time I go to see a straight guitar and stripy top outfit I’ll be really disappointed.

Now I’m going to go and get high on orange squash, make a daisy chain, practice skipping, or something similarly childlike.