An Epic Experience.
OKAY Y'ALL. My life's purpose has been fulfilled. I have been to the raddest concert. Ever. (or at least since the last time Zeppelin played.)
A month or two ago I was browsing Ticketmaster's ridiculously-priced-concert list and saw that The Flaming Lips were coming to town, yet their ticket page revealed that it was sold out. "Darn it all!" I thought to myself. "I want to go to that show so bad! I wish I'd known sooner!!" I saw the Lips a few years ago when they toured with Beck and it was phenomenal (especially since they were just the opening band) and knew that I should see them again.
Cut to: a few weeks ago, when Dustin said, "Oh, hey, I've got Flaming Lips tickets for September." Boy, did he get a big smooch for that one!
Last night was the big night. I'll say right now, concerts on Sunday night are hard to get pumped for. And Hammerstein Ballroom, though beautiful, is not very kind to shorties like me. I saw the Pixies there once with my bro and, well, I actually didn't see them at all. I just heard them. So I will admit that I had my reservations. Luckily, it turned out to be a night I will not soon forget (at least if I keep doing crosswords every day).
We arrived at the venue and, first of all, let me just say, I was more than a little excited to spot Gideon Yago from MTV News in line beside us (though not close enough, for long enough, to get a picture of. Here's a stock picture from Google Image Search).
So that was exciting. After the terrible opening band, Deerhoof, got off the darn stage, we scooted up towards the front of the house and looked back to see the beautiful Ballroom, packed to the gills with hipsters of all ages, and its gorgeous muralled ceiling.
I knew this was a different kind of crowd when I was telling Dustin that I should just accept being shorter than everyone else and not expect to see anything, just listen, and this taller guy directly in front of me overheard and insisted on switching places with his shorter friend so that I could see. I have NEVER had anything that simple and nice happen to me from a complete stranger.
Anyway, the Flaming Lips, who have been together since the 80s and touring for as long, set up their own equipment. I've never seen a band do that before. Of course, there were some roadies helping out, and the best part was that all of their roadies were dressed up like comic book characters. Awesome.
The show got underway soon enough, with giant titles on the screen behind the stage proclaiming, "GET READY TO HAVE AN EPIC EXPERIENCE." Now, last time I saw the Lips they had fans on stage and in the audience dressed up in animal suits. This time, the guys were on one side of the stage in Santa suits:
... and the ladies were on the other side dressed up as 60s-style Martian women:
Everybody with giant flashlights, dancing and having a grand time.
Then the spectacle really began. Wayne Coyne, the lead singer, emerged on the stage inside a giant bubble. He stepped off the stage inside of it, and walked among the pit crowd from within the bubble.
Lights were a-flashing, and confetti spurted out for the first of what would become many times that night into the crowd, lingering in the air along with massive balloons, transforming the space into a giant party.
The band sounded great. They spoke to the audience, interacted, and invoked responses from, I believe, every single person present.
It was the first time that I felt like I didn't care whether I could see the stage or not (though I was able to see, for the most part), I just loved being a part of the experience. And that's exactly what it was: an epic experience. Not something to watch from the sidelines, but a fun, exuberant, beautiful event to be a part of.
Wayne had a camera attached to the mic so that even the shorties could see him (and his ninja nun) singing.
Then one of the coolest parts of all: before the show, there were people among the audience and up in the balconies handing out little red laser lights. Pointer thingies. Well, during one particular song, the screen behind Wayne said "GET YOUR LASERS READY." Then there was a countdown, and a sign that said, "SHOOT WAYNE!" and everyone did. He held up a mirror and the deflection of collective lights was truly amazing and beautiful.
At one point several people started shooting the lasers towards one particular yellow balloon. It was floating up and down among the crowd like this weird glowing entity.
Wayne stopped in the middle of the song and commented that this sight was one of the most beautiful things he'd ever seen. Of course that made EVERYONE point their laser at it, elevating this one balloon to what seemed like a supernatural level.
Later Wayne pulled out this giant balloon and started filling it up with air. It was pretty amazing how large it actually got....
And finally it exploded with, of course, confetti.
At the end there was a dude wearing a skeleton outfit with giant hands...
... getting everyone to sing...
... all while a "Teletubbies" episode, cleverly cut to synch up with the final song of the night, played joyously in the background. In fact, the visuals behind the stage were so superb the whole night through that it made me want to edit stuff like THAT for a living. (which was my exact sentiment when I saw them 4 years ago.)
It was a wondrous night of joy, fun, beauty and love. It was amazing. I am not exaggerating.
My thanks goes out to Dustin not only for the tickets, but for these incredible pictures.
love,
*jenna*
A month or two ago I was browsing Ticketmaster's ridiculously-priced-concert list and saw that The Flaming Lips were coming to town, yet their ticket page revealed that it was sold out. "Darn it all!" I thought to myself. "I want to go to that show so bad! I wish I'd known sooner!!" I saw the Lips a few years ago when they toured with Beck and it was phenomenal (especially since they were just the opening band) and knew that I should see them again.
Cut to: a few weeks ago, when Dustin said, "Oh, hey, I've got Flaming Lips tickets for September." Boy, did he get a big smooch for that one!
Last night was the big night. I'll say right now, concerts on Sunday night are hard to get pumped for. And Hammerstein Ballroom, though beautiful, is not very kind to shorties like me. I saw the Pixies there once with my bro and, well, I actually didn't see them at all. I just heard them. So I will admit that I had my reservations. Luckily, it turned out to be a night I will not soon forget (at least if I keep doing crosswords every day).
We arrived at the venue and, first of all, let me just say, I was more than a little excited to spot Gideon Yago from MTV News in line beside us (though not close enough, for long enough, to get a picture of. Here's a stock picture from Google Image Search).
So that was exciting. After the terrible opening band, Deerhoof, got off the darn stage, we scooted up towards the front of the house and looked back to see the beautiful Ballroom, packed to the gills with hipsters of all ages, and its gorgeous muralled ceiling.
I knew this was a different kind of crowd when I was telling Dustin that I should just accept being shorter than everyone else and not expect to see anything, just listen, and this taller guy directly in front of me overheard and insisted on switching places with his shorter friend so that I could see. I have NEVER had anything that simple and nice happen to me from a complete stranger.
Anyway, the Flaming Lips, who have been together since the 80s and touring for as long, set up their own equipment. I've never seen a band do that before. Of course, there were some roadies helping out, and the best part was that all of their roadies were dressed up like comic book characters. Awesome.
The show got underway soon enough, with giant titles on the screen behind the stage proclaiming, "GET READY TO HAVE AN EPIC EXPERIENCE." Now, last time I saw the Lips they had fans on stage and in the audience dressed up in animal suits. This time, the guys were on one side of the stage in Santa suits:
... and the ladies were on the other side dressed up as 60s-style Martian women:
Everybody with giant flashlights, dancing and having a grand time.
Then the spectacle really began. Wayne Coyne, the lead singer, emerged on the stage inside a giant bubble. He stepped off the stage inside of it, and walked among the pit crowd from within the bubble.
Lights were a-flashing, and confetti spurted out for the first of what would become many times that night into the crowd, lingering in the air along with massive balloons, transforming the space into a giant party.
The band sounded great. They spoke to the audience, interacted, and invoked responses from, I believe, every single person present.
It was the first time that I felt like I didn't care whether I could see the stage or not (though I was able to see, for the most part), I just loved being a part of the experience. And that's exactly what it was: an epic experience. Not something to watch from the sidelines, but a fun, exuberant, beautiful event to be a part of.
Wayne had a camera attached to the mic so that even the shorties could see him (and his ninja nun) singing.
Then one of the coolest parts of all: before the show, there were people among the audience and up in the balconies handing out little red laser lights. Pointer thingies. Well, during one particular song, the screen behind Wayne said "GET YOUR LASERS READY." Then there was a countdown, and a sign that said, "SHOOT WAYNE!" and everyone did. He held up a mirror and the deflection of collective lights was truly amazing and beautiful.
At one point several people started shooting the lasers towards one particular yellow balloon. It was floating up and down among the crowd like this weird glowing entity.
Wayne stopped in the middle of the song and commented that this sight was one of the most beautiful things he'd ever seen. Of course that made EVERYONE point their laser at it, elevating this one balloon to what seemed like a supernatural level.
Later Wayne pulled out this giant balloon and started filling it up with air. It was pretty amazing how large it actually got....
And finally it exploded with, of course, confetti.
At the end there was a dude wearing a skeleton outfit with giant hands...
... getting everyone to sing...
... all while a "Teletubbies" episode, cleverly cut to synch up with the final song of the night, played joyously in the background. In fact, the visuals behind the stage were so superb the whole night through that it made me want to edit stuff like THAT for a living. (which was my exact sentiment when I saw them 4 years ago.)
It was a wondrous night of joy, fun, beauty and love. It was amazing. I am not exaggerating.
My thanks goes out to Dustin not only for the tickets, but for these incredible pictures.
love,
*jenna*
posted by jenna at 1:14 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home