Live Review: The Flaming Lips at the Roseland Theater, Portland, Oregon, September 20th, 2007

Huge symphonic arrangements. Giant blue balloons floating in the audience. 6 dancing girls in Santa outfits stage left, 6 dancing girls in outer space mini-dresses stage right - all aiming high-powered flashlight beams into the crowd. Giant video screen with psychedelic imagery. Large billowing clouds of smoke from the dry ice machine. Strobe lights. And confetti. Lots and lots of confetti.

And that was just the first song.

There is something wildly exhilarating about giant clouds of confetti, it feels like being caught in a very pleasant blizzard. The Lips' stage show is designed for arenas and outdoor festivals. In the modest confines of the Roseland Theater it was a mind-blowing experience. (Though I missed the giant plastic ball.) These guys made it onto a list of the 50 bands to see before you die. Though that list is totally fucked, I can't disagree.

Wayne Coyne is a great showman, though his voice is weak and "pitchy". That may be why they put so much effort into the spectacle. Although there was liberal use of pre-recorded backing tracks in order to recreate the arrangements, the show never seemed canned. Stepehn Drozd is the band's secret weapon. Live he switched from strong backing vocals, lead guitar and keyboards. On record he also plays drums. Their touring drummer was great, and also cued up the backing tracks. Bassist Michael Ivins is still wearing his John Entwhistle skeleton leotard. He sat through most of the show, looked bored and produced some of the most distorted and overdriven bass sounds I've heard in quite a while.

I'm not a big fan of their latest record, but they played good stuff off of Soft Bulletin and Yoshimi. Wayne had a tendency to go on and on between songs and dropped more "motherfuckers" than Snoop Dogg. Whatever. In any case, they are a very "up" and positive band whose goal seems to be to put a smile on everyone's face, without being cheap or cheesy. Few bands can pull that off and it's always a nice change of pace from the tortured artist of the month.

The highlight of the show for me was oddly also the least spectacular. A single keyboard and vocal sing-along to Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. To hear several thousand people singing those bizarre and surreal lyrics - it was one of those moments in this American Idol age of mediocrity, when you feel like art has won.

Her name is Yoshimi
she's a black belt in karate
working for the city
she has to discipline her body

'Cause she knows that
it's demanding
to defeat those evil machines
I know she can beat them

Oh Yoshimi, they don't believe me
but you won't let those robots eat me
Yoshimi, they don't believe me
but you won't let those robots defeat me

Those evil-natured robots
they're programmed to destroy us
she's gotta be strong to fight them
so she's taking lots of vitamins

'Cause she knows that
it'd be tragic
if those evil robots win
I know she can beat them

Oh Yoshimi, they don't believe me
but you won't let those robots defeat me
Yoshimi, they don't believe me
but you won't let those robots eat me

Word.