[Trash-talk] NGR: Flaming Lips/ Liz Phair

[GrbageVixn at aol.com]

In a message dated 6/14/2003 5:45:11 AM Eastern Standard Time, 
slv0000 at earthlink.net writes:


-Wow...thats a shame that Liz Phair was not good.  She is definitely not the 
same woman at all the made Exile in Guyville.  She wants to sell records but 
still wants to maintain her indie cred...I think she's starting to realize that 
she's losing it...and fast.  She is older, and wiser and has been in the game 
for a while.  It would be nice to go back to the Exile and Whipsmart 
days...but who the hell knows if thats ever going to happen again.  Motherhood and a 
little bit of a stylist making her look like a slutty rock star came into play.

-As for the Flaming Lips, seeing that band is like a religious experience.  
You are just lost in everything that they are doing and Wayne Cohen has got to 
be the most excited man in rock and roll.  His face lights up everytime he 
starts singing.  What an amazing time it is to see them.  

Victoria
> I got a chance to go see this show when I was in Dallas last week. First 
> off, Wayne Coyne and the rest of the Lips are genius onstage. This 
> wasn't the best concert I've ever seen, but it was the most 
> entertaining, fun one. I went just to see Liz Phair and wasn't that 
> familiar with anything except a little bit of Yoshimi Battles the Pink 
> Robots but, after 6 1/2 hours of standing, sweating in the stagnant heat 
> and then walking four blocks in a downpour back to my car, it was the 
> Flaming Lips that had me smiling and feeling great about life. Liz who?
> 
> Before the show, Wayne would come out the back door periodically, in his 
> white linen stage suit, to wave at the people in line and talk to 
> whomever would come up to the barricade. During the opening act, 
> Starlight Mints, he came out the sides of the stage to shake a balloon 
> animal or toss out giant balloons for the crowd to bounce about 
> overhead. Between sets he'd patrol the stage with a huge leaf blower, 
> cooling the audience. Starlight Mints were a little reminiscent of 
> Talking Heads.
> 
> Liz Phair was good, but disappointing at the same time. I'd heard she 
> would be either solo, acoustic or stripped down. The latter certainly 
> applied. She came out in fishnet hose, knee-high boots, black panties, 
> purple t-shirt and a funky brown hat - puffy and droopy on top with a 
> long brim in front - think 60's Carnaby Street. Introducing herself as 
> "the musical interlude", she only played 6 or 7 short songs on Fender 
> Jaguar, with Starlight Mints guitarist playing bass for her and a roadie 
> (or maybe it was her famously young boyfriend) sitting on a chair 
> playing acoustic. There was a real thrown together at the last minute 
> feel to the set. A lot of people around me also came just to see her and 
> were left wanting a lot more from the experience.
> 
> When the Lips came out, all but Wayne were in animal costumes. The 
> guitarist as a pink elephant. The bassist was a zebra. There were 7 or 8 
> extras (radio station employees and maybe fans) on each side of the 
> stage dressed as giraffes, unicorns, bears, Santa Clause, etc. all 
> dancing and waving high powered flashlights and balloon swords. The 
> stage props were incredibly low-tech and produced a happy, innocent 
> atmosphere. Hundreds of giant balloons, confetti, fake blood, robot 
> blow-up dolls. Wayne swinging a hooded work light with a long tail of 
> Christmas tinsel overhead, in Roger Daltry microphone style, batting at 
> the balloons or skewering them with a nail taped to the headstock of his 
> bizarre little acoustic guitar. Hundreds of giant homemade valentines 
> were passed out into the crowd - colored, heart shaped paper with silly 
> slogans written in Marks-a-lot such as "smile at at stranger" or "hey, 
> hello hey". Mine said, "see you at the vitamin store". They used nothing 
> the whole night that you couldn't buy at a hardware store or party 
> supply shop. The only complex parts of the show were the music onstage 
> and the synched video presentation throughout the set showing clips from 
> early 60's Charles Bronson combat movies, 70's topless bikini girls 
> kung-fu dancing, Teletubbies, and Japanese all girl action films or 
> animations with plots resembling the Yoshimi songs.
> 
> It's too bad they're at the end of their tour. They play Bonnaroo today 
> and then a few dates in Norway, Montreaux, UK and Ireland. I've never 
> such a goofy, happy vibe at a show. The security guys were going up and 
> down the aisles, collecting armloads of empty bottles and trash and 
> disposing of them for fans. One of the biggest, meanest looking guys was 
> even cradling one of the small, heart shaped balloons to his chest, 
> swaying to the music. It was an evening full of strange sights.
> 
> 

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