The Flaming Lips
The Troxy, London
11/11/2009

EH? It’s not every day you get to see a rock band emerging from a giant Technicolour fanny. Tonight though, that’s exactly how The Flaming Lips’ multi-instrumentalist Stephen Drozd, drummer Kliph Scurlock and bassist Michael Ivins are born to the audience; through a door in the giant video screen that takes up the back portion of The Troxy’s stage. Then, as the naked, multi-coloured woman on the screen stands up, frontman Wayne Coyne appears, wriggling inside a gently inflating translucent balloon.

Oh right, yeah, of course, it’s all a play on the musical rebirth that is The Lips’ twelfth album, ‘Embryonic’ – a conceptual collection of terrifyingly groove-heavy freakout space-jams. Now that Wayne is rolling around inside a giant lady-egg on top of the crowd, it all makes perfect sense.
 
First up is ‘The Soft Bulletin’s ‘Race For The Prize’, resplendent in a shower of fireworks, confetti and balloons. It’s a tender-yet-glorious skewering of the nature of warfare, made all the more poignant by the fact that today is Remembrance Day. Plus there is a man dressed as a gorilla on stage dancing like a lunatic. We’re sure it’s what Harry Patch would have wanted, right?

‘Embryonic’ opener ‘Convinced Of The Hex’ is the first of the new songs to emerge, with Wayne demanding a change of atmosphere prior to the onslaught of its sprawling, bassy hypnosis; encouraging everyone to burst the balloons, “otherwise this song feels like a bad day at the circus”. The contrast in style is so stark that Wayne’s refrain “That’s the difference between us” sounds like a cattleprod to the balls of their last three, weirdy-pop albums. ‘Convinced…’ along with its ‘Embryonic’ sister-track ‘Evil’, prove to be two of the new album’s most untameable behemoths; filling the room with their head-nodding drones, and emancipating the claustrophobia of their recorded versions with spectacular ferocity.

But, regardless of the new mission statements, and improvised psychedelic freaky beard-stroking wig-outs, The Lips are still here to please. “We’re gonna play an upbeat song now, I promise”, announces Wayne, before the band launch into ‘Transmissions From The Satellite Heart’’s ‘She Don’t Use Jelly’, replete with its customary exploding balloon spewing streamers and coloured paper high into The Troxy’s art deco balcony.

Even when ‘Fight Test’ and ‘Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Part 1’ are theatrically drawn out, you can’t be disappointed. It’s not done through pompous indulgence or because they’re bored of rolling out the hits, but simply because The Lips just want the crowd to sing along.

And as encore ‘Do You Realise??’ rounds out the night, we’re left marvelling at The Flaming Lips’ warming psychedelic showmanship.

A transmission straight to our hearts, indeed. Hallelujah! We’re born again!

JJ Dunning