Scott, Sarah, Michelle and I hit up the Mike Watt / Flaming Lips / Red Hot Chilli Peppers concert last night. It was great.
Mike Watt has been a favorite of mine for a while, but I’ve never seen him live. The surley bastard is amazing. Watching his hands as he plays the bass is startling. There’s violence in the strumming and slapping, but amazing deftness as he plays lead in between the thunks on his old Gibson bass. Flea joined Mike & Co. for a long jam leading into a stellar version of One Reporter’s Opinion. Mike donned his standard issue flanel shirt with rolled sleves, and was everything I had hoped for.
I didn’t know what to expect from the Flaming Lips. I’ve not heard much of them. They put on an incredible show though. Between the 30 giant balloons bouncing in the crown, movie clips, strobe lights, dancing animals, and bull horn yelling, there was a lot for the brain to process. I felt as if the artists themselves were somewhat displeased by the audience reaction, but it was all we could do to not pee our pants at the multitude of happenings during the show.
The Chilli Peppers were great as usual. I never get tired of watching Flea play, and John seemed to be enjoying himself as much as we were. How Flea and Anthony can move like that and still produce music, let alone good music is amazing. The set was predominantly stuff from the last 2 albums, though Soul to Squeeze slipped in, and Fire, Under the Bridge, and Give it away made up the encore. Interludes between songs highlighted John & Flea’s chemistry, and provided some great grooves.
Glin got me turned on to the Flaming Lips about this time last year. Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots is an amazing album. Like with most albums, I’m picky and don’t absolutely love even most of the album, but the songs I do like are amazing to me. “In the Morning of the Magicians” is one of the better songs I’ve ever heard. The interlude between the verses makes me feel good every time I hear it.
I’d say I wasn’t all that impressed with the music from the FL. I mean, you’d think a band that has been around for nearly 25 yrs would have at least a little more talent. That said they still put on a cool, sensory overloaded, and interesting show.
I haven’t been to one of their shows. In fact, I’ve never been to a concert at all. But I have heard their album (FL, that is) and, like I said, thought it ruled. Also got pretty big critical acclaim. I’m not sure who it was, but a major music industry giant (I’m thinking it was Amazon.com) called it the best album of the year. Check it out: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000068PQ0/qid=1066929084/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/002-0974632-1898457?v=glance&s=music&n=507846
download in the morning of the magicians.
Yeah I heard the song, like I said still not that impressed by there music. It’s not something that I hate, infact I enjoyed the show (mainly due to everything going on) but I still wouldn’t buy the CD.