Flaming Lips’ circus comes to Oakland
Songs from new album aren’t only enticement to come out for live show
“I’m sitting in my car, which kind of acts like a private little office,” says Wayne Coyne, lead vocalist, co-songwriter and chief instigator for the Flaming Lips. “My house gets pretty busy during the day with people coming in and out and dogs barking, so I’m just sitting in the driveway in my air-conditioned car.”
The image of Coyne holed up in his car, as he speaks from Oklahoma City in advance of a Wednesday, May 10, tour stop at the Fox Theater in Oakland, evokes memories of him inhabiting the humansized hamster ball that he used to roll over the outstretched arms of fans at the Lips’ massive concerts. Artful in their physical album releases — particularly the vinyl ones — as well as in their music videos and recording studio production, the Flaming Lips have also cemented a reputation for visually stunning live shows.
“Entertainment has become something you get at home. You can see concerts all day on your phone. So for me, concerts have to have another dimension to them,” he says. “We’re going to try to offer
you this otherworldly experience that can unify people.”
Through a combination of video clips, lighting and props and sing-along songs such as “Do You Realize??,” “Waitin’ for a Superman” and “Bad Days,” the Flaming Lips shows have been compared to old-fashioned circuses with Coyne as the barker. The upcoming show should be even more topsy-turvy as the band performs songs off its latest album “Oczy Mlody” (pronounced “oxy meh-lowdee”).
Take the band’s live treatment of the new single “There Should Be Unicorns,” as an example. (Spoiler alert for those attending Wednesday night’s show.)
“I literally drive a unicorn through the audience during that song,” Coyne reveals. “So even if you didn’t know what the song was, you’d probably walk out of there at the end of the night saying, ‘What was that song where Wayne was on the unicorn?’”
Come one, come all — those attending the Oakland show should also plan on showing up on time, as the creative new Dutch/Norwegian band Klangstof continues the Lips’ streak of bringing exciting acts on tour and into the studio. From Henry Rollins and Liz Phair, to Reggie Watts and Maynard James Keenan (Tool, A Perfect Circle), Coyne and his bandmates have amassed a impressive list of like-minded musical collaborations.
“I think a lot of it probably came to an absolute volcanic explosion with Miley Cyrus,” he says of the former “Hannah Montana” who sings on “We a Family,” the closing track on “Oczy Mlody.” Cyrus also has worked with the group on several previous projects including her own “Miley Cyrus and her Dead Petz” from 2015. “Of any of the collaborations that we’ve done, she’s probably most like us.”
Cyrus isn’t on deck for this Bay Area gig, but fans will be plenty entertained — even if not familiar with all the tracks of “Oczy Mlody.”
“We want our shows to have a sort of a heightened atmosphere,” Coyne says. “... We’ve always been like, ‘Well, if you don’t know the song, let’s make it just a really special moment in the set.’ Then you’ll love this moment and, through that, you’ll get to know the song.”
There are tracks on the band’s electronically oriented new album that don’t require all the bells and whistles of a typical Flaming Lips performance, like the blissed-out “Sunrise (Eyes of the Young)” or the gentle arpeggios and analog keyboard patches of “The Castle,” which could easily provide the soundtrack for an epic 8-bit swords-and-wizardry video game.
When it comes to the unlikely hit “She Don’t Use Jelly” from 1993 — “which most people in the audience know … even if they kind of despise it or forgot about it,” says Coyne — the song itself is the focus and doesn’t require extramusical embellishment.
“We want you to pay attention. This has nuances and things about it, but that’ll be up to us to present to you in a way that you’re not bored or confused,” he says. “The responsibility is totally up to us.”