ATP NY '09: The Flaming Lips

by Pop Tarts Suck Toasted on Tue, 2009/09/15 - 10:30pm Post to Twitter

Being chosen to curate one of All Tomorrow’s Parties is a true honor for any musician, but the fact that they were able to get The Flaming Lips to curate and perform was still a pretty surreal idea. This band may be the biggest band ever to come out of the indie rock world, even if they no longer are "indie" they still definitely fit the aesthetic but are beyond huge. So seeing a band like this in such a small space was absolutely unbelievable.

The band attempted their huge stage show the best they could on a smaller scale, no UFO but they still had a huge screen, the enormous vagina for the band to walk out of and of course the huge hamster ball, confetti canons, and dancing yetis to make it feel like the party atmosphere it really was. As Wayne rolled around the audience, the band played their usual "Intro" piece and the fans began dancing and going nuts, something that wouldn’t stop for nearly two-hours as the band played well passed the time they were supposed to.

From there the band mixed up the set beautifully playing songs like "Race for the Prize", "Fight Test", "The W.A.N.D.", "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" and so many more, but it was the thankful between song banter from Wayne Coyne that really made it such a special moment. Coyne seemed genuinely over come by the powerful good vibes and cheerful nature of the ATP festival, the honor that was bestowed upon him to curate it, and all the wonderful people he had met and bands he had seen throughout the weekend. It was enough to bring him near tears each time he spoke of it and thanked all the people involved in the festival.

Before the main set finale and encore, Wayne told everyone that he would stand or sit at the front of the stage, sign autographs, and pose for pictures with everyone that wanted them until the festival organizers told him he couldn’t do it anymore. It was an unbelievable gesture from a man that greeted so many people around the resort grounds throughout the weekend. From there the band played their grand finale, "Do You Realize?", to a crowd that sang along with every word. They walked off stage to a huge applause before coming back to do their encore which was met with an even larger round of applause.

Up top you will see video of the encore, shot from the back of the theater (I had pulled back after more then an hour of dancing and going nuts up front), of the band doing their cover of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". It was the perfect finish to a weekend that was littered with unbelievable moments and surreal scenes, but watching that band play that song to that crowd of people was the final memory from it all and such a glowing one that I may never attend a different festival again. Yeah, ATP NY ‘09 was legitimately that good.