As expected, nothing went as expected.
With opening remarks regarding love and beingness, a pink-robot-festooned crown perched atop a crimson clad Wayne Coyne, offered a beautifully microcosmic example of what was to come: a stage-filling pink robot for the crowd to project their songs upon.
This whole thing wasn’t about the musicians or the visual effects, Coyne proclaimed, but about the people in the audience, interacting and having a kick ass time. The Flaming Lips were there simply as support for the party, which broke out considerably with a torrent of confetti and huge balloons that followed a giant silvery balloon-letter “Fuck Yeah Eugene” into the masses.
Above the stage hung long strings of lights, like a net full of electric eels and frenzied lanternfish. Upon the stage, The Flaming Lips ripped into music full of vigor and bass, precision and exploration.
Enlarge
Photo by Todd Cooper
Enlarge
Photo by Todd Cooper
Enlarge
Photo by Todd Cooper
They started with fan favorites “Race for the Prize,” a lovely sing-along “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots” and “Fight Test,” with Coyne’s humongous hands beaming lasers which reflected off the giant disco ball spinning lights around a theater thick with stage fog.
What followed was a seemingly endless series of inflatable characters and props and flashes and loud, wild music and cheers and rousing applause for each new element of psychedelic paraphenalia ranging from enormous bloodshot eyeballs to a carousel unicorn, ridden through the audience by a rainbow-winged (inflatable of course) Coyne who threw handfuls of purple confetti to the people, tempting them like the Pied Piper of Outer Space.
That was the setup for a song called “The Captain,” played for only the second time live, and a perfect cover of the David Bowie classic “Space Oddity.”
Otherwise I found it to be much like a swirling aesthetic hallucination which bridged popular culture, politics, and humanism and left me bright-eyed and excited about a world in which artists like this exist and succeed.
Finally, a gorgeous under-the-rainbow (inflatable) encore of “Do You Realize?” really finished the night perfectly.
A Note From the Publisher
Dear Readers,
The last two years have been some of the hardest in Eugene Weekly’s 43 years. There were moments when keeping the paper alive felt uncertain. And yet, here we are — still publishing, still investigating, still showing up every week.
That’s because of you!
Not just because of financial support (though that matters enormously), but because of the emails, notes, conversations, encouragement and ideas you shared along the way. You reminded us why this paper exists and who it’s for.
Listening to readers has always been at the heart of Eugene Weekly. This year, that meant launching our popular weekly Activist Alert column, after many of you told us there was no single, reliable place to find information about rallies, meetings and ways to get involved. You asked. We responded.
We’ve also continued to deepen the coverage that sets Eugene Weekly apart, including our in-depth reporting on local real estate development through Bricks & Mortar — digging into what’s being built, who’s behind it and how those decisions shape our community.
And, of course, we’ve continued to bring you the stories and features many of you depend on: investigations and local government reporting, arts and culture coverage, sudoku and crossword puzzles, Savage Love, and our extensive community events calendar. We feature award-winning stories by University of Oregon student reporters getting real world journalism experience. All free. In print and online.
None of this happens by accident. It happens because readers step up and say: this matters.
As we head into a new year, please consider supporting Eugene Weekly if you’re able. Every dollar helps keep us digging, questioning, celebrating — and yes, occasionally annoying exactly the right people. We consider that a public service.
Thank you for standing with us!
Publisher
Eugene Weekly
P.S. If you’d like to talk about supporting EW, I’d love to hear from you!
jody@eugeneweekly.com
(541) 484-0519
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