There is an alley in Downtown
Oklahoma City named after them. The Oklahoma state rock song is by them. Their
frontman and his wife would take walks in the park that I lived in before I
moved to NC. My nephew knew the
lyrics to “Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Pt. 1” at the age of 3. The Flaming
Lips have the most enjoyable live show that I have seen and I make it a point
to go see them whenever I can.
My
first Flaming Lips show was in Downtown Tulsa. Not at a venue, but in a blocked
off parking lot surrounded by the Tulsa skyline. As soon as the spaceship
dropped to the stage, and Wayne started crawling over the crowd in an
inflatable bubble, I was a fan.
Every
year since 2007 turned into 2008, I have had tickets to the New Years Eve
Freakout. The NYE Freakout occurs when the Flaming Lips play a show, in their
hometown of OKC, and ring in the new year. A jaw dropping experience. “Do you
have plans for new years eve?”… “Yes. Yes I do.”
Then
I moved. I’m going to be honest. When I got in my car to drive to NC, my 2nd
thought was “What am I going to do if I can’t see The Lips on New Years?”
Full
circle: In Raleigh, NC there is a festival called Hopscotch. The Flaming Lips
headlined this year. The primary bands play in the streets of Raleigh. In front
of the crowd was the stage and directly behind the crowd was the state capitol.
Like my first Lips show in Tulsa, I saw them surrounded by the skyline… Only
this time there was a 1,200 mile difference.
