Story and Photos by Catie Keck
A roar of applause and adoration rips through a sea of costumed fans as a well-dressed Wayne Coyne ambles humbly on stage at the McDonald Theater, lovingly acknowledging his crowd. Microphone in hand, he calmly begins to confront his audience concerning the intensity of his light shows and the extent to which one might be affected by strobes. “We want you to stay,” he says kindly, “Just close your eyes awhile.”
Soon after, the performance begins. A wall of tiny bulbs spans the back of the stage, on which a visual of a woman’s silhouette dances provocatively until exploding into psychedelic rainbows with the start of the show. Men in neon orange jumpsuits help Coyne into a large plastic balloon that he’ll use to hamster wheel his way over a mass of eagerly awaiting hands. Confetti is blasted from the sides of the stage into the audience, as super-sized multi-colored balloons are flung and batted in every direction. It feels like the birthday party you never had and always wanted, and you’re sharing it with The Flaming Lips.
Coyne follows each act with another that’s equally as wild, and a little odd. He rides on the shoulders of a man in a giant bear suit, after which he beats a large gong in unison with a visual of a nude woman dancing along freely. Perhaps the most outrageous spectacle, however, is a pair of large decrepit-looking hands out of which Coyne shoots green laser beams at the audience. No matter the prop, request, or statement, Coyne’s actions are met with screams of approval from his loyal following.
Just as it seems the build-up of an entire show’s worth of explosions, confetti, and a fair amount of “Fucking dance!” on Coyne’s part is coming to a close, The Flaming Lips play their last song, Do You Realize? and suddenly the entire venue feels electric. Friends, lovers, and strangers alike grab hold of one another to sing along to what’s become known as The Flaming Lips’ anthem.
After the show, Wayne Coyne met adoring fans and thanked them for a great show. Each interaction was sincere, and he took his time with each person. He then met with Ethos to discuss his tour, fans, and art.
Catie Keck: I noticed that rather than focusing on tracks from Embryonic, you played a little bit of everything.
Wayne Coyne: Well, we played the hits, and then we played the weird shit off the new record that you know is dynamic. People won’t freak out too much.
CK: What’s the story with the nude dancers in the visual part of your show?
WC: It’s a couple of gals, but the one that’s up there the most is in our new video. She’s a great dancer. All I can say is that she’s a freak. She loves being unafraid and doing crazy shit. She’s a ballet dancer, so everything has intention. There’s something about the way she’s laughing [in the video] like she’s high the whole time.
CK: How do you generate so much energy from your audience?
WC: They’re so ready to rock. Even before we go on they’re ready, and I think we do this sort of show a lot so you can kind of gauge where to let them relax and where to beg them to go crazy. That doesn’t mean that it’s a routine, but you know, it’s why football games have a halftime routine where people can go get more beer and get their energy back. I think they know the songs so well. Some songs get you very quiet, and other songs make you go crazy. Without them, it’s not anything. With them it’s this big communal understanding. It’s a powerful thing.
CK: What do you think it is about “Do You Realize?” that people identify with?
WC: You write a song and think it’s a nice song. It means anything, really. It means something to you, but every song does. We did it when we were at the end of a couple week session, and we wanted to start recording “Do You Realize?” and didn’t know what we were going to do. At the very end of the session we threw it together really quick and it was kind of like a demo. We got lucky that it was so simple. But I think it’s great to have a song that people identify with.
CK: That being said, did you have anything in mind when you recorded Embryonic?
WC: You kind of intuitively go to something you want. I know that sounds like hooky art school bullshit, but we went in there with a lot of well-written songs. We did a double album thinking we could do some songs, and then do these other freaky songs. After a couple of weeks, we realized the weird stuff is what we really love to do. It’s new, exciting, and strange. We didn’t think about it too much. If you’re lucky you’ll be doing something, and something better will happen. There’s a Miles Davis song that says, “making one thing and doing another.” You have to trust that’s true. Music is that exact thing – communication. People always fill their heads with knowledge about why they think something is good, and you can’t with music. You like it, but you don’t know why. We’d probably screw up if we tried to do it again.
CK: You’re notorious for being one of the best live performances.
WC: We have got stuff. We have laser hands. We played a lot of festivals; you get used to playing for 50,000 people by the end of the night who are completely drunk, or stoned, or freaking out. But they would do that for any group. It’s part of the ritual. When it’s you, you want to give them the thing to say you deserve all of their praise, screaming, and love.
CK: You talk about getting your audience high. When you walk into a Flaming Lips show, everyone’s high on energy.
WC: Well, we do play very loud. We want to obliterate anything that you think is going to happen. You’re not going to be able to talk, or look around. There’s a smoke machine, there’s confetti, and it’s just overwhelming. Our first song is like a lot of bands’ encore. It’s like an avalanche and if you can survive that, it’s going to be a good show. If you surrender to it, like in the song when we ask everyone to be a bear, or a frog, it’s going to make it better. Even before we play we wonder if it’s going to work, and it always works. If we play your favorite song in our set, it’s a good moment. We work hard, but the love makes the whole thing work.
CK: I wanted to ask about your screen prints that were for sale at the show. You marked each screen print with a fingerprint in your blood.
WC: We do most of these at my house, but I put my blood in it literally even if my blood isn’t on it. I want you to know this is us, this isn’t a company. A couple of weeks ago we did these, and here we are putting our thumbprint on it and you’re not going to get this again. I don’t know why I thought I should do it in blood. It just seemed cool. Someday I’ll be dead and my blood will be hanging on your wall.

Gallery • 4 Photos

Wayne Coyne, Setting McDonald On Fire