Having formed in Oklahoma in 1983, The Flaming Lips have had a “surreal and haphazard” ride to the top of their game, with years in the underground before bursting into mainstream consciousness during the early 90’s alt-rock craze.
The Flaming Lips @ Manchester Academy
Performing ‘The Soft Bulletin’
Friday 6th September, 7pm
Melodically, their sound contains lush, multi-layered, psychedelic rock arrangements, but lyrically their compositions show elements of space rock, including unusual song and album titles—such as “Psychiatric Explorations of the Fetus with Needles”, “Free Radicals (A Hallucination of the Christmas Skeleton Pleading with a Suicide Bomber)” and “Yeah, I Know It’s a Drag… But Wastin’ Pigs Is Still Radical”.
They are also acclaimed for their elaborate live shows, which feature costumes, balloons, puppets, video projections, complex stage light configurations, giant hands, large amounts of confetti, and frontman Wayne Coyne’s signature man-sized plastic bubble, in which he traverses the audience. In 2002, Q magazine named The Flaming Lips one of the “50 Bands to See Before You Die”.
The group recorded several albums and EPs on an indie label, Restless, in the 1980s and early 1990s. After signing to Warner Brothers, they scored a hit in 1993 with “She Don’t Use Jelly”. Although it has been their only hit single in the U.S., the band has maintained critical respect and, to a lesser extent, commercial viability through albums such as 1999’s ‘The Soft Bulletin’ (which was NME magazine’s Album of the Year) and 2002’s ‘Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots’.
They have had more hit singles in the UK and Europe than in the U.S. In February 2007, they were nominated for a 2007 BRIT Award in the “Best International Act” category. By 2007, the group garnered three Grammy Awards, including two for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.
Manchester Academy, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PR
0161 232 1639
www.manchesteracademy.net
