Picture Show: Flaming Lips @ Brown

The setting for the show was just perfect. The stage was set up on Brown’s main lawn, which sat in between beautiful colonial buildings, with large trees just starting to bloom and providing the perfect amount of shade. The Brown student organizers did a get job putting this event together, and maybe some of our bigger concert promoters can learn a thing or two from the kids.

There was a great energy going around the venue all day, as students and local concert-goers just seemed to be happy to be outside in such great weather. The show started as most Flaming Lips show begin, with Wayne entering in his giant inflatable bubble during the Ta Da opener and taking a spin around the crowd.

Once back on stage, the band didn’t miss a beat. The confetti launched and the band headed into Race for the Prize. Next up was the new jam, Tapsmir, that mixes Taps the traditional military song with Led Zeppelins’ Kashmir (The Lips actually samples the “Oh baby I ain’t lying” line over and over again). The song also features Wayne on a programmed bugle that, according to the manufacturer’s website, is “sounded when a live bugler is not available for a military funeral.”

Since the event was held on a college campus, no one in the crowd could help but think of the events that unfolded in Virginia last week. This issue was even on the band’s collective mind, and Wayne spoke a few time about the events at Virginia Tech and his concerns for playing a school in wake of these events. In the end, he thanked the Brown students and faculty for not canceling the show and not allowing themselves to be wrapped up in a “culture of fear.”

The show then continued with Vein of Stars, which sounded great, although it didn’t feature the audience-performed laser light show like the version at the Hammerstein Ballroom did last year.

A few more songs passed before the Lips broke into what I thought was easily the highlight of the set: Pompeii, which made its return on this tour. The band just rocked this one so hard that my face melted right off. I’m still looking for my face.

By the time the Flaming Lips’ set came to a close, the sun had began to set and the day had nearly elapsed. Only thing left to do was race the sun back to New York and thank myself for making the executive and correct decision to get up to Providence and catch the exciting show…

Fianlly, for those of you out there that can’t wait until the next Flaming Lips concert, the band will be releasing a live DVD this summer. You can check out the trailer here, courtesy of YouTube.

• Click here for the rest of Danfun’s amazing photos on Flickr 
• And click here to download this show 

Setlist: 4-21-2007 Brown University, Providence RI
Ta Da!, Race For The Prize, Tapsmir, Flight Test, Free Radicals, Yoshimi Pt. 1, Yoshimi Pt. 2, Vein of Stars, The Yeah Song, Taps/Waitin For A Superman, Pompeii, She Don’t Use Jelly, Do You Realize?, A Spoonful Weighs a Ton