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Flaming Lips, Disco Biscuits and other prison jams.
Whenever I mention my lukewarm opinion of the Flaming Lips, somebody always seems to chime in that I should see them in concert. Then I would understand. Lips performances are said by many to be second only to those of Pink Floyd — so bright and stimulating and downright fun that you don’t really know the band until you see one.
By the time Wayne Coyne was on stage making sure the confetti machines and mammoth LCD screen was working, though, I was ready to leave the uncomfortable prison Jam on the River had become to me. After being locked in the festival pier for six hours with nowhere to sit but the back-breaking asphalt, nothing to eat or drink but monopolistically priced nourishment and free samples of Captain Morgan, and two sets of the Disco Biscuits’ endless druggy muzak, I considered plowing my way through the crowd and missing what all the fuss was about. If the weather hadn’t been so perfect I just may have.
Don’t kid yourself: Even though the Lips headlined, Saturday’s Jam on the River was a day for faux Deadheads by faux Deadheads. The only respite from the Biscuits was inside the Great Tent of Tastelessness, a giant indoor bazaar of hemp jewelry, fantasy stickers of elves sitting on mushrooms, crystals, tie-dye, crystals and tie-dye. In between sets outdoors, a DJ would make his way to the stage inside the tent and play battering beats for ravers for whom Bassnectar’s set was not enough. This was an event split between two opposed factions, and it seemed sadistic of Jam’s organizers to make us suffer one another.
Against all odds, the Flaming Lips saved the day. As Coyne walked onto the stage in between groups of folk costumed in Iron Man, construction vests, and what from my distance looked like a zombie bride, Thus Spake Zarathustra bellowed from the speakers accompanied by CGI stars on the LCD screen. Kliph Scurlock banged his drums just before the band went into “Race for the Prize” as confetti exploded from machines on both sides of the stage. Coyne climbed into his trademark crowd-surfer hamster ball, rolled around on top of the audience, and made his way back to sing in front of what were now images alternating between some time travel portal and a roughly sketched, frenetic naked women. The images on the screen changed throughout the night (shots of a Japanese game show and close-ups on Coyne’s face) but the overall tenor stayed just as lighthearted and fun throughout the night. If nothing else, Coyne can engage an audience.
Coyne did break the mood at one point to play “Taps” as a tribute to fallen soldiers in Iraq, and he reminded people that they must vote in November. It was actually refreshing: After a day surrounded by people riding a sailed ship by listening to music I feel has lost all its meaning, Coyne reminded everyone that this may be a party, but it can’t be done without at least a cognizance of the world at large. But the message didn’t reach the Disco Biscuits fans: They had already left when the Lips started soundcheck.
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