Mission Ballroom
Denver, CO
Words & photos by Andrew Wyatt
Sometime during the last year of my dad’s life, he once
remarked to me that he enjoyed “the magic of refrigerator wisdom.” He went on
to elaborate that refrigerators, in homes across the country, collaged with
family photos and children’s drawings, also are interspersed with an infinite
variety of poetry, philosophical quotes, words of practical advice. And, of
course, his favorite, Bible verses.
It may seem odd amid the flurry of confetti cannons,
inflated stage props, and a large flashing hallucinogenic LED back screen
imagery, but it was the magic of refrigerator wisdom that struct me, during an
enthralling evening of the Flaming Lips performing a rapturous set at the
Mission Ballroom in Denver. Placed in the upper right corner of our
refrigerator is a bumper sticker sun in the center of a haphazard orbit of
photo booth strips of my wife and I in crazy festival costumes and wigs
with this beckoning statement: “Until Further Notice, Celebrate Everything!”
Avid fans of the Flaming Lips brand of psychedelic rock,
intuitively recognize that exhortation as a recurring theme of their live
shows. Every Lips performance rises with champagne effervescence precisely
because the lyrics and melodies are fermented with the recognition of human
mortality and the imperative to live and love life while we are still living.
Just three songs in and lead singer Wayne Coyne beckoned, from within his
trademark inflated plastic ball, with the favorite, “Do You Realize??" Later,
The Lips returned to another tune off the Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
album with, “All We Have Is Now.” “You and me were never meant to be part of
the future,” Coyne’s high tenor voice gently warned in that song.
Coyne acknowledged between songs that musicians and their
fans, before the Covid-19 pandemic, may have taken the joys of live music for
granted. After an abrupt halt to live
shows, a two-year hiatus, and rescheduling snafus, Coyne said, “Now we have to
play as if every concert is our last, because it really might be.”
The Mission Ballroom show was a rescheduled event meant to
promote their 2020 album release American Head. The band deftly
sprinkled songs from that album while reaching back to early hits like “Race
for the Prize.” Each song in the setlist
seemed to be chosen as a reminder to music fans to recognize human loss and turn those
losses into celebrations. Between one song, Coyne offered one statement
encouraging fans who were experiencing personal struggle to keep smiling. This
struck a chord because the last time I attended a Flaming Lips show was in
2016, the year my father battled brain cancer. His memorial service was held
the day of my birthday that year.
Even the show opening
act, Particle Kid, played their Syd Barret-influenced set with urgency and
jarring abandon. So, it seemed quite natural, as I picked bits of brightly colored
confetti and scattered musings from my tousled hair that the thought of
refrigerator wisdom popped into my American head. Until further notice,
celebrate everything, because all we have is now.
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