The Flaming Lips – live at Phoenix Festival 1996 – BBC 6 Music –
The Flaming Lips to end the week, enthusiastically deemed by Q Magazine as one of “the 50 bands you need to see before you die”.
And they say that without one scintilla of bullshit. The Flaming Lips are extraordinary and one of the best things Oklahoma City produced in maybe the past hundred years.
There have been bands that have pushed the envelope, taken the trip one step further, painted with a new box of colors. Flaming Lips have been consistently pushing and exploring for a very long time and have accomplished amazing things along the way – and have the legacy of some milestone recordings to prove it. The key to the continued success of a band, any band, is that ever-present need to explore, to stay vital and to take chances to do yourself one better. Which is why each album is an adventure on its own. The Flaming lips of 1983 is a lot different than The Flaming Lips in this 1996 Phoenix Festival Concert.
And The Flaming Lips of 1996 is a lot different than the Flaming Lips of 2025, with their latest, Oczy Mlody, further confounding their audience, particularly after a collaboration with Miley Cyrus in 2015 which no doubt perplexed a lot of people.
But they never cease to amaze and that’s what keeps us all coming back for more.
And because they have a new album (American Head) out, it’s summer and festival season, there is a full tour schedule for the band, taking them around the U.S. through October.
I think it would be fair to say, if you haven’t caught them yet, or haven’t caught them yet this year, go see them. Don’t even think about not going. Just do it.
In the meantime, crank this one up and get ready. There’s the weekend coming.
