Are You Getting Tired, Wayne?

I've been listening to The Flaming Lips since junior high.  Since "She Don't Use Jelly" and "Bad Days."  I've always been a fan (but truth be told I haven't really gotten into Embryonic).  Jacob and I have seen them at least three times and mine and Jacob's song is Do You Realize?? - a sweet and honest look at life and death.  Jacob has also been a long-time fan, even more so than me.

So a few months ago we bought tickets to last night's Edgefield show.  They are one of the very few bands we will fork out more than 30 bucks a ticket to see.  They played there in 2009 and, as expected, it was a spectacular spectacle.  They always put on an amazing show.  You definitely get more than your money's worth of entertainment from them.  Lights, glitter, people in costumes, lasers, Santa, aliens, Wayne in a giant inflatable bubble walking around the crowd.  It's always amazing!  They embrace the freaks of the world (for real, be who you wanna be!) and people go all out to show their "freakdom" at these shows...even before the show starts you get some good entertainment just looking at how people dress for the shows.

It never disappoints.

But last night disappointed.  To say I left the show wanting for more is an understatement. The opening band, Wild Ones, was actually quite good - a solid sound with a stellar drummer (I love me a good drummer!)  But the spectacle we've all come to expect from a Lips concert wasn't there at all besides a handful of concert-goers all decked out.  While the songs they performed were awesome - they did a good job there - it just wasn't a Flaming Lips production.  There was a little bit of confetti and I liked Wayne's suit, an I am pretty sure he was wearing the blue fuzzy gloves that comes with the Tickle Monster book that Roman owns, but the lights and props and frenzy were mediocre at best compared to the usual.

And the set was undeniably short, which is the worst part.  I can actually do without all of the other stuff if their set is top-notch, but they were done far before the Edgefield Noise Ordinance time of, what?  10, 10:30?  They stopped playing at 9:15!  After only playing MAYBE an hour and a half, which means their set left a lot to be desired.  No "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robot?"  No "She Don't Use Jelly?" (and so on)  And I definitely wasn't the only one who thought this.  They just seemed to stop so abruptly.  Everyone  at the concert kept waiting for them to come out for an encore.  And they did.  One song.  Most encores of the bands we see are basically another set.  After that one song they left again but no one from the crowd budged.  I have never seen that before.  Usually it is pretty clear when the show is over but the house lights and music never came back up.  There was no "Thank you and goodnight" or anything.  We all just stood there in disbelief that the show was over.   For a good 10 minutes no one left.  We all just kept waiting.  A few times the band just came out and waved but never played another song for us. Man, at least throw us a bone for persistence!

So again I ask, are you getting tired Wayne?  If so, maybe it's time to go out at the top of your game instead of charging $50 a ticket and then not delivering to your adoring fans.  We know what we want and expect of your shows, and we've never had to be hopeful for those things before, it was just understood what we'd be getting.  You don't want your fans to feel such disappointment and frustration that they are hesitant to go to another show, do you?  I mean, after the tickets, the babysitter, the merchandise and the beer, we spent upwards of $300 on this one  waa-waa of an event.  I hate that I'll have to think twice before doing that the next time they are around.

I will be interested to hear how their Seattle show was.  Maybe someone from the band wasn't feeling well.  Maybe Portland wasn't giving them enough love?  Well, we'll always love the Lips, even if THEIR heart wasn't in their performance last night.