The Flaming Lips with Le Butcherettes
Iroquois Amphitheater // Louisville, KY
Photos and words by Emily May
Photos of The Flaming Lips & Le Butcherettes
It is always a treat to witness a truly amazing live band, and for fans of The Flaming Lips, the band’s Louisville, KY show recently showed them why they are one of the best live bands around!
From start to finish, it was one of the greatest live performances I have ever seen, a true production. Wayne Coyne is a dynamic frontman, clad in a light blue suit with fur-trimmed cuffs on his suit jacket, a black eye patch with an open center and glittery jewels adorning the underside of his other eye. He is all about having fun on stage and making sure the crowd does too!
The band started the set off with the Richard Strauss cover “Also sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30”, getting the party started right away. With a screen at the back of the stage that displayed bright and colorful lighting displays, laser beams, gigantic balloons, fog machines (both stationary and portable) and confetti cannons, they had the crowd on their feet, singing and dancing with their hands in the air from the first note. Coyne also had a bag of shiny, foil-like confetti that he randomly threw into the crowd, as well as several handheld confetti rockets that he set off throughout the song.
For the song “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1”, a large, inflatable pink robot was put on stage behind Coyne, providing a fun visual for the song! During the John Stafford Smith cover of “The Star Spangled Banner”, Coyne wore oversized, fuzzy gloves that shot laser beams out of the palms, providing an amazing light show for the audience!
During “There Should Be Unicorns”, Coyne rode a motorized unicorn through the crowd while wearing rainbow colored wings, much to the delight of the fans! Towards the end of the set, the band performed David Bowie’s “Space Odyssey”, for which Coyne sang from within a clear plastic ball. Due to the layout of the venue, Coyne was unable to walk through the crowd but it was an amazing performance nonetheless!
Coyne frequently chatted with the crowd throughout the set, whether it was explaining the meanings behind various songs or directing them in a sing along, making sure we were all having a great time! This evening was all about having fun. At one point Coyne told the crowd that the best compliment they could pay the band would be to scream at the top of their lungs during each song and have the best night of their lives! He thanked the audience for being so loud and enthusiastic in their singing and applause and that it was heartwarming to look out into the crowd and see so many smiling faces!
Ending their pre-encore set with “A Spoonful Weighs A Ton”, they had the crowd dancing, cheering and singing along! For their encore, the band performed “Do You Realize?”, ending a fun and incredible set on a high note. The Flaming Lips put on a visually fun and spectacular show for their fans, a party on stage from start to finish! The crowd was left buzzing with energy long after the band left the stage, wading through a sea of confetti as they left the venue! It was a fun night of music!
Mexican garage punk band Le Butcherettes opened the show. Teri Gender Bender is an incredible performer and she and her band got the crowd moving and in high spirits and ready for the night ahead!
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