The Flaming Lips in Cleveland

John Patrick Gatta on August 31, 2018
The Flaming Lips in Cleveland

After a long absence from Northeast Ohio the Flaming Lips finally brought their psychedelic circus to Cleveland. The band played a two-hour show after a mesmerizing opening set by le butcherettes to a capacity crowd in the renovated Agora Theatre. And while it featured the Lips’ trademark celebratory production values – confetti and smoke (“Race For The Prize,” “A Spoonful Weighs a Ton” ), disco ball and Big Hands (“Star Spangled Banner”) inflatable robot (“Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1”), inflatable rainbow (“Do You Realize??”), Human Hamster Bubble (cover of David Bowie’s “Space Odditiy”), unicorn (“There Should Be Unicorns”), dancing eyeballs (“The W.A.N.D.”) plus a dazzling light show throughout the night and enough lasers to make ‘70s era Electric Light Orchestra and Blue Oyster Cult jealous, the prevailing themes of the night surfaced enough times to lodge in most concertgoers’ subconscious — embrace your inner child and don’t forget to LOVE because our time together is precious and it’s interrupted when we least expect it.