Toronto – That’s right, this concert was so good we’re reviewing it twice. And since Allison did all the hard work of actually writing about the details of the show, I can go off on bizarre tangents and whatnot.
Wayne Coyne is a cosmic prophet of peace and love and good times. I think the man may have special powers. Among these powers is the ability to somehow slow down time so that one song feels like an entire show. Seriously, after the barrage of confetti, balloons, Wayne in the space bubble, and the magically delicious music, I realized after they played “The Fear” that it was only the first song. It felt like at least 3 songs. It was like the opposite of “time flies when you’re having fun” and more like “time stops when you’re having fun and Wayne Coyne uses his mystical wizard powers to shunt you into a pocket dimension where time has no meaning.”
Speaking of time, I will now fold time back upon itself and talk about the opening acts. I arrived during Tokyo Police Club’s set. I think I caught most of it. They were good, but didn’t seem quite suited to playing such a large venue. That said, they put on a pretty high energy show. Too bad they played to kind of a sparse crowd. Spoon were up next and while their stage show was nowhere near as flashy as that of The Flaming Lips, they made up for that in songcraft. Tunes such as “I Summon you,” “I Turn My Camera On,” “Don’t Make Me A Target,” and well, pretty much every song came across great live, even if Britt Daniel didn’t shoot lasers from his eyes while unicorns popped out of oversized wedding cakes. (Note to Flaming Lips: you can totally use those ideas for your next show. I don’t need the credit, seeing cake unicorns in action is thanks enough) They didn’t play “Got Nuffin,” which is one of my favourites from Transference, but I’m willing to let that one slide.
And now back to the adventures of the wizard Wayne Coyne and his band of sonic adventurers. Speaking of wizardry, I began to imagine during their set that Coyne was in fact the great and powerful Oz as I watched his giant head projected onstage behind him. “Pay no attention to that man on stage! He’s not singing, I am! And I can stop time! And summon caterpillar kings and catfish cops and guys in bear suits!” Either that, or Wayne Coyne is Big Brother. Big Brother is watching you … but he’s cool. And he’s smiling. If Wayne Coyne was in charge of Oceania, Winston Smith might not have had a reason to rebel. And Room 101 would be full of videos of naked ladies dancing. Oh, and everyone, I mean everyone, would be wearing orange.
Coyne may be an all powerful being in contol of space and time, but even he can’t stop the war in Iraq. “We know that playing a song isn’t gonna end a war,” he said by way of introduction to a lovely rendition of “Taps” that the band played near the end of the set. But he did encourage the entire crowd to form peace signs and raise them in the air so as to “shoot energy” out into the cosmos or something. It was like we were all part of some awesome magical ritual. I’d like to believe that we did all shoot some energy out of our fingers. Sure it didn’t end a war, but I’m certain it made the world a better place somehow. A place full of confetti and balloons and good vibes.