Editor’s note: This column contains explicit language.
“The next mother fuckers that are gonna try to break this record will have to do it in less than 24 hours,” Wayne Coyne proclaimed to a smoke-filled room of confetti-covered fans in New Orleans.
With nearly half an hour to spare, Coyne and the rest of his crew in The Flaming Lips had just broken Jay-Z’s world record for the most concerts performed in multiple cities in 24 hours. As part of Viacom’s O Music Awards, The Flaming Lips began the tour in Memphis, traveling through the Delta South and eventually finishing at House of Blues New Orleans. It was a momentous occasion, but despite the joking comment, Coyne didn’t seem too phased – he was more concerned with what was in front of him: his band’s fans.
“That really doesn’t matter that much to me,” he said, referring to the Guinness World Record.
Coyne explained having to play the other seven short shows during the rest of the tour proved bothersome, since The Flaming Lips spent such a small time with each sold out fan-jammed venue.
“I hope we never have to do that thing where we stop in and get the fuck out,” he said. “I love being with you guys, and we would just stay there – we would never do that again.”
Despite touring for 24 hours, Coyne said it was these fans who kept the band going.
“At five o’clock in the morning, you think if you’re lucky, you’re going to crawl in, and you’re barely going to be able to play, and you’re barely going to be able to sing and just hope – hope that you’re going to survive it,” he said. “Everywhere we’d go, [our fans] would give us energy. Everywhere we’d go, we’d walk away with more energy. So as we pulled in here today – as we pulled into New Orleans, now I feel like I could go another 24 hours.”
Coyne displayed this attitude in the group’s seventh tour stop at The Varsity Theatre, where he greeted and hugged multiple fans upon entering and leaving the venue in the short time the group was there.
But this came after another all-out, high-energy opening by Givers, which continued to prove it’s one of the hardest rocking indie-pop outfits in live music. The opener set the tone for the following all out – albeit brief – performance by the Lips, with the Givers continually launching into incredibly animated jams. Tiffany Lamson often banged her drums hard enough to send wood chucks flying from her drum sticks, and guitarist Taylor Guarisco used the entire stage to spin, leap and dance out each guitar strum.
“Let’s make sure we give Wayne the biggest Louisiana welcome he’s ever had,” Lamson yelled to the crowd before the group closed out with “Up, Up, Up.”
As soon as Givers left the stage, Varsity Theatre employees and roadies stormed out to quickly set up for The Flaming Lips. It wasn’t too difficult to guess who would be descending on The Varsity. Psychedelic murals covered the newly set up sound equipment, fans dressed in pink robot outfits and astronaut equipment blew vuvuzelas obnoxiously and some guy left two copies of Kurt Vonnegut’s Welcome to the Monkey House and Ken Kesey’s Sometimes a Great Notion next to his beer atop a front row speaker.
In a sudden eruption of joy, the excited crowd focused its attention on the back of the room, where Coyne and crew proceeded to make their way through fans to take the stage. The Flaming Lips and Nashville experimental psychedelic rockers Linear Downfall then sped through a sound check.
And Linear Downfall was appropriately dressed for the occasion, with each member doused in rainbow colored outfits, with the exception of drummer Will Hick’s tiger-striped shirt and leopard printed pants.
With five guitarists and two bassists practicing licks as Coyne grinned to the crowd and checked his microphone, the group looked like a company of race horses eager to bust through a starting gate.
“As soon as we’re done we have to run out of here,” Coyne started. “It doesn’t mean we don’t love you.”
They still came to rock, blaring all the electric guitars in a howling cover of “21st Century Schizoid Man.” The two bands then followed with a recently released song from The Flaming Lips’ latest album, “I’m Working at NASA on Acid.” It began softly with the acoustic echoes of Coyne on guitar, but ended with Hicks beating percussion to a pulp in a raging fit of rock.
“I’m still sweaty from that,” he mentioned to me a few hours later in New Orleans before taking off with the rest of Linear Downfall to grab a better vantage point for the show.
As quickly as they sped through the doors to The Varsity, the group boarded its tour bus “Endeavor” to gun to New Orleans. Upon arrival, Coyne joined a mini parade of fish mascots in front of the House of Blues New Orleans and then took the stage for The Flaming Lips’ final performance – a full, hour-long set.
And with a full hour-long set came all the usual Flaming Lips fun. Giant confetti filled balloons? Check. 10 torso-sized strobes? Yes. Giant prosthetic hands that shoot laser? Of course. Disco ball? Check. Oh, and don’t forget Coyne’s human-hamster ball, which he rolled around the crowd in during The Flaming Lips’ cover of “On The Run.”
Of course, a full set brings hit songs as well.
“We’re gonna start with the part that counts,” Coyne said as he took the stage and launched into “Do You Realize.”
Coyne accepted the Guinness World Records award from two very formally dressed representatives. But what really mattered was how he did this alongside a litany of friends, peers, and of course, fans – which seem to be all the same to him. Just in case anyone didn’t catch that, he handed the large award to a member in the crowd to wave around during the show.
Fans can stream videos from the tour at www.omusicawards.com and below you’ll find the full List of O Music Award Winners during the tour. Best Artist with a Camera Phone: Selena Gomez Best Artist/Digital Entrepreneur: Katy Goodman Best Music App: Artist Growth Best Music Hack: Bohemian Rhapsichord Best Music Teacher Replacement: Bandhappy Best Online Concert Experience: 30 Seconds to Mars Best Protest Song: Bohemian Rhapsody Best Vintage Revival: Animated GIFS Best Web-Born Artist: Karmin Beyond the Blog Award: Metal Injection Beyond the DJ: Most Innovative Solo Performer: MNDR Digital Genius: iamamiwhoami Fan Army FTW: Tokio Hotel Hottest Music NILF: Tatiana Simonian Most Addictive Social Music Service: Myxer Social Radio Most Adorable Viral Star: Abby Koocher for “BONE PUGZ” Most Extreme Fan Outreach: Riot in Paris Most F*cked Up Live Performance Gone Viral: Kelvin Cheung Most Innovative Music Video: We The Kings Most Intense Social Spat: Frances Cobain vs. Courtney Love Must Follow Artist on Twitter: Adam Lambert Too Much Ass for TV: Big Freedia WTF I Love This Award: Drinkify
 
 
____ Contact Austen Krantz at [email protected]