But I went to see The Flaming Lips last Tuesday night in Central Park as part of the summer concert series!
Funny story about the tickets---I went to order one from ticketmaster, and they were sold out. So, naturally I checked ebay...
Actually, I was a first time ebay user and when I ordered the ticket and it was due to get to me the next morning, I knew that timing would be important. I gave the seller a shipping address that differed from my billing address because I've been staying in NY for the summer.
Lo and Behold! Come Monday morning, there is a ticket waiting for me!!---At home in New JERSEY!!!---It was delivered at 9:30AM and I happened to leave my house at 9:00!
Bummed and sad, one of my friends said, "maybe try seeing if they have tickets at the door?!?!"
Second Attempt.
Word to the wise: never buy a ticket in central park. It ended up being a fake...me and my better sense should have known it would be. Nonetheless, I grovelled and recapped my story for the authorities at the concert, while my 4 friends looked sad that I couldn't get in and by a strange stroke of luck, or maybe some undue kindness from the man in charge, I was let in.
Despite the terrible heat wave that had been taking NY by storm, Monday night, August 26th was a brisk 84 degrees with a cool breeze.
The opening act Oneida was one I was unfamiliar with---to be frank, their music just sounded like one long continuous noise to me. It was just instrumentalists, half wearing sunglasses and hunched over their instruments. That act went on for WAY to long in my opinion. I would have preferred a tribute or jam band. I am giving their album a listen as we speak, hoping maybe I got the wrong first impression from what sounded like drug-induced, confusing noise.
I think I'm confirmed in my opinions.
The Lips, however, were incredibly entertaining! I actually didn't really follow them before seeing the concert, but I always have a desire to go to concerts and listen to bands that I haven't heard before. I did a little research on some of their hits before the concert and thought I'd dig it, which I did!
"Silver Trembling Hands" and "The W.A.N.D" were among my favorites. "She Don't Use Jelly" I knew from the Ben Folds Five cover version, so for me the original sounded new.
I think like Oneida, they might of stretched some of their song lengths out so as to either fill out set time or just because they liked to jam. For me, I could take or leave some of their music but the show overall was very entertaining with some of its gimmicks: Lead singer Wayne Coyne's entrance into the audience in a bubble, a full light show, and confetti cannons of orange and yellow. Not to mention, the band was "born" through a woman's legs at the show's start to symbolize their album, Embryonic. Despite some of the silliness, including the song "I Can Be a Frog", where the whole audience was engaged in animal noises, the band looked to be having a blast and so did the audience.
