Being drunk on their plan, they lifted up the sun.

A collection of sorts. It's now officially been a week since I saw the Flaming Lips here in Charlottesville. One of the best shows I've ever seen and not for its theatrics, but for the whole package -- the energy came straight from the band, spilling over into the crowd. I gushed to a pal that this Lips concert restored my faith in humanity and while a great exaggeration, I say it again, now, leaving out the usual stench of sarcasm. This was the first time I've seen performers, in particular musicians, wear emotion on their sleeve not in the way of those sappy emo bands, but genuinely being happy in the face of tougher stuff given that the Lips are actually quite political even when dressing it up with lights and confetti and in the silliness of animal constumes and nun puppets. If pressed to speculate on the theme for their shows, I could imagine Mr. Coyne et al sitting down and thinking, "you know, life is really hard, guys. Let's go out there and have some fun tonight." It's pretty amazing that they honestly get to spread joy for a living. I know that all sounds *very* cliched but there's a lot to be said for that, especially when it's obvious they were not trying to ignore what they were being political about. More like a pep-rally so their fans can go out and attack social injustice after the show, perhaps after a good night's rest. Sadly, though I took an exorbitant amount of pictures and even made a video or two, something happened with my camera and I was not able to reproduce any of what I saw last Tuesday night. Thankfully, that kind of technology is everywhere and plenty of other folks picked up where I left off. Thanks to all of you. Here is a short list of some really great images I have been able to find from September 12th. (If anyone else has pics I should post, please let me know.) From the C'ville show:

billyhunt's pictures at Flickr [set] *brainfax's concert gallery at deviantART [via] Images from Stanley Sparks' Flaming Lips Concert set [set, via] Avoid Self Deception's post about the show Pics from nailgun

I also encourage a trip over to YouTube. Go ahead. Search for "flaming lips" or "space bubble". And here's the Pavilion show in 1 minute, 47 seconds. Funny part is, though they certainly rocked-out, I don't remember it feeling this cacophonous, perhaps because, though close, I was on the opposite side. I just wish I could've scored one of those alien costumes or Mrs. Santa Claus suits so I could've landed on stage. Also, a quick thanks to Calin and Amy for getting me up-to-speed with The Soft Bulletin, my fifth Lips album. I love it.