kevin barnett

This was my first Flaming Lips show but having seen the band on Austin City Limits, I knew what to expect.

Sort of.

The opening band was Deerhoof and we only caught a little more than half their set. That’s ok because I wasn’t really into their live set. They’re very avant garde, minimalist punk rock with obvious influence from Cibo Matto - Deerhoof’s lead singer is female and from Japan. Perhaps that’s why Sean Lennon was at the show.

Between the sets, I had noticed some people with laser pointers. At first I thought they had been brought into the venue, much like glow sticks at a Phish concert. But then a guy dressed up as The Flash walked past us on the floor with a giant box filled with keychain Class B 1mw laser pointers - distributing them to the crowd. We all grabbed one and started playing with them.

It was a fantastic way to pass the time between the sets. Observing some experimental social activity, if there was anyone sticking out in the crowd – they would be doused with red laser spots. For example, there was a good looking woman up on one of the balconies with her rear end planted on the railing. After a while, she was covered in red spots. If someone stuck up their beer above the crowd - it would get covered in red spots. I took the opportunity to play with red spots on the wall - sort of a cat and mouse game.

The purpose of the laser pointers, as we found out from Wayne Coyne’s pre-show announcement, was to participate in an interactive laser light show - during Vein of Stars, we would see a countdown on the video screen and then he would hold up a giant mirror which the audience would be aiming their laser pointers at.

Once the show kicked off with the usual confetti bombs, whack visuals, audience members in costume on stage (girls in alien costumes, guys in Santa Clause garb) the room filled up with giant balloons. 5 songs in before Vein of Stars, Wayne asked that we pop all of the balloons (”Don’t worry, we have more”) to give a clear line of sight for the lasers. The song commenced and after the countdown hit - Wayne and a giant circular mirror were bathed in red laser light.

It was great - however, the unexpected use of the laser lights - tracking a single bouncing balloon after the mirror experiment was what made it special. Wayne stopped and took notice of the balloon and asked for it to be sent up stage so he could hold it. It looked like a giant orb of red lights dancing on top of it. The photograph at the top of the post doesn’t quite do it justice. Wayne said he was speechless because it was so beautiful. Agreed.

It was a fantastic set and while I would have enjoyed a hit or two more from Yoshimi, I knew they needed to save some songs since they were playing two shows at the Hammerstein. They ended the show with an old, obscure song which they claimed they hadn’t played in 10 years. The band seemed determined to make this show - as they have done in the past - push the envelope for their own live music experiences as well as the fans. It was a carnival of sorts and I loved every minute of it.

Setlist

The Tada Song
Race for the Prize
Free Radicals
Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, Pt. 1
Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, Pt. 2
Vein of Stars
The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song
The W.A.N.D
Cosmic Rebellion
She Don’t Use Jelly
Do You Realize??

Spoonful Weighs A Ton
You Have To Be Joking

*The red orb of laser light photo comes from Muzikspy’s Flickr stream.

It’s been a while since the last time I caught Kasabian and that show was a fond memory, even if they weren’t the headliner then. I’ve been digesting Kasabian’s new record, Empire for the past few weeks and have really been enjoying it. It’s a hard hitting, modern rock album with some great tracks including the title track single. So it goes without saying that I had been looking forward to this show.

To further enduce the anticipation, I had also aquired Mew’s album And The Glass-Handed Kites. This band has the marquee Nordic rock, experimental sound with traditional prog rock form. I believe Pitchfork said it best when they said Mew is “…Queensryche meets Sigur Ros.”

The Sigur R�³s comparison is dead on. The lead singer sings in a falsetto voice against atmospheric guitar riffs. The band performs in front of a backdrop of strange, muted visuals which is something I enjoyed from them as well as Sigur R�³s. Their short set was - and the crew unamiously agreed - a mindblowing performance. I know these guys are going to pick up some fans on the rest of the Kasabian US tour.

Kasabian brought an arena rock show into the meager confines of Webster Hall. I suspect that coming off a string of festival shows in which the endless space and crowds requires a big sound contributed to the blow-out of a theater venue. Either way, the band’s attitude and energy has increased over the past year and it was fantastic to be emersed in a big crowd who were equally receptive.

Since they’re promoting the new album, their older tracks became filler for the Empire material. They pulled out the best of the new and the old favorites although I would have preferred to hear Test Transmission (still my favorite track) in place of one of their newer songs. No encore but I’m not sure if that’s their style. They were gracious for the crowd, thanking us after several of the songs and gave a warm bow at the end. For what it’s worth, this is some of the best live music I’ve seen all year.

Setlist

Shoot The Runner
Reason Is Treason
Sun / Rise / Light / Flies
Cutt Off
Empire
Me Plus One
By My Side
The Last Trip
Processed Beats
The Doberman
Club Foot

Stuntman
L.S.F

I was just listening to Kasabian - Test Transmission

This commercial aired during the World Cup but it’s already a classic and on it’s way to legendary status. Hat tip to Devin for the full length version and making of in Quicktime.

Bouncy Balls: The BRAVIA Commercial

I was just listening to José González - Heartbeats

One day, I’ll bypass Wordpress’ restrictions on embedding Youtube videos. Today is not that day.

I was just listening to U2 - So Cruel

Sunday evening was spent rooting for a friend of a friend vs. Bobby Flay on Iron Chef America. The secret ingredient was (chicken) eggs.

Josh made some crazy dishes included a tempura-fried egg yolk, halibut cooked in egg whites and a steamed egg with rabbit, snails and chanterelle mushrooms.

Bobby Flay did his same ole-same ole with southern comforts including twists on bacon and eggs and green eggs and ham.

Either way, Josh comes out the winner and I’m sure he’s going to continue his ascent onto the pop-culinary scene.

I was just listening to The Juan Maclean - Give Me Every Little Thing

I upgraded my iPod over the weekend and discovered this breathalyzer attachment while looking for accessories. Definitely the perfect stocking stuffer for your raging alcoholic, iPod sporting friend or family member.

The new hotness is great, however I ran into an issue - apparently consistent with previous iPod nanos/minis that I had never encountered. That issue is with variable bit rate mp3s, specifically LAME encoded VBR mp3s - the iPod nano won’t play them. Allofmp3.com fans, take notice.

The iPod nanos can now claim 24 hours of battery life, up from 14. Apple accomplishes this with an Apple-branded ARM processor which is severly underclocked to save on power. This is fine and dandy until you run into a VBR mp3 not encoded with iTunes. The theoretical result would be the iPod processor spiking when the bit rate spikes on the mp3, making the iPod playback sluggish if not crashing the system.

I’ve been ripping my music into VBR with iTunes since that feature was available - but admittedly, not all of my music comes from CD rips and the iTunes store.

I was just listening to Tom Waits - God’s Away On Business