The Flaming Lips to headline free NXNE 2012 in Toronto
Pucker up, the Flaming Lips are coming to Canada!
The alternative rockers from Oklahoma are headlining a free (yeah, you heard right) show at Dundas Square in Toronto on June 16 as part of this summer's North by Northeast music festival.
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So, it's free. Great. Why should you care?
Well, the Flaming Lips happen to be famous for putting on unforgettable performances. Not only has the band won two Grammys for its live shows, eminent British music magazine Q has ranked the Lips 14th among the "50 Bands to See Before You Die."
And they aren't exaggerating.
Set against the backdrop of the group's psychedelic space rock, the Lips' live shows are elaborate, featuring costumes, balloons, puppets, video projections, confetti and, best of all, frontman Wayne Coyne's signature plastic bubble that he uses to travel across the audience.
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Coyne's eccentric band, which has released 14 albums since 1987, was signed to Warner Bros. in 1990 after it nearly burned down a music venue in Oklahoma with pyrotechnics. With its new label, the Lips landed their first hit, 1993's "She Don't Use Jelly" (off the "Transmissions From the Satellite Heart" album), which you may remember from the band's performance on "Beverly Hills 90210" or (bizarrely) "Beavis and Butthead."
But the band's first real commercial success did not come until 2002 with "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" (featuring Japanese guest musician Yoshimi P-We). The album's single "Do You Realize?" is perhaps the quintet's most recognizable and became the official song of Oklahoma in 2009.
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The band is touring to promote its next studio album. "The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends," which also features Ke$ha, Nick Cave, and Erykah Badu, will be released April 21 as a limited-edition vinyl for Record Store Day. And one of the singles, "Girl, You're So Weird," is already causing controversy after its nudity-filled music video was banned on YouTube.
"Didn't get to watch @theflaminglips new NSFW music video with New Fumes before it got removed by YouTube? Watch it here," the band retweeted yesterday.
Or, better yet, watch it performed live this summer.
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