Sic Semper Tyrannis

The Flaming Lips and Nickel Creek

I’ve just now acquired some time to reflect on last weekend’s musical festivities. Friday night was The Flaming Lips at the Zoo Amp. Well, that was a much larger crowd than I expected. If you’re around me outside of this cyber world, you’ve probably heard me tell you that this was visually the most beautiful concert I think I’ve ever been to. (Although Wilco was pretty stunning, too.) Sure they landed a UFO on stage. George Clinton was doing that in the 70s. But the light show that resulted was something else. Lights and smoke and zaniness... Let me preface the following with two key points. 1) I wouldn’t consider myself a Flaming Lips fan. I’ve only ever heard the album Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, which I love. I went to this concert more out of curiosity than anything else. 2) To be in the know as a musical aesthete in Oklahoma, it’s pretty much required that you like the Flaming Lips. They should hand out copies of The Soft Bulletin with your driver’s license.

With those caveats, I must say that I was a little underwhelmed by the musical content of the show. For one thing, playing to a bunch of tracks is kinda cheating in my book. It’s not that far removed from lip-synching. Those guys have got to be rich, why not spring for a real person to play the bass and a utility person to trigger all those samples and synth parts? I’m a sucker for thick, synthy string sounds, so I was digging the stuff that Steven was playing. However, there seemed to be a preponderance of slow-to-mid tempo balladry going on. And that may just be their style--plodding psychedelia. If so, fine. I’m just more of a variety type of guy. Anyway, it was an enjoyable show in an epic, kind of experiential kind of way, not necessarily a musical kind of way.

The next night was almost the exact opposite: Nickel Creek at Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa. This was my third time to see them live. I own the first two albums and I’ve heard the third one, so I sort of knew what to expect. I was impressed with Cain’s as a venue--great sound, not too big, not too small. I was a little surprised at the size of the crowd, it seemed a little smallish to me. (Of course, the last time I saw them was probably two years ago at the giant Austin City Limits Festival.)

I’ve always been impressed with Nickel Creek as musicians. They make very intricate music sound very easy. And this show was no exception. This time I realized how great the vocals sounded. Their harmonies just sounded so lush. Physically, though, they all just seemed really tired, especially Chris Thile, who looked either drunk, or stoned, or both-staring off into space for most of the show. And on just about every one of his solos he seemed determined to get his accompaniment to crack, playing odd phrase lengths and crazy syncopations, etc. Probably just bored. But even though I’ve seen them twice before, I was still blown away by the beautifully musical stuff that they pulled off.

While the Flaming Lips were all about the show, Nickel Creek was all about the music. They both have their charms.

Not a bad weekend…

posted by Mike @ 1:11 PM