The Flaming Lips/ Ween The Greek Theatre, Berkeley, CA.

Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips

Having been blown away by The Flaming Lips a couple of times in the last two years (Coachella 2004, SXSW 2006), Misty & I arrived at the Greek Theatre at UC Berkeley on a gorgeous Saturday evening excited to see them again. The only hesitation was due to the fact that Misty had just returned to San Francisco that morning from 3 weeks away, the last two in Hong Kong and Seoul. Her internal time zone was a little off. In need of caffeine, we went to a concession stand for an iced tea. We were approached by a warm an considerate fellow with dark rimmed glasses, shoulder-length light brown hair, and a full beard. " Would you guys like to dance on stage tonight with the Flaming Lips?" he asked. "You're kidding, right?" I replied. "No, you'll be a santa, and she'll be an alien." It was at that point that I tapped Misty on the shoulder and asked, "Do you want to dance on stage with the Flaming Lips tonight?" She needed to think about it, and while she thought about it, I thought about it. I thought: I am not a dancer. I am not a party person. I am not one to get up on stage in front of 8800 people under any circumstances. At the same time, with Misty ready to crash at any moment, I was thinking that one way to make sure she remained conscious and into the event was knowing that we would get to see the show from on-stage for a song or two. When she agreed to do it I was both relieved and mortified. We met backstage at the designated time where we were informed that we would be on stage, in costume, not for a song or two, but for the entire Flaming Lips performance. Below is some photographic evidence of the silliest evening of the year so far. Click here for more photos and a video of Wayne Coyne.


Alien Misty and Santa Ted


Wayne Crowd Surfs in the Space Bubble

Wayne Exists the Stage

Thanks to sfist for commenting on and linking to this post!