The FLaming Lips!!!

My wife was wonderful enough to get me a ticket to a Flaming Lips concert for an early Valentine's Day gift.  I absolutely LOVE this band and their live show.

What I Saw

Santa using the ATM:

Wayne Coyne in a bubble:

Confetti and disco balls:

Wayne Coyne:

Riding a bear and singing:

DJ Lance Rock dancers:

Dancers with a giant worm:

Wayne with giant hands:

Laser hands and disco balls:

Giant hands:

What I Heard

A great set with a mix of tunes from The Soft Bulletin, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, and the amazing Embryonic.

They were loud and full of energy. They packed the full, crazy spectacle of their live show into the Palladium. I have only seen them once before and it was just was irreverent.  Balloons are constantly tossed out, the audience is engaged, they are tight musicians: a celebration of life that is worth every penny.  I highly recommend, if you're into the psychedelic rock the Flaming Lips perform, that you do not miss the chance to see them live.

And they managed to drive away the winter weather, at least for a bit.  Throughout the evening, Mr. Coyne repeated his hope that we would all be snowed in for the night, all of us trapped at the show.  Although this held great appeal, it stressed me out as I had been battling my fear of driving in our recent rash of ice.  By showtime, however, the streets in downtown Dallas were mostly clear.  We had a forecast calling for a light dusting of snow after midnight, but it wasn't supposed to amount to much.

By now we all know they were wrong.  Near the end of the set, after my wife texted me that snow had begun, Wayne noted that it was snowing like crazy and his wish was going to happen.  But the show ended soon after, and although we weren't snowed in, there was more than a light dusting on the ground.  More like two inches of snow and it was falling heavily.

It was the longest and most frightening drive of my life.  Snow was covering the streets, I was driving around 15 mph and sliding around.  I missed my exit on the freeway and had to circle through downtown just to get on the right path again. Every time I tried to follow someone and stay in their treads, they left me in the snow. People were passing me like it was no big deal, but I know that they were really lunatics.  Ice froze to the windshield wipers and I had to hunch down in the drivers seat just to see what passed for the street.  My stomach was in knots, but I was praying all the way, blasting KLTY, whatever I could do to keep from panicking.  It took me an hour and a half to travel about twenty miles, but it was definitely an adventure!