It was a lovely warm July Saturday evening when we made our way to Jodrell Bank in the heart of the beautiful Cheshire countryside to see the Flaming Lips and their space-influenced alternative and ground-breaking rock music.
There was a certain buzz in the air as we followed the crowds to the unusual arena, something that has been made available as part of Live from Jodrell Bank - a series of shows taking place on weekends throughout the year on an outdoor stage right in the shadow of the towering Lovell telescope. Groovy.
Hailing from Oklahoma City and founded by the eclectic Wayne Coyne, the Flaming Lips have been named as one of the '50 Bands to See Before You Die' by Q Magazine and are renowned for their elaborate live shows, which feature anything from costumes and puppets to giant hands and video projections. We were certainly excited to see what they'd do, particularly at such an amazing venue.
Of course, the crowds were entertained by British Sea Power, OKGO and Alice Gold on the lead up to the main event - all of which I am told were equally brilliant. Sadly, we didn't get chance to see any of them as I'd sprained my knee the day before and decided to just hobble to see the Flaming Lips. Shameful, I know. But I couldn't stand around for too long.
The Flaming Lips didn't disappoint. Their stage show was fascinating to watch and was very interactive with its audience. Floating, colourful ballons and streamers. Out came some gigantic hands at one point. And a huge group of dancing happy people, either side of the stage kept the whole crowd going for the duration of the performance. Coupled with interesting art projections onto the huge Jodrell Bank telescope and you can imagine how stunning the whole event was.
As to be expected the grand finale came with the ever-popular 'Do you Realize??' much to the audience's contentment. Overall, a really dazzling display of entertainment and the music wasn't half bad either. But were they one of the 50 Bands to See Before You Die? Definitely. And the memory of their melodic music, drifting across that cool evening breeze under Cheshire's landmark telescope will probably stay with me forever.
