A few weeks ago, I mentioned that Weezer and the Flaming Lips will be playing together on July 28th at PNC Bank Arts Center, and on July 29th, at Nikon at Jones Beach Theater, and some reviews have of course surfaced from these peculiar shows.
At Jones Beach, the bands played together Black Sabbaths ‘Sweet Leaf’, the Lips’ ‘She don’t use Jelly’ (Rivers Cuomo had the line ‘I know a girl that reminds me of Cher, she's always changing the color of her hair’), and Weezer’s ‘Undone/The Sweater song’, during which Cuomo was standing on a chair about 20 rows into the audience, and Coyne was perched on the shoulders of a bear-man shooting confetti into the crowd.
Rolling Stones is reporting that a powerful rainstorm had hit the place just minutes before the show, but the show went on nevertheless.
During a phone interview, Wayne Coyne said:
‘Well, I'd say it was marvelous, You don't really know what the Weezer fans are gonna think of the Flaming Lips. I always know that the Flaming Lips fans, you know, they just love music and experiences; whatever's in front of 'em, that's great. We didn't know what the Weezer fans would think, but I think it turned out great.’
The team-up effort was Rivers Cuomo’s idea, the two bands have been trying to work it out for years, and when it finally happened, the crowd response was overwhelming, Cuomo even climbed into a second plastic bubble, identical to Coyne's, at the beginning of each show, and they both rolled out together above the crowd.
Coyne added: ‘You know some people will say — and I'd have to agree with them — once your underwear gets wet, it's a weird night!’
And with his usual talkative nature, he described Cuomo’s first bubble lesson:
‘Luckily he's a quick learner. You know, he's been to Harvard and everything, so he was cautious, but I think, you know, I showed him how to get in and how to zip it up and do all these things, and at some point it's like you've gotta go into the crowd. I can't show you how to do that; you just simply have to do it. But I think he probably realized, you know, if Wayne can do it this can't be that hard. There's really not much to it. But he was a great sport about it, I have to say.’
‘At the end of the show last night he said he wanted to join the Flaming Lips. You say things like that in joking ways, but coming from him I know how much he's been obsessed with us for a long time. So I believe it's probably true. He probably does just wanna join the group, and this is his way to get in there … I know Rivers really loves us.’
What a love fest! And yeah I am sure going to Harvard helps Cuomo to handle this giant bubble, is it me or Wayne Coyne sounds a bit patronizing?