Flaming Lips live review - Love, death and confetti galore in psych-rock extravaganza in Birmingham

There is nothing in all the world like a Flaming Lips gig. This has been true for decades now. You wonder why other bands aren’t more like them, why it seems no one else can put on a show of such spectacle and meaning. And then you remember the answer: because they’re The Flaming Lips, and no one else is.

They remain a unique proposition. The band peddle a kind of emotional existentialism wrapped in punchy, catchy, melodic and sometimes funky psychedelic rock. And watching them perform is a bit like watching a really great cartoon: wildly colourful, populated by bizarre figures, and apparently unbound by physical limitations. Stuff just happens all the time: the stage hosts massive monsters, an inflatable sun, an inflatable eyes, nose and mouth; inflated balls bounce over the crowd; there are wondrous storms of confetti.

To a casual observer, the band’s shtick may at times come across a bit like hippie idealism or platitudinous slop. There is a lot about love and connection and being in the moment and telling people how wonderful they are: so far, so Instagram. But in the case of the Lips, all this is hard-won and hard-edged, and surrounded by shadows dark and deep. Death, grief, loss, sadness: these loom large.

So too do gigantic inflatable pink robots. This is fitting, because the show contains a full performance of Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, their album from 2002 and the record that brought them as close to the mainstream as they could ever get. Given their propensity for sonic excess and prog-adjacent meanderings, it is quite crisp and tight, and here it is played slickly, in its original order. There are perils to such shows, not least a total lack of surprise: you know exactly what’s coming next. And there is an extra element here that might destroy any spontaneity: the lyrics to every song flash up as they are sung, so everything must be performed strictly and precisely. But there is never any sense of a band on rails, or going through the motions, or playing by rote: the performance carries such force that it feels as if these songs are being sung for the first time. Do You Realize?? – the words continue “...that everyone you know someday will die” – has long been a transcendent moment and carries even more potency as the years pass: everyone is 20-odd years older than they were when it came out. Presenting the album in this way also elevates songs that may otherwise be overlooked: Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell and It’s Summertime sound particularly immense in their differing ways, the latter brought to life by the atmosphere of communality the band conjures so expertly.

After a 20-minute break, the band run through an assortment of their other songs. It is not a comfily crowdpleasing selection – there are oddities and rarities here – but that adds to the sense of a band who are, at heart, still a bit freakish, who will not be sanitised and shrink-wrapped. We do of course get a heartbreaking/inspiring Waiting for Superman and end with a euphoric Race for the Prize, having been treated along the way to a rare and mighty airing of their collaboration with The Chemical Brothers, The Golden Path.

Frontman Wayne Coyne – imagine a cross between Tony Stark and a warlock – does a lot of talking between songs. Not everyone in the crowd appreciates this. But their grumbles miss the point: what he says is integral to what he sings. The Flaming Lips take their humanity seriously; they are not a playlist. The atmosphere would not be so special without his constant cajoling and exhorting and preaching. And when he preaches love, it’s not sentimental – it’s elemental. You leave with a sense that it’s our best hope, maybe our only hope. The Flaming Lips don’t just say it – they show it, and you feel it.

There is nothing in all the world like a Flaming Lips gig, and that’s fine: we can still go and see them. One day we won’t able to. Let’s not say goodbye just yet.

See www.flaminglips.com/#songkick-section for future tour dates