Tuesday, January 5

THE INEVITABLE HAS HAPPENED.

After only four months of listening to their music, I fell in love with The Flaming Lips. As I posted somewhere around the end of September 2009, the first time I heard their music I was hooked. So went my down spiral of obsession.
See, I have this thing. I get obsessed with celebrities, movies, certain songs, special bands, etc. Where this branched from; I have not a clue. Possibly the fact that I read tabloids instead of the Bible growing up, but who can you blame for that? When I find something and I love it, I love it. I immerse myself in it, fill myself to the brim with all the possibilities the subject offers. Its slightly unhealthy, but I'm not hurting anyone. Well maybe my roommates ears when I am singing "Fight Test" with my headphones on, pretending like they cant hear me through our paper thin walls.After months of googling the band and Wayne Coyne, who is officially my favorite man on the planet, I decided that I must see them live. I mean I had added them to The List. The fucking list. And no little puny event gets added to the list.
I called my mom. "Mom, you arent going to be happy. But this is happening. This has to happen. I dont know how its going to happen, but it will. I am going to find a ride, somehow, to Oklahoma City on New Years Eve so I can go to the Flaming Lips NYE Freak Out concert." As I braced myself for the typical" UH NO YOU ARE NOT" response, I couldn't help but think...I am twenty years old and I still deeply care what my mother thinks of me...is that odd? Should I cut the umbilical cord as my old roommate, Erica, had told me to? Who invented liquid soap and why?
Then she said. "You know, alright. I'll go with you." Just like that. My 50 year old mother wanted to drive 16 hours to see The Flaming Lips with me on New Years Eve. I cried. I literally cried. Not because I had to go to the concert with my mom, as many hormonal teenage girls would. I cried because I was ecstatic. I paraded around my apartment, screaming, crying, completely freaking out. IM FINALLY (like 4 months was any time at all) GOING TO SEE THE LIPS LIVE!
The concert lived up to what I had hoped, possibly more. Despite a bump in the road, and the unbelievable kindness of a complete stranger, my New Years Eve was completely amazing.
The Lips played a few of their songs from a variety of their albums. They opened with a giant pulsating vagina that the band members eventually immersed from. Except for Wayne, of course, who came onto the crowd in his human hamster ball, as I like to call it. The crowd was surrounded with dancing flowers, butterflies, and inchworms. They played a fantastical acoustic version of Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots where the entire crowd sang along. They completely rocked the house with The W.A.N.D, The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song, and See the Leaves. When midnight rang in hundreds of balloons were dropped onto the crowd, and infinite amounts of confetti clouded up the arena. It was magical. At around 12:30 the band began their rendition of Dark Side of the Moon with giant laser hands and huge balloons filled with cash that were thrown out into the crowd.As a huge fan (thats an understatement) of Wayne, I can honestly say he is better in person than what I could of expected. He was on stage constantly before the Lips went on, helping the roadies set up the stage, doing mic checks, and making sure everything was working correctly. He sported a pin that said "I Love Michelle". Even with my borderline restraining order worthy obsession with this man, I could not help but think "Wow, this guy is great". Any rockstar who loves and respects his wife that much, after 20 years, deserves some gratitude. Wanye is just a great, cool guy. And through some kind of weird energy, I touched his ass. Yes. I touched his ass. With a laser pointer. Dont ask me how it worked, or how I can actually convince myself that I touched him, but it happened.My New Years Eve of 2010 was surely a predictor to how incredible my year will be. Plus, it was entirely worth it when we got home and I found my mom prancing around the housing singing the Yeah Yeah Yeah song.