There’s something archly bizarre about watching The Flaming Lips play at the zoo to a 9000-plus crowd in their hometown of Oklahoma City. Every time the cameras capturing the show pan back to see the audience from behind the drum kit, it looks like what might be the biggest and most celebrated cult band in the world is playing in a corn field. Surely if a plane passed over the concert, it would have looked strange too; under a halo-shaped light rig, the band performed a nearly two-hour set to an enormous and very grateful congregation. It would have been a sight to behold from the air. On the ground too—the assembled fans that came out to see Wayne Coyne and company on September 15, 2006, seem to have an inkling that they are bearing witness to a happening.
Likewise, the U.F.O.s At The Zoo DVD is something else entirely. Featuring no less than eight separate cameras recording the proceedings (including one mounted on Coyne’s mic stand so viewers get a bird’s eye shot of the singer’s mouth) as well as hundreds of thousands of dollars-worth of party favors (giant yellow balloons, confetti, ticker tape, streamer cannons and more), baboons monitoring the show from the proverbial wings and a host of other sights normally regarded as unlikely to witness and behind-the-scenes footage (the duct tape counter clip is hilarious), the DVD attempts to capture every aspect of the show from every possible angle. It works too—there are moments during the DVD’s run-time when it is possible to feel like you were really there with the best seat in the house and both the quality of the performance as well as the quality of the DVD reproduction here offer the best possible presentation for the price tag. The surrealist atmosphere of the DVD combined with the absolutely stellar performances of the songs make for truth in advertising too; U.F.O.s At The Zoo is honestly legendary.
Check out the U.F.O.s At The Zoo trailer below:
The Flaming Lips – U.F.O.s At The Zoo DVD is out now
