by Michael, Pennsauken, NJ

A flippin UFO landed!!! That’s right, a UFO landed and I saw it. Though, it might not have come from space, it was just as incredible. In what was undoubtedly my most memorable musical moment, I witnessed the flaming lips land a UFO… on stage… at Bonnaroo. Well that was really the apex of the memorable moment, rather experience, because this Flaming Lips performance was made up of so many wonderful events that completed the Memorable Music Moment, I’m going to sound insane describing them all. But remember, this Memorable Music Moment took place in Bonnaroo, a mystical place in the Tennessee wilderness that escapes the reality of wherever you venture from and places you in a utopia and sense of wonder that you may only be able to recall as a child.

It’s really a difficult place and feeling to describe unless you’ve been there. The atmosphere and environment is just so far removed from the ‘matters of consequence’ that plague the world outside the ‘roo. I don’t want to sound like a Bonnaroo snob, but if you get the chance, go, and you’ll get it. If you can see the Flaming Lips, who have that same feeling at their shows, do not hesitate to go. If nothing else, YouTube the Flaming Lips at Bonnaroo and you’ll begin to see how awesome this was.

My most memorable moment begins around 10 pm, Saturday night. We were watching the headliners the Police perform variations of their hits that were pretty damn amazing, but just couldn’t capture our attention, maybe they just didn’t have it, or we were too excited for the lips, but we didn’t stay long and headed out to get a good spot for the Lips show. The schedule had the band set to play at ‘which’ stage at midnight, but it’s a good thing we got there early, because it was already pretty packed. Now if anyone is familiar with the Flaming Lips, you know they’re a pretty trippy band and always have an incredibly visual as well as musical live performance. So naturally, being in the land of “what happens here stays here,” we got well prepared for the show that was just about an hour away, trying to time it perfectly. Now, one of our preparations did not include inhaling, but rather exhaling. In the tradition of our first Bonnaroo, we blew up a giant inflatable killer whale, affectionately known to our group as Shamoo. This whale got us a great spot the year before for Phil Lesh, and it had to be brought for the Lips (the original purchase, like many great discoveries, was made with its own ‘preparations’, and it turned out to be an awesome idea).

So as we were under way preparing for the show, Wayne came on stage to let us know to be patient and they would be on soon. But just after his chat with the audience, the rest of the band came on and broke out into a kick-a$$ cover of War Pigs, this was about 45 min before they were scheduled to come out…this was gonna be awesome. After the band played War Pigs, they let us know that they would be back soon and the crowd stood around in anticipation of the show to come. I was standing around and talking, to the group or friends I was with, and noticed a group of girls dressed in the same costumes throwing out things to the audience. There were a bunch of cool and confused people who paid them no attention, but I recognized their outfits and knew they were somehow with the band. My friends and I screamed out to throw whatever it was they had over to us. It turns out, the Flaming Lips, as part of the pre-show, sent out fans with boxes of laser lights to disperse to the crowd, those same annoying laser lights that would annoy the hell out of you at movies or in public places years ago. I had no idea what they were for, but I knew they came from the band and something cool had to be happening with these things.

The time passed quickly as the magical midnight hour finally struck. The music built up and the lights went crazy and were shooting everywhere as a fog or smoke descended from the top of the stage. Then, penetrating through the thick fog looked to be….wait… no way, is that? Holy ****, it’s a giant UFO! With its lights brilliantly flashing, and the music still building, the UFO began to descend as streams of confetti exploded and giant balloons fell upon the audience. Our own Shamoo even surfed its way to the front of the stage to greet these alien visitors! It was AWESOME! With Michael, Steven and the Lips supporting cast emerging from the bottom of the UFO, I couldn’t believe my eyes.

Then a few moments later, Wayne appeared atop the UFO, high above the audience in his giant space bubble. The music continued to build and lights were going crazy as Wayne descended from the top of the UFO, and was helped out onto the crowd in his bubble by earth’s superheroes. As wayne finally returned to the stage and emerged from his bubble, the band crashed into Race for the Prize as comic book super heroes, santa clauses, and sexy aliens filled the stage. The band played an awesome array of songs including some of their very instrumental songs from Yoshimi and At War… that I loved, as well as a very cool Mutant Tapsmir, and an almost soothing cover of Moonlight Mile. Of course they played their famous songs like Do You Realize?? and the Yeah Yeah Yeah Song that were a ton of fun as Wayne engaged the audience in singing and shouting their lyrics.

But what I believe was at the beginning of ‘What is the Light?’, a giant flashing “Shoot wayne now!” appeared on the screen behind the band and as Wayne hoisted a giant white circular target, hundreds of lasers shot out from across the crowd at Wayne. Awesome. I’m not sure what song this was either, maybe Cosmic Autumn Rebellion, but there was another point where Wayne dropped a giant white balloon onto the audience and it looked as if it was almost being held up in the air by the lasers as it floated away. The lasers were such a cool part of the show that made you feel like you were part of the show, especially during songs like Vein of Stars, where you actually feel like you were connecting with the Lips.

Now what I don’t think was meant to be part of the show by the band was these 2 giant glowing figurines that 2 very awesome fans brought. They started out walking high above the audience on opposite sides of the crowd, slowly making their way around going in every direction seeming almost confused and lost. Then, at a perfect moment in the music, it might have been the end of Pompeii, they finally found each other and ended in a long warm embrace, beautiful.

Now if it doesn’t sound crazy enough yet, this is where things get really psychedelic, because I’m telling you, I was in deep conversation, with the others in the audience who had these laser lights, by dancing around on stage, and moving to the music with my laser on the walls of the stage. As some laser pointers flew sporadically around, others moved in slow rythms and created these small pockets/communities of peaceful lasers, and I know that somehow, there were connections and bonds made. Crazier yet, there was even a point where I had to fight off another alien UFO that came to attack the peaceful Lips and earth. It came down from high above the stage and lingered in the air, but luckily, myself and the other defenders of earth fought off the evil aliens with our lasers. Now in reality, we were just a bunch of dorks on drugs annoying the **** out of a camera guy in a giant crane, but I like the evil alien version better. Those laser pointers were so friggin cool.

But really, what I thought was the coolest part was Wayne’s interaction with the crowd, speaking about peace, the power to change the world, and just what a wonderful world we live in. Wayne and the Lips have a true talent for illustrating just how absolutely beautiful the world we live in is. From death to life and love to hate, the Lips can paint stunning pictures with their music that can almost make a person cry when they stand before it. In fact, when the lights finally came on, and one of the greatest shows ever had come to an end, a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong played as the crowd quietly dispersed, amazed by what they had just seen.

This may sound elaborated and a cheesy ending to my story, but on the long walk back to our tents, I overheard a young concert goer in his most sincere voice say, “I hope heaven is like this.” -– no lie. At first I snickered at his remark, but really, I couldn’t have put it better. That was my most memorable musical moment.