Flaming Lips Attempt to 'Take Over' Treasure Island
- Posted on Oct 19th 2009 4:30PM by Benjy Eisen
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Sorry Oklahoma City, sorry Chicago -- the Flaming Lips love San Francisco too. That's the message Wayne Coyne presented during the Lips' headlining set to close out the third annual Treasure Island Music Fest on Sunday. Held on a man-made island between San Francisco and Oakland, Coyne looked across the water towards the SF skyline and noted that the Bay Area was one of the first markets to embrace the Flaming Lips."For the longest time, people thought we were from San Francisco," he said. "So even though we don't come from here, tonight let's act as if we're coming home."
The set opened with the Lips' new routine of emerging from the projected image of a vagina, followed by Coyne's customary "bubble walk" through the audience while the band launches into 'Race for the Prize,' all while pre-selected fans dance in costumes on the perimeter. Nothing out of the ordinary there.
However, in introducing the once-obscure track 'Enthusiasm for Life Defeats Existential Fear,' Coyne admitted that the Lips first busted it out at the Pitchfork Fest in Chicago this past July. At the time, Coyne had told the audience that it would be the one and only live performance of that song. Turns out, they've been playing it ever since. "We promised them," he said. "But then we thought, why deprive all the freaks in San Francisco of such a cool song?"
As much as Coyne loves the Bay Area, you can bet that he's an Oklahoman for life. However he did discuss with the band, and later the audience, the idea of taking over the actual piece of land that is Treasure Island following the festival. "We should just take over this island," Coyne said, matter-of-factly. "And if we run out of food, we'll just eat each other." Most people opted for the free shuttle ride back to the city instead.




