Beck + the Flaming Lips | Orpheum Theatre | October 28, 2002
By PHOENIX STAFF | October 25, 2006
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The Flaming Lips |
It’s an understatement to say that Beck made an odd choice in hiring the Flaming Lips as the backing band for his Sea Change tour — the Lips being the quirky freak show they are and the album being Beck’s most serious and spare to date. But somehow on that night at the Orpheum, it worked. Beck began the show on a stool in front of a curtain with nothing more than an acoustic guitar. He did a handful of tunes by himself, and halfway through “The Golden Age,” Sea Change’s airy opener, the curtain was raised and Wayne Coyne and company joined in seamlessly, beautifully. Throughout the set, Coyne acted mainly as a visual diversion, letting his mates do most of the heavy lifting, which was just fine. The band provided Beck with a comfortably loose yet more-than-able backing for the kind of career-spanning set you got the sense you’d never have a chance to see again. |
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