THE FLAMING LIPS
U.F.O.'S AT THE ZOO: THE LEGENDARY CONCERT IN OKLAHOMA CITY
WARNER BROTHERS
WORDS BY: KEVIN TAYLOR

We expected the first live concert DVD from The Flaming Lips to be good, but U.F.O.'s at the Zoo: The Legendary Concert in Oklahoma City is quite a different animal. There should be a disclaimer right up front warning against extreme cases of euphoria.

If you haven't seen the Lips live, you've surely seen the photos and heard breathless stories from friends. Lead singer Wayne Coyne is a wild-man of a performer: employing props, leading maniacal sing-alongs and stage diving while inside a giant bubble. But here, at their hometown's own Zoo Auditorium on the last date of their 2006 tour for their latest, At War With the Mystics the band reaches a sort of Zen lunacy.

In the past 20 years, they've cultivated their sound and image as out-of-this-world, so damn it all, that's what they're going to deliver. The result isn't so much a concert, but--as one featured super fan exclaims--a "spiritual experience." The band's exuberance seemingly knows no bounds.

The show is kicked off with balloons, streamers, lights and a giant spaceship (that Coyne supposedly built in his own backyard), which the band crawls out of like creatures from the great beyond. During the two-hour set, we hear a mix of old ("She Don't Use Jelly") and new ("The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song"), and get rare insights into how the band prepares for a show of this magnitude. There's an amusing little section involving how many times Coyne says "duct tape" while setting up the stage. While the spectacle seems unique in modern rock, Coyne admits much has been influenced by George Clinton's famous Funkadelic tours.

But really, what makes this DVD special? The fans, aka "Furry Fanatics". Concert footage is interspersed with fan interviews. Many of them have waited all day in elaborate animal costumes just for a good spot in the crowd and perhaps a chance to meet Coyne. Unsurprisingly, many of them succeed.

We watch a group of giddy college girls get picked by a stagehand to dress up as Santas and aliens. And then we see them grab mini bullhorns and dance around on stage. Flaming Lips songs are notoriously strange so it was pretty hilarious to see them acted out literally. One memorable song has Coyne singing with a nun puppet--and then the camera cuts to a nun in the audience.

Every number shows off yet another of Coyne's exuberant stage tricks. He's like the ringleader of a circus on acid. Although he's a little too insistent in his demand that fans sing along, and there's probably one too many close ups with what we'll call the "beard cam," the guy is so infectious you can't help but immediately get caught up in his frenzy. It's one big love fest, and when he asks the audience if he should free all the animals, you kind of believe he'll pull it off.

Wayne said that the Lips' music "can't really stop wars," but his performance that one warm night in Oklahoma--the grand, operatic spectacle of the thing--proves that at the very least he can make a huge crowd forget it's troubles for a few hours. Happily, on DVD, the experience is repeatable.