The Flaming Lips/Ween
Bringing their already bombastic, eye- catching stage show to a ridiculous level, The Flaming Lips – led by earnest frontman Wayne Coyne – took to Red Rocks’ stage Saturday in superhero costumes amid dozens of “extras” (stage dancer friends) in Santa Claus and alien stewardess outfits. Huge confetti cannons showered the first few rows as an impressive neon light show took hold.
Gimmicks only go so far if the music is lackluster, but fortunately, the Lips’ music was electric from the start. From covers (“Bohemian Rhapsody,” “War Pigs”) to hits (“Race for the Prize,” “Free Radicals”), Coyne had the crowd eating out of his hands. Most impressive was his ability to convey truly sensitive, personal statements during and after songs like “Do You Realize??” and “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1.”
Ween, by contrast, sounded rote and overly proficient with its jokey, sophomoric tunes. The band is subversive on its albums, but live it sounded like a bored jam-rock act. Then again, what wouldn’t sound uninspired after The Flaming Lips’ set? Pity those that ever have to follow them on stage.
– John Wenzel
Cat-a-Tac
The 6th Annual Denver Post Underground Music Showcase on Saturday was a raging success, with more than 25 bands at five venues and nearly 1,000 fans in attendance. And while this critic could write a hundred times this length about the evening, space is tight, so I’ll limit it to one of my latest local favorites.
Cat-a-Tac’s drone is a potent blast, often sounding as if Evan Dando kicked Courtney Taylor out of the Dandy Warhols and took the band on the road in search of something unique. The group, which played the Skylark Lounge at Saturday’s UMS, threw down a tight set of thickly strung rock that proved this band is all about the music, obsessed with shaping sounds and making it right.
Cat-a-Tac has a strong artistic vision it’s making good on, and the music is unlike anything else being produced in Denver right now. As exciting as it’s been watching the band get to this point, Cat-A-Tac is only getting started.
– Ricardo Baca
Miranda Sound
Columbus, Ohio’s, Miranda Sound almost didn’t make it to its July 28 set at Bender’s Tavern. After forking over $1,700 to fix a broken fuel pump in the tour van, the quartet arrived from Lubbock, Texas, just in time to play a raucous (if sparsely attended) headlining set.
Denver’s Landlordland did a fine job keeping the kids at bay, but a set from Miranda Sound was the only true tonic. Fortunately, the boys delivered in spades with songs from their new album “Western Reserve.” Played almost in perfect sequence with the album, songs like “Close Calls” and “The Lull of Youngstown” showcased Billy Peake and Dan Gerken’s lacerating guitar work and harmonized vocals.
“My Surname’s an Airplane” betrayed the band’s Midwestern indie-rock pedigree, but overall the night was a post-
punk buffet, thick with sweaty energy and fist-raising melodies. Too bad the band couldn’t get there earlier to satisfy the understandably impatient crowd.
– John Wenzel
