"Wouldn't it be cool if..."

I finally saw and heard the video of The Flaming Lips doing a concert of Pink Floyd's complete "Dark Side of the Moon."  It's the kind of idea you think someone probably hatched in a kitchen at a party where lots of inspiring substances were consumed... and one super-inspired freak intones, "Wouldn't it be cool if..."

And Wayne Coyne and company are just the enterprising freaks to take it on. What a great idea, what a perfect match.  You realize that "Dark Side" is a tightly constructed masterpiece, but The Lips provide a nice funkiness and zaniness (confetti, balloons, space-man get-ups) to the proceedings that is/was well beyond the stoic, post-Barret nature of Pink Floyd.

Wayne Coyne is one of the all-time most charismatic front men ever to  be conceived.  And the Lips are tight and loose, and funky and experimental and cathartic all in one fell swoop.  And Steven Drodz is an amazing musician. He alternates between keyboards and guitar.  I love his old Fender Jazzmaster guitar, it looks like it's been through a war, burned, banged up, dragged through the streets of Mogadishu...

Anyway, breath-taking, thrilling... the closest rock and roll comes to a religious ceremony.  "Dark Side of the Moon" stands and The Flaming Lips make it swing, sway, and elevate!