It wasn't that long ago that The Flaming Lips were playing shows where the band and the audience were all inside giant plastic spacebubbles. The band have gone back to "normal," but frontman Wayne Coyne noted at Brooklyn Steel on Monday night (11/8) that this tour is a little more subdued than ones in the past due to Covid. Most notably, the balloon count is down as, Wayne said with all the bouncing around and multiple people touching them, it might bring anxiety to some instead of joy. There were still lots of balloons, though, and confetti, flying neon Da Vinci birds, giant inflatable robots and all the other joyous, trippy stuff you expect at a Lips show, just slightly more chilled out. And, of course, Wayne in his spacebubble.
Monday was the first of two Flaming Lips shows at Brooklyn Steel as part of their tour supporting their great 2020 album American Head. They played five songs off that record, including "Will You Return / When You Come Down," "Flowers of Neptune 6" and "Assassins of Youth" which made its live debut at this show. Brooklyn Steel also got "Do You Realize?," "She Don't Use Jelly," "My Cosmic Autumn Rebellion," "Waitin' For a Superman," and more. The night ended with the euphoric "Race for the Prize" which was also when the band brought out the "FUCK YEAH BROOKLYN STEEL" balloons.