So a frog, a walrus and Santa Claus walk onto a stage. Sorry, that's not a beginning to a joke. It's a Flaming Lips show. Well, it's much more than that, but you get the idea. This veteran band have perfected the live show. They have been doing it for a number of years and there is a formula. You know what you will get. Large inflatables, confetti guns, blinding lights. Wayne Coyne taking to the crowd in a plastic bubble. But it doesn't matter. Because it just so much damn fun.

I believe The Flaming Lips were THE perfect band to kick off the Sydney Festival in style. Their free show in The Domain on Saturday night was an orgy of colour, light, happiness and joy. They rock hard, they make you dance, they make you cry, they make you laugh. Joy and happiness. In bucket loads. To hear a crowd sing along in full voice to 'Yoshimi' and 'Do You Realize??' is a magical experience. A testimony to the power of music. I think my favourite on the night though was the emotion charged 'Feeling Yourself Disintegrate'. What a supercharged emotional moment. And the band shows no signs of slowing down. At all. Led perfectly by the slightly kooky Wayne Coyne, a musical svengali who leads the crowd wherever he wants to. Long may these Oklahomans rule.

Set List
The Abandoned Hospital Ship

Fight Test
She Don't Use Jelly
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1
Psychiatric Explorations of the Fetus With Needles
The Gold In the Mountain of Our Madness
Evil Is But a Shadow (Miley Cyrus cover)
Vein of Stars
The W.A.N.D.
Feeling Yourself Disintegrate
A Spoonful Weighs a Ton

Do You Realize??