Pemberton Day 2: The Flaming Lips Chase the Elusive Freak Out

Before you ask: It's teletubbies this tour. And even in the fading twilight heat, the folks in the suits were definitely sweating. As their puppet master floated over the crowd (okay, he kinda flopped) in his giant hamster ball, those on stage and off started dancing to "Race for the Prize." And then, as if on cue, a cloud of smoke arose. For the rest of the set, Wayne Coyne fought pot lethargy with repeated attempts to get the kids jumping. It worked sometimes, as with "Free Radicals" — getting thousands of people screamed, "Fanatical, fuck!" is one way to wake them up. But it took "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots," sung as a tender ballad, to really get the kids on his side. And when he did, Coyne looked out over his masterpiece with a beaming smile. "I'm glad you guys are freaking out," he said, before ending with the one-two punch of "Do You Realize?" and "She Don't Use Jelly." "It makes us want to freak out, too."

For complete coverage of the Pemberton Festival, check out rocknrolldiary.com.

• 
  MUSIC 100 Greatest Debut Albums
• 
  MOVIES 'Great Gatsby' Is a Crushing Disappointment
• 
  TV Why You Should Watch 'Happy Endings'
• 
  POLITICS No Price Big Banks Can't Fix

Song Stories

“My President”

Young Jeezy | 2008

Young Jeezy teams up with Nas on this track, in which he compare his own success with the idea of an African-American winning the Democratic Party's nomination in the 2008 presidential election. "When I pulled up in my car, that s--- was unbelievable to people in my neighborhood because they were like, 'We grew up with him. How the hell did he accomplish this?'" he told Rolling Stone. "I feel like it was the same way with Obama. I grew up all this time, but I've never seen a black man this close to running this country."

More Song Stories entries »

Twitter