Lips' strange transmissions

Compared to the first time I saw the Flaming Lips nearly (gulp) two decades ago, Sunday's concert at Roy Wilkins Auditorium was worlds beyond anything you could have imagined back then. Or at least it was visually. The wildest thing about their live sets back in the early '90s was a backdrop of 10,000 Christmas lights, which actually was pretty impressive. Sunday's concert offered nonstop eye-candy and hi-fi wizardry. I mentioned a lot of the colorful stage gimmicks in my full review, but I forgot to mention the giant sunrise-shaped Jumbotron backdrop and the most impressive gadget of the night: Wayne Coyne's giant "laser hands," which shot green lasers up at a couple of giant mirror balls and reflected out over the entire Wilkins facade -- including all the empty seats on the sides. Speaking of which: Did you no-show Lips fans stay away this time because you hate the Wilkins, weren't impressed by the new album "Embryonic," wanted to see the Dirty Projectors instead, or you thought the $45 price was too steep? Pavement ran into the same meager turnout there the previous Sunday, and in both cases it made the venue even worse off acoustically (more echo). That won't be a problem for the Arcade Fire show Wednesday, though, which sold out right away.

Musically, Sunday's show did hark back to early Lips gigs. Wild stuff. Here's the set list: