What Goes Around ... Comes Around

The Flaming Lips

There would be no giant bubble, no band emergence through a lit-up vagina. No confetti, no giant animals, no dancers dressed like spacemen. The pomp and the theatrics came Friday when the Flaming Lips stormed Auditorium Shores; Thursday’s showcase at the Belmont served as the concert equivalent of an album’s B-side. Chief wrangler Wayne Coyne stood front and center, but the three other Lips took seats, with multi-instrumentalist Derek Brown even going so far as to set up a minikeyboard on the floor. They played “Fight Test,” “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots,” and “Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell,” teasing their closer throughout. “We’re going to try to play as many songs as possible during the time South by Southwest allots to us,” Coyne said shortly after taking the stage about 15 minutes late. “For those wondering when we’ll play ‘Do You Realize??,’ when time gets tight, we’ll pull it out.” That came right after Yoshimi’s “It’s Summertime.” Laid-back and low-energy, at 1am, it felt kind of nice. After 30 years, the Flaming Lips know when to lay off the gas.