Saturday at NX35 Music Conferette

By Graciela Razo
Photos by Ingrid Laubach

Just by the size of the crowd and the anticipation in the air, you could tell March 13 was going to go down in Denton history. Ever since the announcement in January, people around town seemed to be in disbelief that this was actually going to happen.
With Denton-grown band Midlake and three-time Grammy award-winning Oklahoma musicians The Flaming Lips taking the same stage that day, the free Saturday NX35 Music Conferette concert was certainly going to be the biggest show this college town had ever seen.
The line to get into the show at the North Texas Fairgrounds snaked in and out of the gates outside of the field since the early morning. The few who bought wristbands walked right in and took their stance on the grass only to be treated to see the bands doing their sound check. Already, Wayne Coyne was getting everyone rattled up.


The scores of people grew larger and larger when finally just before the first band, Oklahoma's StarDeath and White Dwarfs came to the stage, there was a sea of music fans ready to get the afternoon started.
StarDeath put on a crowd-pleasing show. Even though they were probably the least anticipated band of the show, they definitely gained some fans after their set of bass-heavy, perfectly synthesized songs. Even frontman Dennis Coyne's uncle Wayne was seen on the side of the stage pumping his fist and waving his white streamers along to the beat.

Next up was what seemed to be the calm before the storm: Midlake. It was their first Denton appearance in nearly three years, and they wanted to make it a good one. The band played many of their newer songs off of their latest album "The Courage of Others," but didn't leave their classics out either.
Led by vocalist and guitarist Tim Smith, Midlake did more jamming and improvisation than you can find on their albums. Especially with the appearance of guest guitarist Max Townsley and flutist and pianist Jesse Chandler, their live set sounded more intense and lively than their studio albums.




Then it was what everyone had been waiting for since the announcement broke.
The production of a Flaming Lips show began with setting up massive screens, gathering dozens of balloons and getting Wayne Coyne's famous space bubble crowd walk.
Coyne also came out to give an announcement about keeping the Fire Marshall happy by not pushing to get to the front to get by the bubble.



Finally after waiting all afternoon, NX35 festival goers no longer seemed to feel anticipation but just pure adrenalin and excitement.
Fans screamed and cheered for the band to come on, and at last, the show was ready to begin.
Members Steven Drozd, Kliph Scurlock and Michael Ivins walked through the light screen, and a stage crew helped Coyne's bubble inflate.






Drums were beating to get everyone ready for Coyne to run out into the crowd. Just as he was about to get a running start into the pit of fans, something completely unexpected happened.
The power went out.
The fairgrounds went dark and the amps were completely silent. Coyne didn't care though.
He still ran out into the audience as everyone cheered and yelled, trying to get a grasp of him and his space bubble.



The power went back on, and the spectacle began.
Orange, yellow and white balloons soared over the audience like popcorn kernals popping up and down. Confetti and streamers of the same colors rained down as the band got the show started. The band had finally put to rest the expectations everyone had for that night and even before the first song was over, had already exceeded them.



After yet another power outage and a "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Pt. 1" sing-a-long came an emotional moment for the band.
The Flaming Lips paid tribute to friend and musician Mark Linkous of band Sparklehorse who committed suicide on March 6. Coyne worked with Linkous on "Revenge," a song off of an unreleased album by Sparklehorse and Danger Mouse called "Dark Night of the Soul."
Wayne introduced the song by telling about the musician and saying, "You have to make your own happiness."
They dedicated the song "Waitin' for a Superman" to Linkous as Coyne held a fluttering bird while singing.

The night ended with arguably the Lips' most famous song "Do You Realize??" a song that had even those who hadn't heard the band's music before singing nearly every word.
After an amazingly solid entertaining set, the Flaming Lips bowed and left the stage.





More photos and videos coming soon.