The Flaming Lips @ NIA

Nov 11 2006 By Martyn Leek, Birmingham Mail

DO you know some of the best secrets are better off being kept just that - as secrets?

The cavernous and half-empty NIA arena just failed to fulfil what a The Flaming Lips gig should be like.

It's not the fault of The Lips and nor is it the fault of the NIA.

The band were just over-extended and no amount of extra balloons can make up for the missing magic.

The gig itself just failed to scale the dizzy heights of their two previous performances at the Academy and a sublime showing at the Alexandra Theatre.

To my mind, they concentrated too much on their latest album and ignored several classics. Always great performers, like on W.A.N.D. and Do You Realise?, it was a shame to see a Lips performance that lacked so much life.

In a smaller venue the glitter and the balloons that the band launch on the crowd seems to make sense.

At an arena it just seemed like histrionics. For wasn't the point of the glitter to make up for the fact they weren't playing at stadiums?

It's a shame. But The Flaming Lips are much more than one performance and shall continue to amaze for a long time to come.