Why the Beatles Matter...

I saw the Flaming Lips at Riot Fest in Chicago, In case you haven't followed the Flaming Lips which I must admit I have not but they do have a great spectacle of a live show. I think I own one of their cds, picked up on a whim in a used cd store somewhere because I heard they were a good psychedelic band. The Beatles were a good little band that had some recordings that could also be called psychedelic. The Flaming Lips hail from Oklahoma while the Beatles were English.  

The Beatles never got to have a really great live show that brought the most out in their music. They were the first "boy band" and by all reports the girls screamed so loud you could not hear them playing. That might be the first reason that the Beatles matter because this brought on the birth of the great concert sound system. It's all computerized now a days so no matter where you sit or how loud the girls scream a guy sits at a lap top and clicks an icon for Shreveport, Madison Square Garden, Candlestick Park or where ever you are playing and the computer dials it in. 

Here's some Lips photos I made

Confetti spews out over the crowd. The light show behind the band was not stationary. 

Mushrooms, rainbows, cool blue light. The lips certainly seem like happy people even if they are from Oklahoma. \

The Beatles were one of the first bands who had the power to do just what they wanted. Up until that point bands and singer I think were kind of told what to do by a hit making machine and it was do it or have no backing. I don't think the Flaming Lips have ever had a hit so to speak but they are surely worth listening to and seeing and they do what they want. 

Wayne, the main dude in the band gets in a big blown up thing like a hamster ball and crowd surfs. 

The Lips closed their set with the most killer version of the Beatles tune "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" that I have ever heard. The music, the lights and everything made it the most perfect experience. I am not sure the Beatles ever performed this tune live and I don't know if Sir Paul, who keeps a pretty steady live concert schedule does this tune but it would have to be good to top this rendition.  

I don't really listen to the Beatles much these days. Sometimes when I go in the grocery store I hear a Beatles tune on the overhead. Only problem is when I do hear it in the grocery it is usually followed by something like "Beer, Bait and Ammo" and I think that's over using it a bit.  

In the late 1960s, when I got my first transistor radio I spun the dial around and around to and from the three radio stations it would pick up trying to hear a Beatles tune. It was not easy in deep East Texas. Now they are everywhere and their influence is deep. 

 Give me a sunny day and a fast highway and the bright voiced harmonies blowing out my car stereo speakers matter as I speed down the road.    

I don't know if this Flaming Lips fan that was standing in front of me as I took this shot thinks the Beatles matter or not.