The Flaming Lips opened for String Cheese Incident and moe. this weekend, as the group continues to market itself to a new demographic – jamband audiences. Friday at the Patriot Center in Fairfax, VA, vocalist Wayne Coyne, bassist Michael Ivins and drummer Steven Drozd took the stage with String Cheese for Merle Haggards Okie from Muskogee, an anti-hippie anthem from 1969. (The Flaming Lips hail from Oklahoma City, which is just a couple of hours east of Muskogee.) Quite aware of the irony, Coyne encouraged fans to sing along with the humorous lyrics:
_We don’t smoke marijuana in Muskogee;
An’ we don’t take our trips on LSD…We don’t make no party out of lovin’;
We like holdin’ hands and pitchin’ woo;
We don’t let our hair grow long and shaggy,
Like the hippies out in San Francisco do._
Saturday in Charleston, SC, Coyne, Drozd and Ivins sat in with moe. for Pink Floyds Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun.
The Lips are now heading west for a string of dates the Red Hot Chili Peppers.