The Flaming Lips have a long day ahead of them. In an eight-performance tour that will begin on June 27 in Memphis, the Flaming Lips will take on Jay-Z’s Guinness World Record for most performances given in a 24-hour period, a title Jay-Z earned in 2006 with his “The Hangar Tour”.
Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips at Voodoo Experience 2009. Photo by Kim Welsh.
If the band survives the day-long spree, New Orleanians will have the opportunity to celebrate the Flaming Lips’ successful record setting at the tour’s culminating performance on June 28 at House of Blues with Grimes opening.
As headliners for Viacom’s new MTV O Music Awards, the Flaming Lips have accepted the challenge to garner hype for the show—a hybrid awards program, concert tour, and reality show celebrating musical innovations in the digital realm. In its third year, the Awards, streamed live at omusicawards.com and accessible on phones and tablets, will become the world’s first 24-hour live-streamed awards show, embracing a marriage of music and digital culture.
Cameras will follow Flaming Lips’ frontman Wayne Coyne (currently embroiled in a feud with Erykah Badu over the Lips’ latest music video) as he commandeers an old-fashioned tour bus for a rapid ride through the Mississippi Delta. After Memphis, the Lips will pause to perform in eight different cities along the route, the last of which is New Orleans. A different artist joins the Flaming Lips for each stop on the record-setting roadtrip, with a diverse lineup that includes Lafayette’s indie pop crew GIVERS, who will open in Baton Rouge, and Breaux Bridge-born country charmer Hunter Hayes, who will open in Hattiesburg.
“The Mississippi Delta is arguably the birthplace of modern music and its ubiquitous influence can be felt across all genres,” says Rick Krim, EVP of Music and Talent Strategy from VH1. “In many ways, the O Music Awards are the anti-award show and we were attracted to the juxtaposition of a future leaning, digitally driven event that takes place at the genesis of rock n’ roll. New Orleans, in particular, with its rich musical legacy and celebratory vibe felt like the perfect city to conclude this epic trip.”
Tickets for the House of Blues show go on sale for $27 tomorrow at 10 a.m. The concert begins at 5 p.m. on June 28.
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