For a rock band that didn't form to start a revolution, tell you what to do, protest, or even ask you to listen, they've travelled a fair distance and explored some amazing ideas along the way. All this time they've only ever said, "Well here you go..." as they serve up some sounds that they hope might be interesting, some ideas that someone might like to think about. If they sell a million records, then great; if not, at least they always do it their way. Unlike most bands, the live show isn't just a chance to demonstrate how great they are - how much cooler than their audience they can be. Instead, they've always sought to entertain, to capture the interest in new ways. Always a thrilling kick, but now more so than ever as they bring forward multiple sound source experiments like the Boombox and Parking Lot Experiments, and the audio/visual rush of the Headphone Concerts.

Over the last few years, we've seen them stand tall holding forth a sound and musical evolution that is truly their own - both on record and in the live setting. And how it touches the heart to see them reaching ever farther out to the world - finally, undeniably, just too good, too emotively real, to be ignored. The best thing is that, in doing so, they've actually become even more individual. Three men in their thirties, with more ideas and willingness to explore than a thousand angry young men with guitars. A maturing, more emotional, possibly softer sound hasn't meant an abandoning of their principles - it has merely accelerated their progression, and their excitement at the opportunities it presents them.

Rock band, pop band, experimental band, or, as they would probably prefer it, just a band - The Flaming Lips only quest, to escape the past and realise the sounds of now and the future, is over. They've delivered, both on The Soft Bulletin and the sonic hedonism of Zaireeka before it. And now they're there, the real adventures can begin.

                                                              Drew Hird, 1999