Pitchfork

[Posted Friday, October 3rd, 2003 04:00:00 Pitchfork Central Time]

Will Bryant and Joshua Sharp report:
So let me see if I can get this story straight: Jack White gives the Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne a plastic fiber-optic Jesus figurine-- which, let's face it, is a fine gift-- and Coyne immortalizes said appliance-slash-messiah in a perfectly passable b-side on the group's otherwise lacking-sorely-for-new-material Fight Test EP. Then, White goes and bends his finger waaaaaaaaaaaaay further back than that freaky kid in your third-grade class who had no bones in his left hand, and the next thing you know, the good ol' Lips are subbing for the Stripes at festivals in Scotland and Ireland, dutifully covering "Seven Nation Army" and replacing the sexual tension between Jack and Meg with sexual tension between Coyne and a boxing-nun puppet. White then goes and posts some really digusting video of his surgery on the Stripes' website accompanied by the ubiquitous riff from his own hit single. Is that Lips or what? I mean, get a room!

Well, apparently they have: at Chicago's Aragon Ballroom on December 31st, the Flaming Lips and White Stripes will join forces for what undoubtedly will be a very lively evening of animal costumes, disturbing medical footage, and guitars strummed viciously with bloodied hands-- and that's just the White Stripes section of the evening! We predict: (a) the same basic setlist the Lips have been playing since 1998; (b) a 'surprise' duet between Coyne and White on either "We're Going To Be Friends" or "It's True That We Love One Another" (homos!); and (c) at least a half-pound of confetti down the front of Meg White's peasant blouse:

12-31 Chicago, IL - Aragon Ballroom

In other Lips news, it is my supreme pleasure to report-- hold on to your monocles, folks-- that the Flaming Lips have completed a remix of Chumbawamba's hit single of 1997, "Tubthumping," which will appear on the awkwardly monikered group's new album, Readymades and Then Some. Yes, that is the song you're thinking of. The one about the knocking down and the getting back up again. It's supposedly a very downtempo interpretation of the baby shower classic, and the Lips reportedly took on the project because they 'know what it's like to be a one-hit wonder band' because "She Don't Use Jelly" was their only calling card for so long. They better not mess up my #1 jam with their lame symphonics, or I'm going soccer hooligan on their asses. Readymades and Then Some is set to be released, accompanied by a bonus DVD, on October 21st. As previously reported, the Flaming Lips are currently doing a whole bunch of other ridiculous crap.