American psychedelic rock band The Flaming Lips have announced their ‘American Head’ world tour in support of the homonym record released in September 2020. Indeed, they will perform for six dates in the UK and Ireland in May 2022, after an extensive tour of the US in late 2021 and early 2022. Tickets will go on general sale here on Friday, May 7th.
This run will see the seven-piece band performing in iconic UK venues such as Leeds’s Stylus or London’s O2 Forum in Kentish Town, closing the tour at the Galway Int’l Arts Fest in Galway, Ireland. Along with this announcement, the band has also revealed the first-ever vinyl release of ‘The Soft Bulletin Companion’, a promotional record of rarities from the era of 1999 ‘The Soft Bulletin’: it will contain unreleased material, outtakes, early mixes, B-sides, international bonus tracks, and stereo versions of songs from their previous album ‘Zaireeka’. This treat for the fans will see the light of day exclusively for Record Store Day, on June 12th. The vinyl will be pressed onto a silver double-LP and only 16,000 copies will be made available worldwide, solely in independent record stores. However, the album will be made more widely available later on in the year.
Earlier this year, The Flaming Lips performed a futuristic live concert in Oklahoma City, their hometown. Indeed, they manage to organise a live concert – with an audience – in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the audience members standing in their own inflatable balls, just like frontman Wayne Coyne’s own bubble, in which he usually rolls over the crowd in during the band’s gigs. Each plastic bubble could hold up to three audience members who belonged to the same household, and band members also performed in their own individual bubble. With 100 guests and Coyne showing a balloon stating ‘FUCK YOU COVID-19′, the band clearly marked a milestone in this pandemic. Now, they are ready to return for good.
All UK and Ireland tour dates below:
25/05/2021 – Stylus – Leeds
26/05 – Invisible Wind Factory – Liverpool
30/05 – Waterside Theatre – Aylesbury
1/06 – De La Warr Pavilion – Bexhill
2/06 – O2 Forum Kentish Town – London
22/07 – Galway Int’l Arts Fest – Galway
