Two Father Christmases, bright lights, giant balloons, large amounts of confetti, video projections and great music. Wayne Coyne and The Flaming Lips delivered big time on this year’s Cactus Festival.

There’s a lot to see and experience in Brugge, but this time all I cared about was the band. Wayne was hanging around on the stage before the gig, shooting confetti over the audience. I was quite close to the stage so I could clearly see — and hear! — their psychedelic show. I wish they would have played a bit longer though (they had to respect their time slot). Secondly, it would have been interesting to hear “extended” versions of some of their best songs — but what we heard was brilliant too!

Personal highlights were “Do You Realize??” from Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots and “The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song” from At War with the Mystics. The latter song included a long rant against George Bush, the worst president in history.

I spotted the guys on the street in Brugge the next day, and thanked them for a great gig. They were pretty relaxed and cool. Don’t miss their next gig in your town!

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