This past Tuesday, August 5th, The Mann Center hosted the summer shed spectacle of the year, starring co-headliners The Flaming Lips and Modest Mouse, two legends of alternative rock whose histories with the Fairmount Park amphitheater are equally storied. In addition to previously sharing the stage of [what is now] TD Pavilion in the summer of 2002; The Flaming Lips opened the venue for co-headliners Butthole Surfers and Stone Temple Pilots in 1993 (a show that’s pretty hard to believe ever happened in James Taylor’s local annual summertime home…); and in 2008 Modest Mouse – boasting brand-new lead guitarist, former Smiths axeman Johnny Marr, and touring behind their first-ever #1 album, We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank – played a set sandwiched between R.E.M.’s last-ever Philadelphia appearance and super-buzzy openers The National (a show that, if it’d happened a decade ago, likely could’ve filled a stadium).
Wayne Coyne and The Flaming Lips brought their deservingly legendary show, complete with two-story-tall, inflatable dancing robots, manned by a crew in Philly sports swag; confetti balloons nearly the size of Indiana Jones’ boulder; Coyne’s famous bubble, which encapsulated him during set closer “Race for the Prize,” but never actually left the stage; and big screen karaoke that enabled even casual fans to sing along with the entirety of the 75-minute set. And our phriends Friko — a Chicago duo we met prior to a November 2023 gig at Kung Fu Necktie which, as of noon the day of show, sold zero tickets (It wound up being a fine crowd…) — opened the evening with a 30-minute performance boasting about half a dozen songs to a crowd at least five times the size of the next biggest they’ve ever played to in the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection.
However, the night’s highlight came courtesy of Portland heroes of indie rock Modest Mouse. While Wayne Coyne’s ironic and iconic brand of silliness might make him the showman of his generation, Modest Mouse frontman Isaac Brock’s refusal to pander to the rock star tropes his music would warrant made for the most rock n’ roll portion of the evening. The co-headliners’ 68-minute show opened with the band’s biggest hit, 2004’s “Float On,” as unsuspecting fans clamored to their seats. And aside from a handful of fancy lights that have become standard of shed shows, Modest Mouse’s set lacked any sort of pomp or posturing. Barely 1/3rd of the set was comprised of singles, including rightful mainstay “Dashboard,” Brock’s first-ever collaboration with Marr (“Fire It Up” and “Fly Trapped in a Jar,” also off of the 2007 LP also proved to be highlights.) Other high points included tracks off of Modest Mouse’s other two must-have LPs: 1997’s The Lonesome Crowded West (“Cowboy Dan” and “Teeth Like God’s Shoeshine”) and 2000’s The Moon & Antarctica (“Paper Thin Walls” and “Dark Center of the Universe”). However, the most memorable moments of the evening came courtesy of its penultimate number, a cover of Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs” that had Isaac Brock joining The Flaming Lips for the most touching memorial to Ozzy the 215 has seen yet.
