The Flaming Lips had their set cut short the inaugural Canadian V Festival yesterday (September 9).
The band were set to headlining the opening day at Toronto’s Islands Park, however due to logistical difficulties earlier in the afternoon, Wayne Coyne and co were left with just a 30 minute slot due to the evening’s 11pm curfew.
The band tried to pack as much as they could into the allotted time with extreme close-up cameras, confetti and hordes of balloons in a set that included ‘Race For The Prize’ and ‘Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots’.
Earlier Gnarls Barkley had managed to perform a full set, dressed in costumes resembling 1980s movie The Karate Kid.
“I’m too sober tonight,” Cee-Lo told the crowd as the duo played Violent Femmes cover ‘Gone Daddy Gone’ along with the likes of ‘The Last Time’ and signature tune ‘Crazy’, which saw the pair backed by the large supporting cast Cee-Lo called “Kung Fu Hustle”.
Muse meanwhile energized the crowd with a huge arena rock extravaganza.
The trio opened their blistering set with the galloping ’Knights Of Cydonia’ which was closely followed by ’Supermassive Black Hole’ and the crowd-pleasing ’Bliss’ which saw singer Matt Bellamy perfecting his Pete Townshend-esque windmills.
Including the likes of ‘Map Of The Problematique’, ’Time Is Running Out’ the group concluded with ’Take A Bow’.
Representing Canada, Montreal’s The Dears used their set to mix tracks from new album ’Gang Of Losers’ with older favorites including ‘Lost In The Plot’ and ’The Death Of All Romance’.
The second day of Canada’s V Festival will feature The Strokes, The Raconteurs and Wolfmother plus replacement headliners Broken Social Scene who will fill in after Massive Attack were forced to pull out due to “visa complications”.