When your band is conceived on the basis of some hallucinatory epiphany, there are obviously going to be some limits as to how far it should be taken (and taken seriously). Flowers Forever are that band, and they’ve taken this concept band above and beyond the self titled album. That is to say, they’ve decided for some reason to tour. Fortunately for us, it’s with the Black Lips. Don’t get me wrong, Flowers Forever aren’t a bad band. In fact, I recognized more than a few of their songs when they performed them this Monday; and that’s after only having heard their album once prior. Flowers Forever could (maybe) even be put in a category with bands like Los Campesinos! who are catchy and above all fun to watch.

It must be just that Derek Pressnall plays ringleader to all his, frankly annoying band mates which leads me to dislike them. Or maybe it was the light-contraption of doll pieces all entwined with Christmas lights that was behind the band as they played. Either way it appeared to me that no matter how genuine their conception, this band was simply trying too hard to impress an abysmal crowd (maybe that’s why?). Funny, it seems my sentiments regarding their set are very similar to the conversation I held about their album prior to their performance, “I just could never sit and listen to it for that long.”

-Black Lips-

Black Lips have played Eugene before, to what I presumed at the time to be a sold-out crowd. There’s no question that some facet of their music speaks not only to the hippie kids with nothing to do, but also the hipster students who need to let out a bit of that aggression (read: angst). Put the two together in a room however, with a band like Black Lips to egg them on, and you have the recipe for quite the shit show.

Complete with crowd surfing, feet stomping, and elbow flailing, the crowd at the WOW Hall Monday could have seemingly cared less about what was going on in front of them. Even when Black Lips played some of their calmest tracks, the crowd felt a need to keep their body in constant gyration. Thankfully, for those of us who may find themselves bored with watching Cole Alexander spit in the air and catch it in his mouth, the crowd provided another show all in itself.

Hindsight truly is 20/20 though, and looking back on last night Black Lips had done all I could have asked of them. They played an engaging set of music that spanned their entire catalog, and played it damn well.