The Flaming Lips

The Blackwater Music Festival hits Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park in Live Oak, Fl. this weekend. This fest draws a youngish crowd, with electronica acts STS9, Girl Talk, Eoto and Ghostland Observatory on the top of the bill.

Tickets are $165 through Wednesday, and $180 at the gate. That includes free primitive camping. (You could have bought 3-day tickets in May for the bargain advanced price of $110.)

You can get a one-day pass (no camping) for $40 Thursday, $60 Friday, and $70 Saturday.

The headliner is the incomparable psychedelic band The Flaming Lips, which puts on one of the best live shows on Earth. If you watch the excellent documentary about the band, Fearless Freaks, you'll learn that they used a motorcycle running on stage in tiny dive clubs to get a smoke-on-the-stage effect.

These days they have all the stage toys they can handle -- a plastic bubble to roll over the crowd with, clever cameras, confetti machines -- I'm writing this and it doesn't sound nearly as awesome as it is. Trust me, this will be one of the best live rock shows you will ever see.

Here's a little interesting video story about their shows featuring lead singer Wayne Coyne.