The Flaming Lips have postponed their slated New Year's Eve concerts at Tennessee's Caverns venue.
Rick Kern/GettyImagesUPDATE (12/28): The Flaming Lips have postponed their planned New Year’s Eve shows in an underground concert venue. The band will now perform at the Caverns in Pelham, Tennessee, on Feb. 19 and 20. “The Flaming Lips and The Caverns are heartbroken to deliver this news, and we know you’re no doubt sad to read it, but the health and safety of guests, staff, crew and everyone on stage is of utmost importance,” the venue announced on Instagram. “The new dates for the New Year’s celebration are on President’s Day Weekend…. And yes, it will still be a New Year’s celebration of epic proportions! Wayne and the band feel strongly about ringing in the New Year with you!”
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The Flaming Lips have announced their New Year’s Eve shows for 2021. The Oklahoma City psych-rock band will perform a pair of concerts at the Caverns in Pelham, Tennessee, on December 30th and 31st.
The concerts, which go on sale July 13th at 11 a.m. CT, mark singer Wayne Coyne and the Flaming Lips’ return to the underground natural amphitheater after first playing the venue on New Year’s Eve 2018. During that performance, the group released balloons filled with confetti to be pierced by the cave’s jagged ceiling.
The announcement of the Flaming Lips’ New Year’s concerts cap an unpredictable year for the Caverns, which moved shows above ground to a quickly built amphitheater during the pandemic. The outdoor venue kicked off with four socially distanced shows by Jason Isbell in 2020 and recently hosted a similar concert by Margo Price.
“The story is how in a pandemic, during a really tough time, you can reimagine what the experience could be,” Todd Mayo, the founder and operator of the Caverns, told Rolling Stone earlier this year during an interview for his inclusion in the Future 25 list. “If there’s human beings on this Earth, they’ll be coming to see music in the Caverns 10,000 years from now,” he said of the subterranean venue’s longevity. “It’s not going anywhere.”
In addition to the Lips’ concerts, the Caverns has shows by Umphrey’s McGee, the Mavericks, and Bruce Hornsby on its 2021 concert calendar. The Flaming Lips announced their 2021-2022 tour in May, which kicks off August 20th, in Ogden, Utah. See tickets online here.
Faith No More appear to be hinting at a return to the stage in 2027.
The influential alt-metal band have remained mostly quiet over the past decade following the release of their reunion album ‘Sol Invictus’ in 2015. After its arrival, they played what would become their most recent live performances in 2016 and later called off several touring plans in the years that followed.
Now, however, they seem to be preparing fans for something new. The group recently shared an image of a concert crowd on social media with nothing more than the text “2027” placed across it.
No additional information accompanied the post, but it quickly sparked speculation among fans, many of whom believe a full scale tour announcement could be coming next year.
After wrapping up their 2016 run of shows, the band intended to return to the road in 2020. Those plans were ultimately abandoned because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Further touring plans surfaced in 2021 as venues began reopening, but those dates were also cancelled before they could begin. Frontman Mike Patton later explained that mental health struggles were behind the decision and revealed he had been diagnosed with agoraphobia during the pandemic.
Until recently, a reunion seemed unlikely. Patton spoke about Faith No More’s lengthy break and said that he did not “see it as a sad thing”.
Speaking on the Kyle Meredith With… podcast and reflecting on whether he felt a “sense of closure” after the 2016 tour, the vocalist said: “I didn’t really think so at the time, but, yeah, maybe. I think that we all kind of felt it, but it was unspoken.”
“It’s funny: when you’ve been in a band or a musical situation for a period of time, you always, in the back of your head, you’re kind of thinking, ‘Well, maybe this is it.’ And I don’t mind that feeling,” he added. “I don’t see it as a sad thing. I see it as being present and being able to really appreciate it while it’s happening.”
Faith No More have never formally announced a breakup following the cancellation of their 2021 tour, although other members have suggested in recent years that the chances of touring again were uncertain.
Last year, guitarist Roddy Bottum discussed the band's future and admitted they were in a “really weird spot”. “I can’t really tell you what’s going on. I don’t know myself. I get different information from people… and I’m in the band,” he said.
Drummer Mike Bordin echoed similar thoughts last spring, saying that he and some of the other members were willing to perform again, but claimed Patton was “unwilling to do shows with us”.
In addition to leading Faith No More since 1989 after replacing original singer Chuck Mosley, Patton has also been involved with projects including Mr Bungle, Fantômas, and Tomahawk.
Tomahawk recently unveiled plans for their first tour in 13 years, with a series of US dates scheduled for this summer. The run begins in Nashville next month and will also see Patton and his bandmates reunite with longtime labelmates Melvins for the first time since 2003.
Patton has also recently launched his tour with Avett Brothers and teamed up with Jehnny Beth on the new single ‘Look At Me’.
