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.
London four piece Keo are on course to land their first UK Number 1 album with Put A Smile On For Me. After building a loyal audience over the past two years, the London band now lead this week’s Official Albums Chart update. Their debut record explores love, guilt, and self destruction.
Nothing But Thieves are close behind at Number 2 with their fifth album, Stray Dogs. The Southend band are hoping for a second straight Number 1 after Dead Club City reached the top in 2023. Taylor Swift is at Number 3 with The Life Of A Showgirl, helped by the expanded The Encore edition. Olivia Rodrigo’s You Seem Pretty Sad For A Girl So In sits at Number 4, while Soft Cell’s Danceteria opens at Number 5. It is the synth pop duo’s final album together following Dave Ball’s death last year.
Europe could reach Number 9 with Come This Madness, giving the Swedish rock band its first UK Top 10 album in four decades. A 30th anniversary reissue of Alice In Chains’ MTV Unplugged is at Number 13 in the midweek update, with Orbital’s Glastonbury 1994 set at Number 14. Julia Jacklin is heading for her first Top 40 album as The Gem reaches Number 18, while Suede’s Coming Up returns at Number 23 after its 30th anniversary physical release.
Also on track for Top 40 places are Nessa Barrett’s Tough Love at Number 29, the companion soundtrack to LINKIN PARK: UNSHATTER at Number 30, and Dublin band Gurriers’ Nobody’s Coming To Save You at Number 31. Blondshell, Kneecap, Tina Turner, and Leon Bridges also appear in the lower half of the midweek chart.
The official positions will be announced when the final Albums Chart is published on Friday.
