Oklahoma's The Flaming Lips celebrating 40th anniversary, planning home-state show

Brandy McDonnell, Oklahoman
·2 min read

A Grammy Award-winning Oklahoma City band celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2023 is now planning a home-state show to mark the 20th anniversary of one of its seminal albums.

The Flaming Lips announced Monday, Feb. 27, additional tour dates featuring a special performance of the band's trailblazing 2002 album "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" in its entirety. The trek celebrating the 20th anniversary of the gold-certified album's release now includes a June 17 show at the historic Tulsa Theater.

Tulsa tickets to "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Live!" go on sale at 10 a.m. March 3 at the venue box office and www.tulsatheater.com. Tickets prices range from $39.50 to $69.50.

The 2002 album features several beloved Lips tracks, including the Grammy-nominated opener "Fight Test," the Grammy-winning instrumental "Approaching Pavonis Mons By Balloon (Utopia Planitia)" and the emotional anthem "Do You Realize??," which in 2009 was named Oklahoma's official state rock song.

20th anniversary of 'Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots'

Along with the tour, the Lips will celebrate "Yoshimi's" anniversary with the recently released "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots: 20th Anniversary Edition" 6-CD box set, which includes a whopping 101 tracks, including the original album and EP tracks and a cornucopia of B-sides, demos, live radio sessions and previously unreleased rarities. The 5-LP box set — a 56-track version on baby pink vinyl — is due out April 14.

The iconic art-rockers also are releasing the fan-favorite "Yoshimi"-era EPs "Fight Test" and "Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell" on limited edition vinyl for the first time on March 17.

The Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne performs at one of the Oklahoma City band's hometown Space Bubble Concerts at The Criterion.
The Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne performs at one of the Oklahoma City band's hometown Space Bubble Concerts at The Criterion.

And it's the 40th anniversary of The Flaming Lips

But 20 years of "Yoshimi" isn't the only big anniversary the Lips will celebrate in 2023. The influential alternative rock band formed in OKC in 1983, meaning this year marks the group's 40th anniversary.

Over those four decades, the band has earned three Grammy Awards and a Tony nomination, landed on Q Magazine's “50 Bands to See Before You Die" and had an alley named after them in downtown OKC. The band has collaborated musically with Miley Cyrus, Coldplay’s Chris Martin, Kacey Musgraves, Yoko Ono, The Chemical Brothers and more, plus frontman Wayne Coyne teamed with iconic visual artist Damien First on a large-scale painting now displayed inside the OKC Convention Center.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: The Flaming Lips will play an Oklahoma show to mark a big anniversary