The Vanderbilt University Programming Board's Music Group announced today that Grammy award-winning psychedelic rock band The Flaming Lips will headline the university's Rites of Spring music festival in April.
The band has become a festival favorite throughout the past 10 years, making stops at major events including Coachella, Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza. The popularity of the group's live performance is due in part to their famously elaborate stage setups, costumes, and performance style. Previous shows have included mass amounts of confetti, giant hands, exotic costumes and elaborate light shows, but perhaps the most popular of the group's live show shenanigans is Wayne Coyne's legendary "hamster ball," a human-sized bubble which the frontman uses to surf the crowd.
The group has released a total of eleven full-length studio albums, with their initial breakthrough album "The Soft Bulletin" released in 1999. Their twelfth full-length is expected later this year as a follow-up to 2006's "At War With The Mystics," although an official release date has yet to be announced.
Support acts confirmed thus far include alternative hip-hop band N.E.R.D., electronic/new wave artist Santigold (formerly Santogold), A Tribe Called Quest leader Q-tip, gutsy blues group Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears, indie/folk up-and-comers Okkervil River and blues/rock trio Grand Ole Party.
The Music Group stated that further acts will be announced as confirmations are finalized throughout the coming weeks.
Discover music from The Flaming Lips, N.E.R.D., Santigold and more in the 2009 Rites of Spring playlist! Click here.
