The Flaming Lips @ Barrowlands, Glasgow, 15 Aug

If you possess a short attention span, The Flaming Lips are the band for you. Preceded by a wall of noise courtesy of tonight’s support act, the Glaswegian electro-wunderduo Happy Meals, the Lips take the stage to rapturous applause. Endearingly eccentric frontman Wayne Coyne is sporting an eyepatch and red pirate suit complete with leather harness and tail accoutrement, his trademark steel curls in suitable disarray, his fingernails tipped with glow-in-the-dark pink polish. As the stalwart psych-rockers kick off with Race for the Prize, there’s an explosion of confetti, a sea of huge latex balloons are released over the Barrowland Ballroom audience, and multicoloured strobing lights illuminate the inflatable toadstools at the rear of the venue. And that’s just the first song in.

Forget saving the best for last – every minute of The Flaming Lips’ electric set is fun, flipped out, and flamboyant as fuck. Their second track, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt 1, from their crack-the-mainstream 2002 album of the (almost) same name, prompts an ear-bursting euphoric singalong. By song number three, Coyne has disappeared from the stage, only to re-emerge in the middle of the crowd astride a mechanical unicorn. He proceeds to ride a leisurely lap of the Ballroom’s floor space, casting out fistfuls of glitter like Lady Govida on an LSD trip. Which song soundtracks the fanfare? There Should Be Unicorns, of course.

All this intergalactic showmanship could overshadow a group with less musical heft, but The Flaming Lips have put together a set that draws on the very best of their 20-year-plus catalogue. At their most musically poignant, they’re Pink Floyd with a sense of humour. At their most show-stopping – think Coyne rolling out across the crowd in his hamster-wheel for a cover of Space Oddity – they’re still every bit as surprising as the band who were first signed after nearly burning down a venue with pyrotechnics (true story). It's an hour and a half of sheer, undeniable fun.