The Flaming Lips @ Manchester Academy, 22 Jan

Ear-rupturing bass. LED-festooned unicorns. An endless array of giant balloons bouncing back and forth in front of the stage (so many balloons). That’s the Flaming Lips live experience for you; a display of joyous, knowing ludicrousness that does its utmost to match up with the strangeness of the chaotic psych-pop at its core. Oklahoma’s foremost veterans of cheerfully nutzoid indie rock have taken darker steps with previous albums such as The Terror and Embryonic, but tonight sees them returning to what they do best – a performance that’s as colourful (in every sense of the word) as it’s supremely enjoyable.

The roar that greets opener Race For The Prize sets the tone for the evening, as a delighted fanbase (ranging from wide-eyed pre-adolescents to, erm, 'well refreshed' 50-somethings, with a wide array of garish costumes lending an innocently cultish aspect to proceedings) cheers ecstatically at every available opportunity. Cuts from excellent new LP Oczy Mlody – particularly a rambunctious There Should Be Unicorns and gorgeously affecting How?? – are greeted with enthusiasm, and when head Lip Wayne Coyne abandons the mic a mere one line into 2002's sort-of hit Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Pt. 1, the singalong that ensues creates a room-encompassing sensation that’s not entirely unlike the sweet release of spiritual transcendence.

Having challenged their audience relentlessly in the 15 years since that song provided their biggest mainstream breakthrough yet, it’s heartening to see the apparent communion between band and crowd, and the reward of four cuts from 1999’s classic opus The Soft Bulletin is certainly appreciated. Despite a few sound problems (the almost total absence of Coyne’s voice from the mix during the early numbers, and an explosive electronic bass pulse that swallows up the fragile tragedy of The Castle), it’s a show that radiates warmth from start to finish – Coyne tells us how much the band’s audiences mean to them, and in that moment there’s not a single person present who’d doubt his sincerity.