It was one of those Los Angeles nights where the Greek Theatre felt more like a time machine than a venue. A warm September breeze drifted through the Hollywood Hills, and thousands of indie-rock lifers packed into the amphitheater for a co-headlining feast from The Flaming Lips and Modest Mouse, two bands who have been defining, defying, and delighting alternative rock since the Clinton years.
This summer tour has been a nostalgia trip, sure, but not a stale one. Both bands remain vital in 2025, even while celebrating 20th anniversaries of seminal albums: The Lips with Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Modest Mouse with Good News for People Who Love Bad News.
This was less a retro showcase than a reminder: the weirdos of the ‘90s and ‘00s never left; they just got louder, sillier, and more joyfully unhinged.
Chicago’s Dehd opened the night, blasting their raw, reverb-soaked surf-punk into the dusk. Their jagged hooks and hazy harmonies loosened up the hillside crowd, a perfect appetizer for the two alt-rock heavyweights to follow.
Formed back in 1992, Modest Mouse has long been indie rock’s great shape-shifters. They emerged from Issaquah, WA with This Is a Long Drive, broke wide with Good News…, and eventually landed their first Billboard #1 with We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank.
At the Greek, Isaac Brock and his crew wasted no time flashing their bona fides. “Dark Center of the Universe” swirled into “Float On” early in the set, a power move that had the hillside bouncing like it was 2004 again.
From there, it was a rollercoaster of existential joy. “Never Ending Math Equation” throbbed with mathy precision, while “Fire It Up” lit a collective spark. Brock switched to banjo for “Bukowski” and acoustic guitar for “Gravity Rides Everything”, grounding the chaos with moments of quiet clarity. “Dashboard” got feet stomping and the occasional head banging.
Modest Mouse’s set also included the sprawl of “The Stars Are Projectors” and the jagged funk of “Tiny Cities Made of Ashes”. By the time the band closed with “Heart Cooks Brain”, the message was clear: Modest Mouse remains one of the most consistent, unpredictable, and magnetic live acts in alt-rock history.
If Modest Mouse brought the raw edge, The Flaming Lips brought the carnival. Wayne Coyne and company turned the Greek into a neon dreamscape, with lyrics splashed on the video screens like karaoke prompts so the audience could howl along.
They opened with “Sleeping on the Roof”, accompanied by giant bugs and a passing train projected across the stage. “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots” came complete with inflatable pink robots, while “Turn It On” sparkled beneath a galaxy of projected stars.
Coyne kept encouraging the crowd, “Keep going, keep going, keep going!” as they stomped through “Pompeii Am Götterdämmerung” and the trippy sway of “Five Stop Mother Superior Rain”. A surprise cover of The Chemical Brothers’ “The Golden Path” occasioned costumed aliens and a smiling blowup sun to dance with the band’s eccentric frontman.
He took a somber pause before “Feeling Yourself Disintegrate”, dedicating it to sensitive souls. “Music sometimes is the only thing that speaks to that inner faith,” he said. “Life can be horrible, but also look around.”
The mood then soared again with “The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song”, complete with inflatable eyeballs and lips; the goofy glee of “She Don’t Use Jelly”, balloons bouncing everywhere; and the tear-inducing “Do You Realize??”, which Wayne sang from under a giant inflatable rainbow onstage.
The encore brought pure spectacle. Coyne, draped in an American flag, led the band through Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs”, dedicating it to both Ozzy Osbourne and his own brother’s friends who died in Vietnam. Then came “Race for the Prize”, with Wayne singing part of it from inside his trademark bubble before unveiling a massive silver balloon spelling out “FUCK YEAH LOS ANGELES.”
Together, Modest Mouse and The Flaming Lips offered two visions of indie rock’s golden age: one spiky and cerebral, the other outrageous and heart-on-sleeve. At the Greek, they proved why both bands are still revered decades later: because they never stopped being themselves.
With dates in L.A., Santa Barbara, and Berkeley now in the rearview, the It’s Summertime American Tour will wind down with two final shows at McMenamins Edgefield in Troutdale, OR (September 10th–11th), where Modest Mouse will close out each night [get tickets].
Dehd, Modest Mouse, & The Flaming Lips – Greek Theatre – Los Angeles, CA – 9/4/25 [Video Playlist]
[Videos: S.Parker]
