The Flaming Lips have announced new tour dates for 2025, which will see them play their album ‘Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots’ in full. Find ticket details below.
The album marked the 10th studio release from the American rock band, and followed on the heels of 1999’s ‘The Soft Bulletin’. Immediately after its release in 2002, the project saw the band receive widespread critical and commercial acclaim, and put them on the map for embracing a more electronic approach than in their nine previous releases.
It contained the singles ‘Do You Realize??’, ‘Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1’, ‘Fight Test’ and ‘Ego Tripping At The Gates Of Hell’, and remains one of their most popular releases to date.
Now, over two decades since it was first shared, the band have confirmed that they will be hitting the road and performing the tracklist in full. They shared the news earlier this morning (June 5) via a new update on Facebook.
In the post, they revealed the five shows they have planned – each taking place across the UK and Ireland next Spring. These kick off on April 25 with an opening night at Birmingham’s O2 Academy, and continue the following day with a show at the O2 Academy Brixton, in South London.
From there, two shows are lined up for the 3Olympia in Dublin, followed by a final stop at Edinburgh’s Usher Hall on May 1. “The Lips are excited to announce they are bringing the ‘Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Anniversary Tour’ to England, Scotland and Ireland,” the band wrote in the caption.
The Lips are excited to announce they are bringing the Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Anniversary Tour to England,…
Posted by Flaming Lips on Wednesday, June 5, 2024
Tickets go on sale this Friday (June 7) at 10am BST, and pre-sale options – which can be accessed with the code ‘YOSHIMI’ – are available now. Visit here to buy tickets.
The announcement of the upcoming 2025 tour comes following the band celebrating the releases various times before. Back in 2007, it was confirmed that the album would be reimagined as a Broadway musical, developed by The West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin and director Des McAnuff. The project hit the stage in 2012 – exactly 10 years after the album was first shared.
Then, in 2022 The Flaming Lips announced details of an anniversary box set version of the LP to mark two decades since its release. They later took to the road in 2023, and performed the setlist in full twice during the gigs.
At time of release, NME gave the project a glowing four-and-a-half-star review and described it as being both “confident and imaginative” when it comes to the members locking in a new sound.
“A sideways step from the lush orchestration of ‘…Bulletin’, which seems positively baroque in comparison, ‘Yoshimi’ replaces that album’s symphonic wall-of-sound with skillfully textured electronics, samples and acoustic guitar. Though more understated, it boasts just as many moments of sublime pop glory,” it read.
“‘The Soft Bulletin’ may remain their ultimate masterpiece – in the way that it referenced every other record in the Lips‘ career – but try to name another band who have lasted 10 albums, each one more visionary than the last,” it added. “‘Yoshimi…’ sets yet another benchmark.”
The post The Flaming Lips to play ‘Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots’ in full on 2025 UK and Ireland tour appeared first on NME.