Wayne Coyne must be one of the most charismatic musicians out there at the moment. Not only is his music a great experience in itself but his live shows are renowned for being experimental, fun and totally over the top. When I got the commission to travel to Belgium to photograph Wayne on the last leg of his tour I jumped at the chance. It was bound to be a job rich with visual pickings.
We met up with him at his hotel in Brussels before we joined Wayne and the Flaming Lips on the tour bus to go to the festival. A fairly non eventful bus ride. I expected a party bus with a bar and loud blaring music, but it was more like a half empty National Express bus: Quiet and everybody keeping themselves to themselves.
Arriving at the festival we were met with a crowd covered in mud, and the ground looked like a McDonalds chocolate milkshake factory gone berserk. Backstage at the festival was also pretty non eventful. No one getting trashed on booze and drugs, no irrational behaviour from diva like celebrities and no skimpy dressed dancers and groupies trying to secure Wayne's hand in marriage. Rock'n Roll behaving respectfully!
I have to admit that I did expect Wayne to be a tricky one to deal with. It's often the case with big personalities. But it ended up being a job of the unexpected. Wayne was just a nice guy, up for a good time, game to go along with my ideas and suggestions. It seemed to me that Wayne was not being precious about his extravagant stage show and music but creates his show purely to have a good time.
I was on the side of the stage during the show. A great place to be to see the machinery that creates the famous Flaming Lips show. However, photographing from the sideline was almost impossible as the crew were running forth and back with props constantly - distracting for a plain view of Wayne performing.
As the shoot drew to a close and it was time to leave the festival I made sure to thank Wayne for his time and contribution. In reply Wayne requested last favour: "Make me look cool!" - in all honesty - he fulfilled this request all on his own.
