rewrite this content and keep HTML tags If you already did, there’s a good chance you were at Stern Grove this Sunday to see the Oklahoma City psych-rockers play their 2002 opus “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots” in full (including their anthem, “Do you Realize”), followed by an encore of old favorites. Clockwise from top left: Marya Kahan of Noe Valley rushes past the gates to get a spot in Stern Grove; first-in-line Mark Couch of Alameda, right, chats with Tony Roman of San Francisco just after 7 a.m. while waiting early to get into Stern Grove; fans of the Flaming Lips line the front row near the stage; the capacity crowd races down to find a spot in Stern Grove. (Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/Special to SFGATE)Clockwise from top left: Marya Kahan of Noe Valley rushes past the gates to get a spot in Stern Grove; first-in-line Mark Couch of Alameda, right, chats with Tony Roman of San Francisco just after 7 a.m. while waiting early to get into Stern Grove; fans of the Flaming Lips line the front row near the stage; the capacity crowd races down to find a spot in Stern Grove. (Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/Special to SFGATE)The Stern Grove Festival, a weekly summer concert series that has run since 1938, just wrapped its final show of the season. The festival is one of those treasured San Francisco traditions that grow more beloved every year. If you haven’t been, it works like this: RSVP for a free ticket (a system that began post-COVID-19), show up to the park as early as you can (some begin tailgating at 8 a.m.), make a mad dash into the park at noon, claim a patch of grass along the sloping hillside, unroll a picnic blanket and enjoy an afternoon of free music.AdvertisementArticle continues below this adAs the midday sun dispelled every preconception of San Francisco weather, Mayor London Breed took the stage around 2 p.m. to proclaim Aug. 20 as The Flaming Lips Day with an unbridled enthusiasm that even impressed frontman Wayne Coyne (although Breed was greeted with some boos from attendees). Alan Palomo, known for his electronic music project Neon Indian, played a crowd-pleasing DJ set studded with disco classics (Instant Funk’s “Got My Mind Made Up”), international hits (Adriano Celentano’s “Pay Pay Pay”) and secret weapons (Social Disco Club’s “Daft Funk”). Then, the Flaming Lips took the stage, and all hell broke loose.San Francisco Mayor London Breed officially declares Sunday as The Flaming Lips Day with the band’s frontman and founding member Wayne Coyne before the closing concert of the Stern Grove Festival on Aug. 20, 2023.Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/Special to SFGATEKnown for their over-the-top shows, the Flaming Lips did not disappoint, with a Party City’s worth of props that included gigantic inflatable pink robots and so, so much confetti. Coyne looked runway-ready in a perfectly tailored black suit — not bad for a guy who cut his teeth at Long John Silver’s before his band took off. After every song, he amped up the crowd with the type of positive aphorisms that characterize the band’s lyrics, partly a stalling tactic as stagehands switched out inflatables, partly a consequence of the fact he’s never met a microphone he didn’t love. AdvertisementArticle continues below this adThe Lips formed in 1983 in Oklahoma City and broke through to MTV audiences with the 1993 single “She Don’t Use Jelly,” the first encore they played Sunday after ripping through the 11 tracks on “Yoshimi.” Although they’ve released several albums in the past 15 years, the most recent song in their catalog that they played was “The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song” from 2006’s “At War with the Mystics”). They closed with a pair of standouts from 1999’s “Soft Bulletin” (“A Spoonful Weighs a Ton,” “Race for the Prize”), delivered with the bombast of dueling drummers, squirrelly synthesizers and Steven Drozd’s unmistakable guitar virtuosics. As is traditional for Flaming Lips shows, during the last song, they brought out custom inflatable balloons that spelled out “F—k Yeah Stern Grove.”The Flaming Lips perform at Stern Grove on Sunday, Aug. 20, 2023.The Flaming Lips perform at Stern Grove on Sunday, Aug. 20, 2023.One of the most heart-warming things about Stern Grove is the broad slice of San Franciscans who attend. You’ll see tie-dyed Haight-Ashbury holdouts sitting just a couple of feet away from families with toddlers, barefoot Burners dancing in the aisles, and brave souls climbing up into the eucalyptus trees for an overhead view of the action. One reveler, 72-year-old Steve Moogy of Cole Valley, moved to San Francisco in the Summer of Love and has been attending the festival for 50 years. While toasting the band during “Do You Realize,” he shared what makes the festival so special to him. AdvertisementArticle continues below this adThe sold-out crowd packs into Stern Grove in San Francisco’s Parkside District for the Flaming Lips’ closing show of the 2023 Stern Grove Festival season.Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/Special to SFGATE“It’s the image of the real San Francisco because it’s all the neighborhoods coming together. Most of the country hears about San Francisco in a negative way. But all the neighborhoods are very healthy, and that’s what we want people to know about San Francisco. That the people that live here, we love San Francisco, and this is what makes San Francisco.”Mark Badgett of Las Vegas holds up his new Flaming Lips shirt before the band’s show at San Francisco’s Stern Grove Festival on Sunday, Aug. 20, 2023.Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/Special to SFGATEMisty Morning Star brings her owner Nick Russo of San Francisco to see the Flaming Lips for the 86th annual Stern Grove Festival on Sunday afternoon, Aug. 20, 2023.Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/Special to SFGATEAdvertisementArticle continues below this adThe sold-out crowd packs into Stern Grove in San Francisco’s Parkside District for the Flaming Lips concert on Sunday, Aug. 20, 2023. Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/Special to SFGATELead vocalist of the Flaming Lips Wayne Coyne holds a note at the start of the band’s set at the 86th annual Stern Grove Festival on Sunday afternoon, Aug. 20, 2023.Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/Special to SFGATEMax Rubin and Taylor Robinson of Glen Park cheer for the Flaming Lips during the Stern Grove Festival in San Francisco on Sunday afternoon, Aug. 20, 2023.Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/Special to SFGATENew Stern Grove blankets, as seen on the lawn before the Flaming Lips performance on Sunday, Aug. 20, 2023.Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/Special to SFGATEAdvertisementArticle continues below this adKarina Stowe of the Marina District, left, and Kiley Rundle of NoPa wait for the Flaming Lips concert at San Francisco’s Stern Grove Festival on Sunday afternoon, Aug. 20, 2023.Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/Special to SFGATEOne of many costumes lead vocalist Wayne Coyne wore during the Flaming Lips show in San Francisco’s Stern Grove on Sunday, Aug. 20, 2023.Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/Special to SFGATEConcertgoers in the front rows reach up for the “F—k Yeah Stern Grove” balloon thrown into the audience by the Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne to close out the show and overall 86th annual season of the Stern Grove Festival on Sunday afternoon, Aug. 20, 2023.Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/Special to SFGATECara Chambers, left, and her brother Ryan Chambers of Boston flank their friend and fellow concertgoer Salina before the Flaming Lips concert at San Francisco’s Stern Grove Festival on Sunday afternoon, Aug. 20, 2023.Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/Special to SFGATEAdvertisementArticle continues below this adThe sold-out crowd packs into Stern Grove in San Francisco’s Parkside District for the Flaming Lips concert on Sunday, Aug. 20, 2023.Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/Special to SFGATEDJ Alan Palomo, aka Neon Indian, spins and mixes tracks during his opening set for the Flaming Lips at the 86th annual Stern Grove Festival in San Francisco’s Parkside District on Sunday, Aug. 20, 2023.Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/Special to SFGATEThe crowd packs into Stern Grove on Sunday, Aug. 20, 2023.Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/Special to SFGATEConcertgoers let loose at San Francisco’s Stern Grove Festival on Sunday afternoon, Aug. 20, 2023.Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/Special to SFGATEAdvertisementArticle continues below this adThe Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne calls up and acknowledges members of the crew and Stern Grove Festival staff following the band’s closing show of the 86th season of the annual concert series in San Francisco on Sunday, Aug. 20, 2023.Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/Special to SFGATE
Pink robots tower over San Francisco’s Stern Grove at season finale
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