Never Doubt the Rainbow

I’d been picturing it for months. A cool breeze, an epic view and my favorite songs blasting out with orchestral accompaniment from the stage below. Our trip to see the Flaming Lips perform the Soft Bulletin at Red Rocks with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra was to be a once in a life time experience. Maybe even a life changing one?
I may have set my expectations just a wee bit too high. The weather turned out to be pretty terrible, but the scenery was still pretty phenomenal, starting from the parking lot.
There’s a parking lot up higher, with easier access to the stage, but it was full by the time we arrived. We joked that we ended up getting a hike in after all, because the march to the seating area was quite steep.
We were slightly unprepared for the number of stairs we would have to climb, but it’s always good to get an impromptu workout in.
I can definitely see why Red Rocks is considered to be one of the best outdoor concert venues in the world. In spite of the fog and drizzle, it was still so grand and majestic just to be up there.



The night was not without its challenges. We went with a good friend who recently moved from DC to Denver, and I kept worrying that he wasn’t enjoying the show, and also worrying about my dog back at the Airbnb (he never quite settled into our temporary accommodations) and our steep climb back down to the car in the dark, a definite challenge to my fear of heights.
The cold posed a challenge to both the orchestra and Wayne Coyne’s voice, but they powered through it and I loved getting to hear some of my favorite songs performed live for the first time. I’ve been to several Lips shows over the years, and while this wasn’t my favorite of their performances, it was still the most memorable. I’m used to more antics from the Lips, but they kept it simple to let the orchestral accompaniment shine.
Throughout the show, I found myself constantly comparing the actual experience we were having to the one I had pictured in my head. This wasn’t my big bucket list Red Rocks experience, was it?
But I got a subtle rebuke from the band when, in the middle of a song, there was an issue inflating the giant rainbow you see above. Wayne stood awkwardly at the edge of the stage, playing quietly on his guitar as he waited for his crew to get the prop set up. It was a long wait, but he and the orchestra continued to stall for time, the tension building.
Finally, the rainbow began to slowly form above him. He launched into “What is the Light?” and the crowd went crazy.
Later, after he’d returned to center stage, he admitted that there had been a moment when he had doubted that the rainbow would ever appear. But finding a lesson in the folly he said:
“And that’s what I get for having just a millisecond of doubt about the rainbow. If there’s one thing we know: never doubt the rainbow.”
The thing I love about The Soft Bulletin is way it reminds us to celebrate the beauty in the midst of pain, sadness and fear, to stop being so caught up in little things that don’t matter, to celebrate life exactly as it is.
There was no actual pain and sadness that night, maybe a little fear and unnecessary worry. But as I did my cowardly creep down the dark stairs to the parking lot, the music followed me home.
It wasn’t the night I had imagined, but it was exactly what it should have been. It reminded me that while they’re fun to make, bucket lists aren’t the important thing.
It’s funny that what could be considered a “let down” experience reminded me of why I love traveling so much. Nothing is ever exactly as you picture it in your head. A trip is never perfect. But if you wait long enough, there’s a rainbow at the end.