MINNEAPOLIS – They didn’t bite the heads off any bats, but the Flaming Lips and the singer of Modest Mouse did take flight in Minneapolis on Friday night with a monstrous Black Sabbath cover in tribute to Ozzy Osbourne.
The two eccentric and chaotic alt-rock groups – seemingly weird candidates to honor the Prince of Darkness given their lack of metallicity – paired up to perform “War Pigs” together near the end of a packed co-headlining concert at the Armory. Isaac Brock of Modest Mouse returned to the stage to trade verses with the Lips’ Wayne Coyne as the penultimate tune of the night, which Coyne introduced simply as “a song from 1970.”
“We’re doing it for Ozzy,” he added, referencing the Black Sabbath frontman who died on July 22 at age 76 after several years of declining health…