TETON VILLAGE, Wyo. — The impending collision of The Flaming Lips’ bubble-wrapped psych-pop and Umphrey’s McGee’s precision-grade prog-jam will descend into the valley this Saturday. Here’s a guide to a warm and groovy Rendezvous Music Festival 2026, celebrating the 60th ski season at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort.
The Flaming Lips have produced music to match their name since 1983, and earned three Grammys doing it. Be it strange, chaotic, beautiful, mind-altering, whimsical, or psychedelic — it concocts an emotional super glue that pairs frontman Wayne Coyne’s high, crack-able voice with kaleidoscopic musical accompaniment.
What The Flaming Lips continue to push the boundaries of is concert performance with an art-rock, circus approach. Video projections, lasers, inflatable figures, balloons, fake blood (they really like blood), outrageous consumes, giant balls of glitter underneath inventive stage lighting — adding up to an indulgent visual experience that acts as a complimentary palette for sonic textures and eccentric musical moments. The band’s upward trajectory was setup by 1993 MTV hit “She Don’t Use Jelly,” followed by the 1999 release of The Soft Bulletin, and then solidified with 2002’s Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. The band’s latest release is a live 2024 performance of the entire Yoshimi record, Live at the OKC Zoo Amphitheatre.
The Flaming Lips are certainly further out of the box than most bands to headline Rendezvous. And those that appreciate this notion — regardless of familiarity with their music — are sure to maximize enjoyment through a mind that’s open as a Wyoming landscape. Because, for The Lips, finding common ground with any audience means a willingness to be wooed (the audience), and five guys that are ready to woo.
“You may not know our music but we’re glad to be standing here in front of you, and if you stand there for a moment, we’ll blow your minds,” Coyne told Buckrail in 2018, ahead of The Flaming Lips’ first-ever Wyoming performance at The Center in Jackson. “And I think that’s been our challenge. When we were first invited to play festivals, you go from this isolated little world where you’re playing to your fans and they love it and you can veer off and it can go a lot of ways. But the fans know every second of everything you’ve done and they’re all crammed into a little place. Then you’re thrust in front of a hundred thousand people at 4 in the afternoon and they can be indifferent or excited. We thought, ‘Let’s see how we can make this better of an experience.’”
As for Umphrey’s McGee, the band’s wild amalgam of funk, metal, progressive rock, electronic, jazz, and folk will play out for the first time in Wyoming. Based in Chicago and formed in South Bend, Indiana, the sextet has logged about 2,950 shows over the last 28 years. (And has recorded nearly every show since 2005, making them available through their own UMLive.net, now part of Nugs.net.). Often associated with the jamband movement for their high level of improvisation, Umphrey’s doesn’t quite fit that traditional mold with more progressive rock leanings. They’ve cultivated a strong relationship with fans, allowing them to vote on setlists and improv themes in real time.
Founding member Joel Cummins (keyboards, backing vocals) chatted with Buckrail about fond memories of skiing Jackson Hole during a rare New Year’s Eve off during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s nice having personal history with the mountain,” Cummins said. “I think this’ll be the fourth time that we’ve skied in Jackson Hole. We’ll have our skis out on the road with us, and it’s a rare thing to walk from the slopes to stage. This is going to be our 49th state [to perform in]. Hawaii will be the only one left after this.”
For the 2025 release of Blueprints, Umphrey’s abandoned traditional songwriting to “Frankenstein” a record entirely out of fan-favorite live improvisations. The band invited fans to vote on their favorite experimental jams from past sets, which were then cut down, re-arranged, and polished into songs, including some with added lyrics.
“I don’t think an album has ever been made this way before,” explained Cummins. “Blueprints represents improvisations that were picked out by fans and stitched together like Legos from as far back as 2004-2005 and as recent as 2023-24, so it spans most of our entire career. Ironically, it’s our first jam album of studio stuff. We [tend to] really focus on the songs, a little more concise in the past, and with Blueprints it’s like, ‘OK let’s go and kind of treat this a little more like a live show in the studio setting.’”
Blake Horstmann will open the afternoon with a DJ set of EDM and house beats. Some might also recognize him from The Bachelorette.
The Rendezvous Music Festival is presented by Jackson Hole Mountain Resort (JHMR). The resort has partnered with full scale production company G7 Entertainment Marketing since 2022. The festival is supported by the Jackson Hole Travel and Tourism Joint-Powers Board (JHTTB) and the Teton Village Association.
“There’s definitely more coordination that comes with an epic show like The Flaming Lips, especially with the scale and visual elements they’re known for,” stated JHMR. “Moving the event fully to Teton Village gives us the space and infrastructure to support it. [And] the shift to ticketing is really about elevating the overall experience. It helps us manage capacity and safety, but it also gives us the ability to invest more into talent and production.”
“I honestly never thought I would need to warn attendees about latex being used at an event!” said Michelle Puckett, executive producer of G7. “The Flaming Lips use latex balloons in their show, so we created signs to warn about the latex in case someone has an allergy. The band really wanted confetti at the show, however, we cannot contain the confetti to just the parking lot. We were concerned about confetti wandering.”
General Admission for Rendezvous Music Festival is $61. VIP available for $452. Show time 4 p.m. Children under 12 years old are admitted free. Limit two children per ticket holder. Children under 5 will be admitted free to VIP areas with a VIP ticket-holding adult. Limit one child per ticket holder. $2 from every ticket sold will be donated to Jackson Hole Community Safety Network.
Festival organizers are encouraging concertgoers to take advantage of the transportation options during this year’s Rendezvous Music Festival as there is very limited parking in Teton Village. This year’s transportation and parking plan is available here. For more information about items allowed at the festival, VIP tickets and more, check out JacksonHole.com.
BONUS SHOWS on Rendezvous Fest weekend
Friday, March 27
Souls of Mischief perform 3 p.m. Under the Tram at JHMR. Free, all-ages.
Gin & Juice Volume VII, 8 p.m. at the Mangy Moose. $51.
DJs Handsome Tiger, Oh Nassi, and Dumpster Fire, 9 p.m. at the Virginian Saloon. $19-$31.
Saturday, March 28
Tram Jam, celebrating 32 years of ski bum music, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the base of the Bridger Gondola at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. Free, all-ages.
Rendezvous Fest Afterparty: N2N w/ DJ Also Starring, 8 p.m. at the Mangy Moose. $27.
Friday and Saturday, March 27 and 28
The Johnson Party, 7:30 to 11 p.m. at the Silver Dollar Bar. Free.
Rhett Haney, 8:30 p.m. to midnight at the Million Dollar Cowboy. Cover charge TBD.
Sunday, March 29
Big band jazz with Jazz Foundation of Jackson Hole, 7:30 to 10 p.m. at the Silver Dollar Bar. Free.
