Flaming Lips robbed

The Flaming Lips were robbed on the first date of their UK tour last weekend by a man resembling "a whippet".

The US pop heroes played the opening date on their new British tour in Brighton on Saturday evening but their dressing room was apparently raided before the gig.

Frontman Wayne Coyne reportedly spent much of the concert at the city's Dome venue appealing for the return of the property, which included his wife's digital camera and a laptop.

The thief was caught on CCTV, with Coyne describing him as "of regular build, about 5ft 11", "wearing a light blue hooded athletic top with a white stripe" and looking "a bit like a whippet."

Later on during the action-packed concert, the group called a halt to proceedings so a girl could be treated by medical staff after suffering an epileptic fit, reports the NME.

The Flaming Lips tour continued in Manchester last night and calls at the following venues:

November 2006:

08 Blackpool Empress Ballroom
09 Birmingham NIA
10 Glasgow SECC
13+14 London Hammersmith Apollo
18+19 Dublin Vicar Streetdocument.write(unescape("