Fiery Moments Don’t Come From Flaming Lips

The impulse behind a show that calls itself the Music Against Brain Degeneration Revue isn’t that hard to decipher.

The Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne, who organized the mini-festival, obviously wants to showcase music that will provide an antidote to contemporary Top 40 drivel and other such crimes against rock. At the Palace on Sunday, the evening’s three headliners did their level best to carry out Coyne’s mission.

Robyn Hitchcock, England’s resident singer-songwriter eccentric, opened the show with a short, mostly acoustic set of his darkly whimsical material. A trenchant satirist with an appealingly wispy singing voice, Hitchcock went heavy on novelty songs that used Gene Hackman, fine cheese and Seattle as comedic signposts.

Veteran indie rockers Sebadoh’s affecting set showcased the emotional range of the band’s two songwriters. Guitarist Lou Barlow sang bittersweet songs about romantic dislocation while his barbed riffs provided dramatic counterpoint. Bassist Jason Loewenstein opted for a more visceral approach, spewing strident rants that occasionally spilled over into punk territory.

Because the Flaming Lips’ new album, “The Soft Bulletin,” is one of the year’s best and the Lips haven’t played L.A. in four years, the Oklahoma trio was the evening’s most eagerly anticipated act.

But despite the best intentions (the band even provided 500 pairs of headphones to pick up sound directly from the mixing board), its set felt sluggish and half-baked. The band was far too reliant on backing tapes to replicate its lush soundscapes, and Coyne’s fragile soprano frequently got lost in the loud, lumpy sound mix.