Pairing helps lift Parties festival above the routine

If the primary purpose of the All Tomorrow’s Parties festival is to show how contrasting and juxtaposed musical styles and philosophies can coexist in one setting, then the second and closing day of this year’s edition on the grounds of the Queen Mary in Long Beach met that goal profoundly -- and that was just in a two-song stretch by the Flaming Lips, headlining the big stage in the park outside the ship.

First the Oklahoma City band offered a version of Black Sabbath’s thudding, Vietnam-era indictment “War Pigs,” with singer Wayne Coyne joined by Peaches, the electro-rapper who had earlier headlined the smaller stage inside the ship’s hold. Then, without even pausing for Coyne to wipe off the fake blood he and Peaches had smeared on their faces, the Lips played “SpongeBob and Patrick Confront the Psychic Wall of Energy,” a new song they’ve done for “The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie.”

Few, if any, other bands could make that segue without spoiling it with irony or cynicism, but for the Lips it was merely a typical balance of probing and hope. Otherwise, the Lips’ set was more or less the same thing they’ve done in area shows over the last couple of years, a colorful jumble of uplifting, oddball tunes, funny film clips and a stage packed with cavorting, animal-costumed associates. But the Peaches-SpongeBob pairing turned it into a special event -- and was in fact the missing piece that made what had otherwise been a fun but unspectacular day truly memorable.

Not that there weren’t some terrific acts on the bill, with this third Los Angeles-area presentation of the U.K.-originated ATP curated by the band Modest Mouse (which played Saturday). Overall there were appealing sets, but no real epiphanies.

The closest had been the Eagles of Death Metal. This Queens of the Stone Age side project was a hoot -- crunchy, ‘70s-rooted rock with touches of boogie blues and giddy glam. It was followed on the inside stage by Peaches’ omnisexual extravaganza, updating Studio 54-era electronic disco with a performance-art forwardness that made the old days’ decadence seem like, well, “SpongeBob SquarePants.”

A coinciding set by the Cramps on the outdoor stage matched Peaches’ sexuality in the veteran band’s familiar but still-entertaining horrorbilly way. Earlier big-stage sets included fan favorites the Shins, the endearing folk-prog-alt-rock of former Pavement leader Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks; the guitar-band sculptures of Built to Spill and the enticingly dark-toned sounds of Canadian band the Constantines.