In what seems to be a biennial pre-record release show, Black Lips played in their hometown of Atlanta on Saturday night at The Variety Playhouse. Their impending record is untitled as of right now, but will most likely be released in April. Perhaps this was just an early treat. The Lips put together a similar show at the Playhouse in February 2009, the month that they released 200 Million Thousand. That show surely was fun as can be for all that attended — the Lips played a mix of rarely played oldies and a few new songs that would quickly vanish from their typical set-list. For example, they played four songs that had a little lasting power back in 2009, but are rarely played nowadays: “Take My Heart,” “Starting Over,” “I’ll Be With You,” and “Elijah.” The tunes that have stuck from 200 Million Thousand are “Drugs” and “Short Fuse.” As far as rare classics go, they played “Ain’t No Deal” (which I must note has been played more than usual in 2010), “Workin,” and one of my personal favorites, “Fad.” Getting back to Saturday night, they played six new songs, a few of which have been debuted recently. These include “Dumpster Diving” (Ian St. Pe on lead vocals), “Raw Meat” (the whistle one they played frequently on their ’10 US tour), and “New Direction” (not the official name, but sung in the chorus). Notably, though, Bradford Cox was in attendance and he played drums (as he did in the studio back in ’04) on “Notown Blues”. Accomplished multi-musician Joe Bradley played the organ during that song.