Rock legends The Flaming Lips played a unique socially distanced show, by putting the band and the audience in individual plastic bubbles
The show took place in Oklahoma City, and was the testing of a long-gestating idea that the band, led by frontman Wayne Coyne, had been sitting on for some months.
Check out this clip of the band performing, posted by Coyne on Instagram.
View this post on Instagram
Yessss!!! Last night at @criterionokc !!! Thank you ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
The Flaming Lips had previously performed in bubbles on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, and decided to test out the concept with an audience.
According to Coyne, the idea goes back to 2019. The singer told CNN: “I drew a picture of The Flaming Lips doing a show in 2019, and I’m the only person in the space bubble, and everybody else is just normal.
“Then [I did another drawing with] The Flaming Lips playing a show in 2020. The exact same scenario, but I’m in a bubble, and so is everybody else.”
In fact, the band have used bubbles in their stage show for some time, with frontman Coyne frequently crowdsurfing in his own plastic bubble, so it was only natural that they be the ones to test this radical idea for holding concerts safely during Covid-19.
It only really makes sense for an act like The Flaming Lips though; it’s hard to see Sir Simon Rattle in a big plastic ball conducting the London Symphony Orchestra.
But then again, these are strange times.
As well as being in bubbles, audience members were asked to wear masks and practice social distancing while outside of their bubbles.
The Flaming Lips released a new album, American Head, in September 2020. Aside from their extraordinary and strange live shows, the band are best known for their songs Do You Realize??, Race for the Prize, and She Don’t Use Jelly.
