#The flaming lips bubble concert trial#

Coyne says he was also curious about the extent to which the crowd might need to use the bathroom during the show, and while no one was in dire need during the trial run, he says there’s a reasonable and safe way to have a person briefly exit their bubble and run to the can. There’s never any risk of someone running out of air, and at worst, things can get pretty hot (a potential cool down option: a staffer comes back with the leaf blower to get some air circulating). On March 12th, the frontman drew and posted a cartoon to Instagram: A Flaming Lips concert in 2019 with just Coyne in his signature space bubble, and a Flaming Lips concert in 2020. Everybody is paying attention.”Īs for the show itself, Coyne and the band knew from experience that people could comfortably spend about an hour inside a bubble. You can’t come in here, get drunk, and take off your mask.

But he adds, “Everybody being aware that this thing has still got us, I think that helped. After the show, the audience was essentially led out in the same manner, row-by-row with masks back on.Ĭoyne admits the entering and exiting process was the most nerve-wracking part of the night, especially because Oklahoma City was in the middle of another Covid case surge.

Once people were settled, the bubbles were inflated with a leaf blower and zipped up at that point, the person was allowed to take off their mask and the next row was led in. The audience was ushered into the venue to their assigned bubbles, row-by-row, led by a troupe of staffers in masks, gloves, and clearly identifiable uniforms (all so the crowd would know, Coyne jokes, that they were there to help and “not just bossy hipsters”). Here’s how the first bubble show at the Criterion worked: 100 un-inflated bubbles were laid out, 10 rows of 10, while the crowd was asked to form a socially distanced line on the large sidewalk outside (and keep their masks on, too, of course). There was confetti and balloons everywhere, I loved it Read more Report as. Wayne even came into the crowd in a big clear bubble and the crowd carried him around. Their music sounded so wonderful and the crowd was so alive. Find out when The Flaming Lips is next playing live near you. But if we do that without this pretty radical protection, then we’re going to kill you.” All The Flaming Lips upcoming concerts for 2023 & 2024. Due to the pandemic, those shows have been. He adds: “The job of the Flaming Lips is to get you in a room, get you excited, get you to forget about the world’s problems and entertain you for an hour. What is a Flaming Lips Space Bubble Concert The Space Bubble Concert concept is adapted from a signature spectacle at the Grammy-winning bands famously spectacular concerts: Coyne rolling through cheering crowds in a giant clear inflatable 'Space Bubble. Last month, the Flaming Lips announced the world’s first actual Space Bubble live concerts in their hometown of Oklahoma City in December. Hopefully not for the rest of time, but it’s the moment.” I don’t really have a fetish where I want everybody in rubber space balls it’s just a protection device which, at the same time, is such an absurd symbol of our moment. You might have seen The Flaming Lips perform in bubbles on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert or The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon of this year back in June. So, it’s a gimmick, but it’s a gimmick like wearing gloves to protect your hands. Omg I got chills all over me when they started playing It's Summertime, it's my favorite of theirs. Love Stevens little tribute to Daniel Johnston. “None of it makes sense if it’s just another party where people can spread Covid. The new arrangement of 'Be Free, A Way' to fit in closer to the American Head sound is great. “We’re starting to get ready to do an actual show where, yeah, there’s three people in each of these space bubbles, and we play… we think maybe playing two shows a night, and getting a big audience in there each time.“ It’s like, let’s take care of these motherfuckers - that comes first - and then we’ll play a great show and they’ll be alive to see it again,” Coyne says. 'I mean, it seems absurd, but we at first were just doing it as not a joke, but just as a kind of funny thing, and now it’s becoming kind of serious and real,” he said. The musician told website Brooklyn Vegan that the band were planning a concert where the audience themselves were in bubbles, protecting them from their fellow virus-spreading gig-goers.

It's a bit of a gimmick but nevertheless fun - but with social distancing measures putting a halt to gigs around the world, you'd assume that such a show may not happen for a while - but not if Coyne has anything to do with it. If you've ever seen The Flaming Lips live, you'll be aware that one of the highlights of their show is when frontman Wayne Coyne emerges in a large zorbing bubble and walks out amongst (i.e.

The flaming lips bubble concert