The Flaming Lips performed to a crowd of bubble-cased attendees in what could be, but almost certainly won’t be, the future of live music.
The Flaming Lips are no strangers to eccentric, boundary-pushing live performances. Unicorn status, megaphones, giant balloons, and mythical costumed characters all make regular appearances on stage with Wayne Coyne and his band.
Now, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its decimation of live music around the world, The Flaming Lips have taken one regular element of their live show – the giant inflatable bubble – to the next level, by encasing the band and the entire audience in bubbles.
Earlier this week, The Flaming Lips took the stage at the Criterion, a venue in their hometown of Oklahoma City, to play two songs to hundreds of lucky bubble-bound patrons, in a performance reminiscent of Jake Gyllenhaal’s iconic role in the 2001 Bubble Boy.
The venue usually holds a capacity of around 4,000 people. But in this case, the large amount of space required for said giant bubbles limited the audience size considerably.
Speaking to Brooklyn Vegan, Coyne described: “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.”
The band previously tried the concept on a smaller scale in a performance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert back in June. Obviously, they felt that went well, opting to take the experiment further into the real world. What’s next? An outdoor bubble festival?
Personally, I feel the bubbles look a bit claustrophobic, but the audience appears to be having a good time. Right now, who wouldn’t jump at the opportunity to attend a Flaming Lips gig?
The Flaming Lips recently released their sixteenth studio album, American Head. The album’s psychedelic-folk sound has been praised as a return to form for the band.
Check out what the gig looked like below.
