Ariel King October 17th, 2020 - 6:56 PM
The Flaming Lips have adjusted to the world of COVID-19, and have played a show in front of a live audience where everyone is inside of plastic bubbles in Oklahoma City. Prior to the pandemic, The Flaming Lips have performed with the band’s lead singer, Wayne Coyne, inside of a bubble and diving into the crowd as part of their live shows. Now, with the current pandemic, the band realized that by including the audience in bubbles, everyone could remain socially distanced to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Footage of the concert shared on social media shows Coyne standing above the crowd as he’s within his own plastic bubble, the audience members jumping up in their bubbles beneath him. The crowd jumps and dances enthusiastically within their bubbles, the energetic show allowing for social distancing within each space.
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Yessss!!! Last night at @criterionokc !!! Thank you ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
The Flaming Lips performed a gig in bubbles to an audience also in bubbles last night. pic.twitter.com/XzNRKWvPn4
— Robby Richmond (@Robbyrichmond) October 14, 2020
This concert isn’t the first time The Flaming Lips has performed with everyone in bubbles. Back in June, the band and audience all enjoyed a live performance within plastic bubbles for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. The Colbert performance lasted for one song as part of the PlayAtHome series, with The Flaming Lips performing their track “Race for the Prize.”
The Flaming Lips released their most recent album, American Head, last month in mid-September. Prior to the album’s release, the band shared a socially-distanced video for their song “Mother Please Don’t Be Sad.”
The Flaming Lips also plan to perform in January, with a show at The Wiltern in Los Angeles scheduled for January 25, 2021 and a show at The Warfield in San Francisco scheduled for January 26, 2021. It is not yet known if the audience will need to be in plastic bubbles for the live show in order to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Photo credit: Mauricio Alvarado
