Flaming Lips Perform Concert In Oklahoma In Zorb Bubbles
The Flaming Lips have performed two gigs in Oklahoma with both the audience and the band inside individual inflatable bubbles, in what the band dubbed “the world’s first actual space bubble live concerts”.
Flaming Lips’ frontman, Wayne Coyne, was behind the idea, having previously used Zorb balls in their live shows to roll over the audience. Each bubble was fitted with a high frequency speaker, a water bottle, a battery-operated fan, a towel and sign that said both, “I gotta go pee/It’s hot in here”. If it got too hot, the bubble could be refilled with cold air by a leaf blower, and if fans needed to go to the bathroom they were escorted by venue staff to the loos after putting on their masks and leaving the bubble.
There was space for up to 100 bubbles in the venue and they could accommodate up to three fans per bubble. The band had tested the idea for the gigs back in October 2020, after they had performed in bubbles on Stephen Colbert’s chat show in America in June, which can be seen below.
Wayne Coyne shared photos on his Instagram page of the concert poster, as well as photos of the preparations for the event.
At one point during the performance, Flaming Lips held up silver foil balloons that read “F**k You Covid 19” and “F**k Yeah Oklahoma City”. They performed songs from across their back catalogue, including Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, Pt. 1, and Do You Realize? and also covered the late Daniel Johnston, performing his song, True Love Will Find You In The End, in a nod to what would have been the musician’s 60th birthday.
Speaking about the space bubbles to Consequence Of Sound, Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne said:
“I feel like our concerts, the way we’re doing it, it’s honestly safer than going to the f*****g grocery store. You go to the grocery store, and some people have masks on, but some people just act like there’s nothing going on. There’s nothing you can do about that.”
“I think in the beginning we were really focused on, ‘How do we get these people in there and make sure they’re safe and make sure it’s fun and make sure it works for everybody?’.