Lauren Heath-Jones | Planet Attractions | 01 Feb 2021
The Flaming Lips performed inside plastic bubbles Credit: Scott Booker/Warner Music
80s psychedelic rock band The Flaming Lips have staged two COVID-safe concerts where both the band and concert-goers were encased in their own plastic bubbles.
The concerts took place at the end of January and were held at The Criterion, an iconic music venue in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, US.
Before the show, masked attendees social distanced themselves in the open area surrounding the auditorium while they waited to be zipped into their bubbles. Once safely inside, the bubbles were pumped with enough oxygen to last three people for up to an hour. The whole process took approximately 45 minutes.
The bubbles were equipped with high-frequency supplemental speakers to prevent the sound from being muffled, as well as a water bottle, a battery-operated fan, a towel to wipe away condensation and an “I gotta go pee/hot in here” sign.
Leaf blowers were used to fill the bubbles with cool air if concert-goers got too hot, while masked fans were escorted to bathrooms by venue staff to ensure safety.
To accommodate the three-man plastic bubbles, the venue’s ground floor was divided into a 10x10 grid with a bubble in each space.
At the end of the 90-minute performance, concert-goers ‘rolled’ their bubbles to the exit before unzipping at the door.
“It’s a very restricted, weird event but the weirdness is so we can enjoy a concert before putting our families and everybody at risk,” the band’s frontman, Wayne Coyne, told Rolling Stone.
“I think it’s a bit of a new normal. You might go to a show, you might not, but I think we’re going to be able to work it out,” said Coyne, who has been known to crowd-surf in plastic bubbles.
The band debuted the idea of a ‘space bubble’ show with a performance on The Stephen Colbert Show back in June, while a test-run was carried out in October. The full-scale shows were originally planned for December but had to be rescheduled when cases in Oklahoma City spiked.
The Flaming Lips performed inside plastic bubbles Credit: Scott Booker/Warner Music
80s psychedelic rock band The Flaming Lips have staged two COVID-safe concerts where both the band and concert-goers were encased in their own plastic bubbles.
The concerts took place at the end of January and were held at The Criterion, an iconic music venue in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, US.
Before the show, masked attendees social distanced themselves in the open area surrounding the auditorium while they waited to be zipped into their bubbles. Once safely inside, the bubbles were pumped with enough oxygen to last three people for up to an hour. The whole process took approximately 45 minutes.
The bubbles were equipped with high-frequency supplemental speakers to prevent the sound from being muffled, as well as a water bottle, a battery-operated fan, a towel to wipe away condensation and an “I gotta go pee/hot in here” sign.
Leaf blowers were used to fill the bubbles with cool air if concert-goers got too hot, while masked fans were escorted to bathrooms by venue staff to ensure safety.
To accommodate the three-man plastic bubbles, the venue’s ground floor was divided into a 10x10 grid with a bubble in each space.
At the end of the 90-minute performance, concert-goers ‘rolled’ their bubbles to the exit before unzipping at the door.
“It’s a very restricted, weird event but the weirdness is so we can enjoy a concert before putting our families and everybody at risk,” the band’s frontman, Wayne Coyne, told Rolling Stone.
“I think it’s a bit of a new normal. You might go to a show, you might not, but I think we’re going to be able to work it out,” said Coyne, who has been known to crowd-surf in plastic bubbles.
The band debuted the idea of a ‘space bubble’ show with a performance on The Stephen Colbert Show back in June, while a test-run was carried out in October. The full-scale shows were originally planned for December but had to be rescheduled when cases in Oklahoma City spiked.
