Art finds a way.
“Living in a bubble” used to be an expression that described a person’s tendency to shut themselves out from the greater world. Last Monday, psych-rock band, The Flaming Lips, gave a whole new meaning to the expression by performing a live concert in Oklahoma City in which every person in attendance was covered in a life-size plastic bubble. [Featured image: @waynecoyne5]
For anyone who has ever witnessed the fantastic theatricality of a Flaming Lips live performance, or knows anything about its wonderfully eccentric frontman, Wayne Coyne, it’s no surprise that the band was the first to play a bubble concert. In pre-pandemic shows, it wasn’t unusual for Coyne to encase himself in a plastic bubble and bounce over the hands of the audience mid-performance of The W.A.N.D.
Now that a pandemic has majorly disrupted concerts and live performances, in which collective gatherings of people pose a threat to all in attendance, Coyne and the band have had to think outside the box on how to proceed. The answer – more bubbles.
Last Monday, the Grammy-winning band performed a concert in their hometown of Oklahoma City at the Criterion with every person in attendance encased in an inflatable bubble.
“I think that’s kind of the dilemma we’re all in is that are we waiting for it to go back to normal or are we starting to plot,” Coyne mused in an interview with Brooklyn Vegan. “‘What’s the future look like? What is the future of live music?’”
The Flaming Lips recently released their 16th full-length studio album, American Head. The critically-acclaimed album is now available on streaming services.