The Flaming Lips Pull Off World's First-Ever "Bubble Concerts" [Videos]

The Flaming Lips broke new ground in the field of pandemic-safe shows over the weekend with the world’s first-ever bubble concerts. The two shows, which took place on Friday and Saturday, were held at The Criterion in the band’s hometown of Oklahoma City, OK.

These concerts saw the band perform before an audience of 100 plastic bubbles which could hold up to three people. The entire band also performed in space bubbles, as opposed to just frontman Wayne Coyne who is known to roll over audiences in his own plastic enclosure.

These concerts marked The Flaming Lips’ first live performances since December 7th, 2019. At the shows, the band paired up celebrated hits like “She Don’t Use Jelly” and “Do You Realize??” with new tracks from its 2020 album, American Head. Friday’s concert saw the live debut of the American Head track “Valleys of Neptune 6”, which was originally recorded with Kasey Musgraves. The band also honored singer-songwriter Daniel Johnston with covers of “True Love Will Find You In The End” on both nights. Friday would have marked his 60th birthday.

While the concerts were a cathartic exercise for the band and its fans—with the stage even hosting colorful balloons that spelled out “FUCK YOU COVID-19″—they were also carefully planned and expertly executed. A video released prior to the concert explained the mechanics of observing an entire concert from a space bubble.

Each bubble equipped fans with a battery-operated fan, a bottle of water, a towel to wipe down condensation, a Bluetooth speaker to receive sound, and a pair of signs; one which read “I gotta go pee” and another reading “It’s hot in here.” When someone would display either of those signs, a staff member would come by to remedy the situation by either opening the bubble to allow the person(s) to use the restroom or refill the space bubble with new air to cool it down.

The Flaming Lips’ space bubble concerts came as the result of months of planning, test runs, and delays. Dating back to last June, the band teased the idea of performing an entire concert from socially-distant plastic bubbles with appearances on late-night TV and NPR Music‘s Tiny Desk (Home) Concert series.

Then in October, The Flaming Lips put on a trial run of the concept, once again at The Criterion, where the band performed a few songs before a lucky test audience. They then announced full-fledged space bubble concerts, set to take place in late December. As COVID infections in Oklahoma continued to rise, however, the band thought it prudent to reschedule them to a later date. In a fortunate, and increasingly rare, turn of luck these rescheduled dates actually came to fruition as The Flaming Lips pulled off what they deemed to be the world’s first-ever space bubble concerts.

Scroll down to see videos from The Flaming Lips’ socially-distant concerts at The Criterion over the weekend, as well as the setlists.

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The Flaming Lips – The Criterion – Oklahoma City, OK – 1/22/21

[Video: FIRST HAND FAN]

The Flaming Lips – “Do You Realize??” – Oklahoma City, OK – 1/23/21

[Video: Daniel Whittle]

Setlist: The Flaming Lips | The Criterion | Oklahoma City, OK | 1/22/21

Set: Race for the Prize, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1, Flowers of Neptune 6 [1], True Love Will Find You in the End (Daniel Johnston), She Don’t Use Jelly, Will You Return / When You Come Down, The Gash, All We Have Is Now, Are You a Hypnotist??, Feeling Yourself Disintegrate, There Should Be Unicorns, Waitin’ for a Superman, Do You Realize??

[1] Debut

Setlist: The Flaming Lips | The Criterion | Oklahoma City, OK | 1/23/21

Set: Race for the Prize, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1, Flowers of Neptune 6, True Love Will Find You in the End (Daniel Johnston), She Don’t Use Jelly, Will You Return / When You Come Down, All We Have Is Now, Are You a Hypnotist??, Feeling Yourself Disintegrate, Laser Hands, There Should Be Unicorns, Do You Realize??