Over the weekend, psych-rock veterans the Flaming Lips finally performed the world’s first two “space bubble concerts” over consecutive nights at the Criterion in the band’s home, Oklahoma City. After a lot of planning and a series of trial runs, the concerts were originally scheduled to take place in December, but were postponed due to rising COVID-19 cases in the area.
At each show, audience members were separated into 100 giant plastic bubbles with up to three people in each, similar to the ones frontman Wayne Coyne has used during the band’s performances for years. Band members were also housed in the bubbles with their instruments.
While it may have been a very different setup to a usual Lips show, footage from the evenings would suggest they were just as colourful and bombastic as any of the band’s pre-pandemic gigs, with a giant robot, big light display, confetti and balloons. One of which spelled out “FUCK YOU COVID-19”, and another which spelled out “FUCK YEAH OKLAHOMA CITY”.
The setlist for both nights featured a slew of favourites like ‘She Don’t Use Jelly’ and ‘Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1’, a cover of Daniel Johnston’s ‘True Love Will Find You in the End’, and more.
See images and fan-shot footage from the shows below.
