The future of concerts? Watch crowd dance in personal bubbles at Flaming Lips show

Concerts look a lot different in the coronavirus age, but a new experiment from The Flaming Lips may be the most bizarre yet.

The Flaming Lips took social distancing to a new level at a concert Monday in Oklahoma City. Part of the concert was done with the band and audience members in individual gigantic bubbles.

The concept was done to shoot a music video, but also as a test run for the possibility of space bubble concerts, according to Brooklyn Vegan. Video posted by lead singer Wayne Coyne shows the experiment in action at Monday’s show.

“I mean, it seems absurd, but we at first were just doing it as not a joke, but just as a kind of funny thing, and now it’s becoming kind of serious and real,” Coyne told Brooklyn Vegan. “I’m not suggesting the whole world should do it this way. I’m just saying The Flaming Lips can try it this way.”

Asked by one fan how long air stays in the bubbles, Coyne responded, “For a couple of hours easily.”

Earlier this month, he shared a picture from the Oklahoma City venue with the deflated bubbles along the floor. Another picture posted by Coyne shows that the band asked audience members to “wear masks when not in the space bubble.”

Coyne said last month the hope is to do a bubble concert by the end of the year.

“As the end of September comes along, we’re probably gonna try to do it,” the frontman told SPIN. “As ridiculous as it sounds. I just don’t know how good the concert would be, but I do know the virus wouldn’t be contagious doing it like this.”

Bubbles are far from a new thing for The Flaming Lips. The band performed in bubbles during recent performances on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” and “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” New Musical Express reported. They also brought bubbles out for concerts prior to the pandemic.

Their recent endeavor is perhaps the most inventive way to hold a safe concert during the coronavirus pandemic. Other venues and musicians have held drive-in concerts and social distanced events, or had limited capacity at shows.

This story was originally published October 14, 2020 at 4:33 PM with the headline "The future of concerts? Watch crowd dance in personal bubbles at Flaming Lips show."