(CNN) -
There is no certainty if The Flaming Lips use jelly - or petroleum jelly, for that matter - at their concerts these days (there is a renowned song by the band called 'She Don't Use Jelly').
However, the rock band tests plastic bubbles.
Oklahoma City rock musicians are literally exploding in 2020, using human-sized inflatable bubbles to protect themselves and covid-19 fans as they find a way to perform live.
Performing at The Criterion in their hometown on Monday night, The Flaming Lips were placed - and all the fans in attendance - within individual plastic spheres.
The concert, which was part live performance, part music video recording, was born from a sketch drawn by Wayne Coyne during the early days of the pandemic, the leader told CNN.
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"I did a little drawing ... in which I drew The Flaming Lips doing a show in 2019. And I'm the only person in the space bubble, and everyone else is normal," Coyne told CNN during a phone conversation Friday.
"Then (I did another drawing with) The Flaming Lips on a show in 2020. Exactly the same scenario, but I'm in a bubble, and everyone else is too."
At the time, Coyne says, the idea was more or less a social commentary on the state of the virus, with the idea that covid-19 would never linger long enough to see the bubble experiment fully inflate.
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“I don't think anyone would have thought… in mid-March that this will continue to happen, you know, eight months later.
I think we all think it's a month, maybe two months, but we're going to handle this, ”he said.
Coyne and the band first unveiled the concept during a May visit to "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert."
That inspired them to keep going.
«We do a couple of songs with about 30 people in the bubbles.
And we started thinking, 'Well, you know, just by doing that, we started to get an idea that we could really do it, you know, and it could actually happen,' "Coyne revealed.
"Space bubbles" have long been a part of The Flaming Lips theatrical shows, so Coyne and company were familiar with a series of inflatable orbs.
After setting the specs, the band ordered 100 bubbles from China, and this one-of-a-kind music event, one first crafted on Coyne's sketchpad, was ready to blow.
"Since May, the desire to see the music live has become, you know, more, more amplified," he told CNN, noting that fans interested in trying the experience were asked to come to The Criterion between 6:30 and 7 pm (Miami time).
"Shortly after six, we had enough people."
With a couple hundred fans floating around, The Flaming Lips performed a dance remix of "Assassins of Youth" and "Brother Eye", and a couple of tracks from their latest LP, "American Head."
Coyne described an Instagram post from the show with the word "Yessss !!!"
- a nod to the feat they had collectively accomplished.
"I like the way this looks, because you can get as excited as you want, you can scream as much as you want, you just can't infect the person next to you, no matter what you forget, how excited you are," he said.
"That barrier is still there, they are protected and you are protected ... that part is what we really felt was success," he said.
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So are bouncing bubbles, with fans and bands alike locked in, the future of live music, at least in the midst of this global pandemic?
"I'm willing to do everything I can, you know, to say, I think we could do this, and this would be absolutely safe," says Coyne, who said that ultimately he is hopeful for a vaccine.
“We like The Flaming Lips like the idea that we are doing something different… I think it could be great.
It could be fun.
And we could all have a, you know, a unique crazy experience, ”he said.
"At least for now."
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