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Scene from the music video »Brother Eye«
Photo: The Flaming Lips
Rock concerts are not possible in times of pandemic.
Unless every visitor follows the concert in their own transparent bubble.
There should be enough water in this bubble, maybe a battery-powered hand fan, a towel to wipe off the condensation from the plastic cover.
Of course, this would require an electronic reporting system so that a crew can supply the audience with fresh air using a leaf blower or accompany them to the toilet if necessary.
So completely crazy.
Unless someone does it.
On January 23rd, the Flaming Lips in Oklahoma City gave their first »Space Bubble Show« - under the conditions described above.
It was the most important concert of the year.
In fact, there is hardly a band in the business that cares so little about business and at the same time displays the level of madness without which such an experiment would be inconceivable.
Icon: enlarge Photo: NBC / NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images
Founded in 1983, the group around front man Wayne Coyne and Steven Drozd had their biggest hit in 1991 with the stoned grunge "She Don't Use Jelly", their worldwide breakthrough only in 1999 with the album "The Soft Bulletin".
Since then they have been making a name for themselves with bizarre musical projects that often cross the border into happenings.
The Flaming Lips have completely covered the "Dark Side Of The Moon" (with Henry Rollins) by Pink Floyd as well as "Sgt.
Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band "(with Miley Cyrus) by The Beatles.
At festivals they played their music (»Zaireeka«), distributed on 40 cassettes, over the hi-fi systems in the cars of the audience.
With "7 Skies H3" you released a 24-hour song on a USB stick that was hidden in a real human skull (13 copies were printed for $ 5,000).
In the past few years they have increasingly made spooky records, between krautrock and meandering drug trips, before they returned to the immense pull of their melodies with “King's Mouth” (2019) and “American Head” (2020).
Concerts have always been psychedelic children's birthdays, with unicorns and confetti cannons and Wayne Coyne strolling over the heads of the audience in a large transparent balloon - for years an integral part of all Flaming Lips concerts.
It is now the idea with the balloon that has been expanded by the group into a hygienic-psychedelic concept.
This concept was refined and perfected in numerous test runs, most recently postponed from December to January due to the increasing number of infections in the USA.
In the hall, exactly 100 inflatable spheres were waiting for up to 300 spectators (a maximum of three people per bubble were allowed).
In just 20 minutes, the entire audience was packed aseptically, looked after by a crew of helpers in disease-tested protective clothing.
Overall, the band assured, attending their concert was "safer than going to the grocery store."
Icon: enlargePhoto: The Flaming Lips
A marriage proposal is said to have come about during the concert, and the enclosed audience signaled their applause by drumming against the top of their balloons.
In social networks, the immersive event is celebrated by participants as exhilarating and unforgettable.
The concert will not have been a commercial success due to the lack of an audience.
It may not even be a role model for other musicians.
Artistically, however, the Oklahoma Space Bubble Show is a triumph.
It stands for the rebirth of the concert business out of the spirit of music itself. A single accessory, the balloon, drives isolation to a metaphorical point - and at the same time makes a communal experience possible.
An event as a cheerful »FUCK YOU COVID-19«, as read on another inflatable balloon.
And everything that is inflatable can be let out of the air.
Also from the pandemic.
Icon: The mirror
