[imagesource: Scott Booker]

The Flaming Lips are taking physical distancing to a whole new level, with a literal interpretation of ‘staying in your bubble’.

The band performed live to a crowd in their hometown, Oklahoma City, on Monday, October 12, with each person inside their own plastic sphere, including the band.

It’s a creative way to set yourself apart in a world where most musicians have been forced to perform online, to prevent large crowds from gathering in what could become a COVID-19 ‘super spreader’ event.

(See Tin Roof for more on what that looks like and how it plays out.)

The idea came from a doodle done in the early days of the pandemic, frontman Wayne Coyne told CNN.

“I did a little drawing… where I drew a picture of The Flaming Lips doing a show in 2019. And I’m the only person in the space bubble, and everybody else is just normal,” Coyne told CNN during a phone interview on Friday.

“Then (I did another drawing with) The Flaming Lips playing a show in 2020. The exact same scenario, but I’m in a bubble, and so is everybody else.”

Behold the most recent outcome of those doodles:

The band first shared this physically distanced bubble experience when they performed on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert in June:

When Coyne first came up with the idea, he says that he had no idea that the pandemic would last this long.

“I don’t think anybody would have thought … in the middle of March that this is still going to be going, you know, eight months later. I think we all thought this is a month, this is maybe two months, but we’re going to get a handle on this,” he said.

He says that the desire to see live music has been on the rise since May. With the bubbles, people can do what they would normally do at a concert without the danger of standing in close proximity to one another.

“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 about, how excited you get,” he said.

“That barrier is still there, they’re protected, and you’re protected… that part of it is what we really felt like was the success,” he said.

Some are calling this the future of live shows.

I would have been keen on some personal space at live shows, even before the pandemic.

[source:cnn]