Fans get inside space bubbles for rock concert

A band has played what is being called the 'World's First Space Bubble Concert'. The psychedelic-rock group the Flaming Lips played to an audience who were all in giant, inflatable plastic bubbles. The bubbles are called Zorb balls. The band played two concerts in their native city of Oklahoma. All band members were also inside their own Zorb bubble. There were 100 bubbles at the shows. Some of the bubbles contained three people. The bubbles may be one way for concerts to go ahead during the pandemic. Each bubble has a special speaker, a water bottle, a battery-operated fan, a towel and an "I gotta go pee/hot in here" sign. Workers refill the bubble with cool air if it gets too hot.

The idea for the bubble concerts came from the band's lead singer Wayne Coyne. He often uses a Zorb ball to roll over the crowd during his concerts. He decided that concerts would be COVID-safe if everyone was in a Zorb. He said attending a space bubble concert is "safer than going to the grocery store". He told the Rolling Stone magazine: "It's a very restricted, weird event, but the weirdness is so we can enjoy a concert before putting our families and everybody at risk." He added: "You see people excited, people being happy, and people really having fun....I think it's a bit of a 'new normal'. You might go to a show, you might not, but I think we're going to be able to work it out."