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Jun 11, 2020 By Christopher Roberts The Flaming Lips

Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips has long been performing in a plastic bubble that he can walk across the audience in. Befitting these socially distant times, the band has taken the concept even further in a performance for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, with the entire band in separate plastic bubbles and also their audience, including some kids, in bubbles. And to make it even more timely, they did “Race for the Prize,” a classic from 1999’s The Soft Bulletin about two scientists racing to find a cure. Beyond the gimmick, the band also sounded fantastic. But we do hope this isn’t exactly the future of concert going. Watch the performance below.

The Flaming Lips recently shared a new song, “Flowers of Neptune 6,” via a video for the track. The song featured Kacey Musgraves on additional vocals. Frontman Wayne Coyne co-directed the video with regular collaborator George Salisbury. It featured Coyne draped in an American flag and wandering a burning field in one of his signature clear plastic bubbles. The standalone single was a delicate ballad, rather than one of their more experimental and noisy epics. It could almost be a B-side from The Soft Bulletin era. Dave Fridmann and The Flaming Lips produced the song, which is out now on Warner Records. “Flowers of Neptune 6” was #1 on our Songs of the Week list.

In November 2019 The Flaming Lips released a new live album, The Soft Bulletin Recorded Live at Red Rocks with The Colorado Symphony Orchestra, via Warner Records. As its title suggests, the album featured a live concert of them recording their acclaimed 1999 album in its entirety with The Colorado Symphony Orchestra (and conductor André de Ridder) at Red Rocks Amphitheatre, near Denver, Colorado.

The Flaming Lips also teamed up with Los Angeles garage rock duo Deap Vally to form the collaborative band appropriately named Deap Lips. They released their debut album together, also titled Deap Lips, in March via Cooking Vinyl.

Read our exclusive interview with Wayne Coyne on his all-time favorite album, from our My Favorite Album Issue.

The Flaming Lips released another new album, King’s Mouth: Music and Songs, back in April 2019 for Record Store Day (followed by a wider release in July 2019). King’s Mouth features spoken word vocals by Mick Jones of The Clash.

Read our interview with The Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne on King’s Mouth.

Also read our 2017 cover story interview with The Flaming Lips on Oczy Mlody from our 15th Anniversary Issue.

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