The Flaming Lips want Elon Musk to make them the first band to play in space

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By ( Louder, Classic Rock ) published

Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne wants his band to be the first to perform in space, and pleads with Elon Musk to make it happen

The Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne and Elon Musk
(Image credit: Simone Joyner/Redferns, BRITTA PEDERSEN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Psychedelic rockers The Flaming Lips are no strangers to the unconventional. If their recent COVID-19 live experiment – which saw audiences view their performance from inside futuristic plastic bubbles – wasn’t weird and wonderful enough, they’ve now focused their sights on a venue set-up even more remarkable than the last. 

Catching up with Bryce Segall on radio/podcast station Audacy, frontman Wayne Coyne opened up about his “next big idea”, and revealed that he’d like The Flaming Lips to be the first band to play in space. 

An ambitious mission for any space-loving eccentric, it'd no doubt require a thick-pocketed mastermind to cover the cosmic-sized cost. Coyne's got that covered, though – he wants Tesla-inventor and self-appointed Technoking Elon Musk to be the man behind the mission to make his dreams a possibility. 

Coyne says: “I still hold out hope with the likes of an Elon Musk being out there… I love him. I think he's cool and I think he's got big ideas that are actually working.

“We've always said that we want to be the first band to play on the International Space Station, and I feel like to even say that on your show, he might be listening.”

However, Coyne’s enthusiasm seems to quickly wane once he considers the reality of his aspiration: “Oh my gosh, would we really have to be shot into space? It would be the scariest thing ever”.  

Unless the almighty Musk can come up with an invention which allows planetary teleportation, we’re not sure the Flaming Lips vocalist has much choice in the matter.

“I hope it happens on an ideal level, but I’m scared that it actually could happen on another level. 

"But I still have that dream”. Elon, if you're reading, you know what to do.

Listen to the full conversation below:

Liz Scarlett
Liz Scarlett
Content Editor

Liz manages Louder's social media channels and works on keeping the sites up to date with the latest news from the world of rock and metal. Prior to joining Louder as a full time staff writer, she completed a Diploma with the National Council for the Training of Journalists and received a First Class Honours Degree in Popular Music Journalism. She enjoys writing about anything from neo-glam rock to stoner, doom and progressive metal, and loves celebrating women in music.