Icebreaker with BJ Cole perform music from Brian Eno's album Apollo: For All Mankind

As part of the THSH Sounds of Space weekend we present a live arrangement of Brian Eno’s seminal album Apollo, performed with NASA footage. Eno, pioneer of ambient music, conceived it for Al Reinert’s 1989 documentary on the Apollo space missions, For All Mankind. He jokingly referred to it as an attempt to write ‘zero gravity country and western,’ since that was the astronauts’ preferred on-board listening and the long reverberations of the pedal steel guitar evoke the vast emptiness of space. Music from the album was also used in the movies 28 Days Later, Traffic, and Trainspotting.

The innovative Icebreaker ensemble and renowned pedal steel guitarist BJ Cole return the music to its original conception, matching the mesmerizing beauty and tranquil mystery of images of the moon and Earth and capturing the humour of the astronauts as they skitter about on the moon’s surface.

‘…with the blown-up, grainy NASA footage and Icebreaker’s diligent musicianship, this “weightlessness” becomes moving and sublime. Apollo’s moonstruck ambience has aged gracefully, and Lee’s spare, fiercely intelligent orchestration gave it the bloom of youth.’ The Guardian *****

‘If you’ve ever wondered how it feels to travel into space and set foot on the moon, for now at least, this performance might be as close as you can get.’
New Scientist Read the full review.

‘The combination of the music and visuals is mesmerising, relaxing, absorbing and beguiling… a fantastic rendition of a beautiful album to soundtrack one of mankind’s greatest achievements.’ Music OMH

‘… with the blown-up, grainy NASA footage and Icebreaker’s diligent musicianship, this “weightlessness” becomes moving and sublime.’ John L Walters, The Guardian

‘One giant leap for the ears… and an essential celebration of ambient and space-faring history.’ Kultureflash

Click here to watch a video of Icebreaker and B.J. Cole performing Weightlessness, part of Brian Eno’s Apollo

6.15pm Pre-concert talk: The Gift of Apollo

Between 1968 and 1972 twenty-four Americans flew to the Moon. What was arguably Mankind’s greatest achievement had taken over 400,000 engineers working round the clock for a decade to accomplish. Over forty years later the full significance of the endeavour is still being debated. As a prelude to the concert, space flight historian, writer and film-maker Dr Christopher Riley reflects on what the Moon landings meant and reminds us of the great legacy of Apollo.

Please note that Brian Eno will not be performing at this event.