A SCOTTISH music festival is set to take its virtual gig to new heights by beaming a unique Scottish rendition of a David Bowie classic to the International Space Station.
Mull of Kintyre music festival (MOK Fest) has teamed up with the Machrihanish Airbase Community Company (MACC), currently in the running to become the UK’s first spaceport, to record the unique set, featuring local band Slainte Davaar Allstars’ cover of Space Oddity.
With the annual music festival moved online this year, organisers are keen to try something new and showcase the traditional and contemporary artists to a new virtual audience. They came up with the idea of partnering with the local base and its unconventional location for the exclusive gig.
As the MACC base continues to develop its plans for a range of spaceflight related activities, the set was performed on the former top-secret RAF base runway – nearly two-miles long and one of the longest in Europe – for current commander of the ISS, Chris Cassidy, and cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner, as they orbit the earth at 17,000mph.
The recording will be unveiled on tomorrow at 7pm, with the ISS crew confirmed as tuning in.
Event manager Iain Johnston, of JIG Events, said: “The Mull of Kintyre Music Festival has encouraged people to visit Kintyre from all parts of the globe since its inception 28 years ago and we were naturally disappointed, like every other event organiser up and down the country, to have to cancel this year.
“However, what better way to turn it into a positive than to take our music interstellar?
“We hope the ISS astronauts enjoy their Scottish welcome just as much as we enjoyed making it. As far as stage backdrops go, it might not be quite as impressive as Chris Hadfield’s, but it’s still pretty unique!”
The virtual festival will include at least five concerts featuring bands from across Scotland, Northern Ireland and the US, as well as many local favourites – many of whom were set to perform live at this year’s cancelled MOK Fest.
Many of the concerts will have guest hosts and each will be themed to tie in with the concert that would normally have been held that night.
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