Duran Duran flew 300 drones above the NASA airspace at a concert celebrating 50 years since the Apollo 11 launch and the subsequent moon landing.
The concert took place yesterday in Florida at the Rocket Garden at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.
After a set from DJ Evalicious at 8:00 pm, the band went live at 10:30 pm, with the drones making their appearance early.
Prior to the show, keyboardist Nick Rhodes revealed: “At the start of the show, 300 drones will rise up and move around in swarms. It’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen.”
He continued: “We had to go through all sorts of bureaucracy for this concert. NASA don’t normally allow anything to fly over their airspace, let alone 300 swarming drones!”
In addition to the drones, an orchestra and 40-piece choir accompanied the band, as they launched into a number of their space-themed hits, including ‘New Moon On Monday’, ‘Astronaut’, and the 1981 debut single, ‘Planet Earth’. The group also played a cover of The Police’s‘ Walking On The Moon’.
The audience for the concert included surviving members of NASA’s Apollo Space Programmes. Proceeds from the show will go towards Apollo 11 astronaut, Buzz Aldrin‘s Aldrin Family Foundation.
The organisation, founded in 2016, “strives to cultivate the next generation of space leaders, entrepreneurs and explorers who will extend human habitation beyond the Earth to the Moon and Mars.”
The show comes as the band reveals they are working on their first new album since 2015’s Paper Gods.
Rhodes also revealed that the album is being produced by Mark Ronson and Erol Alkan. Guest artists on the album will include Lykke Li and Blur‘s Graham Coxon.
On the direction for the new album, Rhodes said: “Rather than copy our previous styles, we say, ‘What would we do if we were a new band today?‘” Of course there will be some similarities – [lead singer] Simon’s voice is very identifiable and we like to have one foot on the dancefloor with some songs.”
Rhodes said a new single from the album could be expected as soon as early next year.
