{"id":431187,"date":"2026-05-04T04:11:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T04:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/431187\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T04:11:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T04:11:09","slug":"sigur-ros-and-bastille-for-david-attenboroughs-100th-birthday-bash-at-royal-albert-hall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/431187\/","title":{"rendered":"Sigur R\u00f3s and Bastille for David Attenborough\u2019s 100th birthday bash at Royal Albert Hall"},"content":{"rendered":"

An event celebrating David Attenborough\u2019s 100th birthday is taking place at Royal Albert Hall next month and will feature performances from Sigur R\u00f3s<\/a> and Bastille<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The live event is being organised by the BBC and will celebrate the life and career of the iconic British broadcaster, natural historian and writer.<\/p>\n

Hosted at the historic London venue, the night will be broadcast live and hosted by Kirsty Young. Guest speakers include Sir Michael Palin, Steve Backshall and Chris Packham, and there will also be musical performances from some of the artists featured in his hit Planet Earth TV series.<\/p>\n

Bastille frontman Dan Smith<\/a> will be performing a classical version of their massive \u2018Pompeii\u2019 with the BBC Concert Orchestra, following the track being used in Planet Earth III. Icelandic post-rock legends Sigur R\u00f3s will also be performing their classic \u2018Hopp\u00edpolla\u2019. Taken from their 2005 breakthrough album \u2018Takk\u2019, it was used in the soundtrack for the trailer of the first season of 2006\u2019s Planet Earth before they released a new version of the song in 2016, created specially for the follow-up, Planet Earth II.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIn Iceland we are blessed with a seemingly inexhaustible supply of wild and untamed places. But even here, in the very furthest flung corners of Europe\u2019s largest wilderness, the scars of human industry are visible, the plans for future encroachments, by dam and smelter, legion,\u201d the band said in a statement at the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf lost the Icelandic highlands are not recoverable. Around the world the story is the same; the traffic, literally, going in one direction. Sigur R\u00f3s are proud to be associated with Planet Earth II and its all-important mission to hold us rapt in understanding of, and respect for, this endlessly fascinating, utterly surprising and ultimately fragile place we are lucky enough to call home for a short while.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SigurSigur R\u00f3s, 2025. CREDIT: Chloe Kritharas\/PRESS<\/p>\n

The BBC Concert Orchestra will also be performing the scores associated with some of the most memorable moments in Sir David\u2019s shows \u2013 including the iguana and snake chase from Planet Earth II \u2013 and Sienna Spiro<\/a> will join forces with Paraguayan harpist Francisco Yglesias to play \u2018Pajaro Campana\u2019 \u2013 a piece that featured in Attenborough\u2019s first wildlife programme, Zoo Quest.<\/p>\n

\u201cSir David\u2019s gift to the world has been a life spent exquisitely revealing Earth\u2019s wonders to us all,\u201d Kirsty Young told the BBC<\/a>. \u201cThe very least he deserves is a big 100th birthday bash at the Royal Albert Hall. I\u2019m very happy indeed, as the host, to be able to invite everyone to the party.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alongside the live performances, there will also be footage of the most memorable wildlife moments captured from both Attenborough\u2019s seven-decade-long television career and from BBC\u2019s natural history archive.<\/p>\n

\"Bastille,Bastille, 2025. CREDIT: Press<\/p>\n

The event is produced by BBC Studios Music Productions and the Natural History Unit in partnership with The Open University, and will be taking place on May 8 at Royal Albert Hall. It will also be broadcast from 8:30pm on BBC One and iPlayer. Visit here<\/a> for tickets to the live show, and here<\/a> to tune in on iPlayer<\/p>\n

Two other shows are being broadcast on BBC to celebrate Attenborough\u2019s birthday too. These include his 1979 series Making Life on Earth: Attenborough\u2019s Greatest Adventure, which features new interviews with Sir David and the original production team, and Secret Garden \u2013 a new, five-episode show that explores the hidden stories within Britain\u2019s gardens and shares how the public can help support struggling species.<\/p>\n

For Dan Smith, the appearance at the one-off Royal Albert Hall show comes following Bastille sharing \u2018Save My Soul\u2019 at the end of 2025<\/a> \u2013 their first new single in three years.<\/p>\n

As for Sigur R\u00f3s, the Icelandic post-rock stars held a residency at that same historic London venue in October<\/a> last year and used the shows to break out classic track \u2018\u00c1ra b\u00e1tur\u2019 for the first time. This summer sees the band embark on the final leg of their UK and European orchestral tour<\/a>, in support of their acclaimed 2023 album \u2018\u00c1TTA<\/a>\u2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An event celebrating David Attenborough\u2019s 100th birthday is taking place at Royal Albert Hall next month and will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":431188,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[93,61,60,278,641],"class_list":["post-431187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-music","tag-pop"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=431187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431187\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/431188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}