A ballet of drones at Jean-Michel Jarre. (source: TASR)
On a warm May evening last year, Bratislava’s skyline became the stage for one of the most ambitious open-air concerts ever held in central Europe. Beneath the iconic UFO Bridge and against the industrial silhouette of the Danube, French electronic music pioneer Jean-Michel Jarre – joined by Queen’s Brian May – launched Bridge from the Future, a sprawling audio-visual spectacle of lasers, drones and digital projections.
In September, Sony Music is set to release the performance as a deluxe Blu-ray and collector’s box set, promising to bring the magic of that night to living rooms worldwide. But for many in the Slovak capital, the memory remains vividly intact.
“It was hypnotic,” said Thom Lovelock, a teacher from Wales living in Bratislava. “The UFO Bridge in the background complemented the electronica perfectly. I’ll remember hearing Oxygene live for the rest of my life.”
The event opened the 2024 edition of the Starmus Festival, a biannual gathering of scientists, astronauts, musicians and thinkers, co-founded by astrophysicist Garik Israelian and May. Designed to celebrate the intersection of science and the arts, the festival's Bratislava debut drew global attention – with attendees arriving from across Europe and beyond.
“I saw people had travelled huge distances,” said Peter Strhan, a Slovak journalist. “For a moment, Bratislava felt like an important city on the world stage.”
More than just a concert, Bridge from the Future was a feat of engineering and imagination. Staged at the Incheba Centre, it featured a 170-tonne platform, a 400-drone ballet, fireworks, and a laser harp sequence that reviewer Mark Roland described as “a vast cat’s cradle of pulses overheard in a manner which would surely be illegal in several EU countries, but not this one.”
In a city better known for classical music and castle tourism, the concert’s futurism made a striking impression. “There were green lasers shooting across the Danube, visuals on Aupark Tower – it felt like Brat Vegas,” Lovelock joked.
A night remembered
For some, the night left personal imprints. French expat Yohanar Rigoni attended with two visiting friends. “My parents back in France were jealous,” he said with a laugh. “The music, the lights – it was unforgettable.” Aneta Kecksecová, a Bratislava local, called it “breathtaking”, though she lost her phone, and with it, every photo and video from the night. “I’m the type of person who keeps the best memories in my mind,” she said.
Jarre’s performance, which included new compositions like Bratislava Time and a reimagined New World Symphony with May, drew on a techno-utopian vision that resonated with the Starmus mission. The week-long festival also featured Nobel laureates, astronauts, and environmental figures such as Jane Goodall and Sylvia Earle. The Stephen Hawking Medal for Science Communication was awarded to director Christopher Nolan, naturalist David Attenborough, and musician Laurie Anderson.
The upcoming Blu-ray release includes a director’s cut in 4K, immersive audio, a 22-track double CD, and a limited-edition 10-inch blue vinyl of Bridge from the Future in the Ultimate Collector’s Box Set. “I wanted to create the most complete, cinematic version of the concert possible,” Jarre said in a statement.
