Who Will Play The First Gig In Space? Latest Odds

_{Katy Perry, Justin Bieber, and Metallica lead the odds to perform the first-ever concert in space, as artists race to make intergalactic music history. (Image: Bang Media International/Marc Nader/WENN Rights Ltd)}

There is a long line of musicians who are desperate to play the first-ever gig in space - but Ed Sheeran is not part of that queue.

The pop megastar recently revealed he was once invited, via email, to perform in the final frontier - but he turned the opportunity down because the thought of heading to infinity and beyond "terrifies" him.

Speaking on BBC Radio 2's The Scott Mills Breakfast Show, he said, "I was offered to go to space a while ago you know. It terrifies me. I want to go to space when it’s like flying to France and 40,000 people have done it and you can just book it online. I don’t want to be a guinea pig for that, because it still is dangerous.

"There was talk about doing a first gig in space; I’m sure lots of people got this email, but yeah, it terrifies me. Aw mate, I’m not doing it - I got kids, like I’m not going to risk that for a Guinness World Record something or other. I’m not going to risk my kid’s not having a dad."

While the father of two looks unlikely to play the first gig in space, there are plenty of stars who are up for such an incredible intergalactic opportunity.

Perry's Cosmos Concert

Katy Perry's record-breaking voyage into space was much talked about earlier this year.

The Firework hitmaker became the first pop star to sing in space after belting out Louis Armstrong's What a Wonderful World while weightless during her 11-minute Blue Origin flight in April.

Afterwards, Perry - who has five-year-old daughter Daisy with her actor ex Orlando Bloom - said her space travel experience was "second to being a mom."

She told reporters, "That’s why it was hard for me to go because that’s all my love right there, and I have to surrender and trust that the universe is going to take care of me and protect me and also my family and daughter.

"I am full up from being able to get that gift of being a mom, and to go to space is incredible, and I wanted to model courage, worthiness and fearlessness."

Unlike Sheeran, Perry was prepared to take an intergalactic risk - and she is now a 7/4 favourite to return to space to play the first-ever concert beyond Earth's solar system.

Justin Bieber isn't far behind at 2/1, after the singer-songwriter previously admitted he is up for performing in space and even filming a music video there.

The Never Say Never hitmaker tweeted in 2013: "I wanna do a concert in space."

NASA replied, "Maybe we can help you with that."

Sadly for Bieber, a space concert collaboration between him and NASA is yet to materalise. 

DJ Steve Aoki has also expressed a strong interest in performing far, far away. He was due to fly around the moon as part of the Elon Musk-founded SpaceX's dearMoon project, but it was cancelled in June 2024.

Just two years beforehand, Aoki said, "Since I was a little child, I was dreaming of going to the moon. It’s becoming more and more real every day. Still hard to believe but very excited and grateful for this amazing once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. To the Moon!"

In 2018, Aoki had a plan for a DJ set in space, and he's now just 5/2 to achieve that dream one day.

He previously told the Los Angeles Daily News, "I have been begging them to please, please let me be the first DJ to play at the space station.

"I’d play one song, two songs or I’d play six hours; just get me up there. I’m trying to find a way. I’ve talked to several astronauts, but I need to get ahold of Elon Musk so I can get on a rocket with him. That’s definitely a goal." 

Space Rockers

Metallica have previously admitted they are keen to rock out in space, and the heavy metal band are just 9/4 to make history by performing such a gig.

In 2017, Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich told radio station SiriusXM, "Living in San Francisco, which is the gateway to the future, obviously all those things are being planned around San Francisco to a degree, so I feel that we are as close to that [playing in space] as we can be.

"I don’t really want to commit to anything other than to say that if there really is a possibility for this to happen, then we will happily be at the very front of that line."

Muse frontman Matt Bellamy would also love to be part of the first-ever concert in space and once admitted the band had entered talks about the possibility.  

Speaking to The Sun newspaper in 2011, he said, "We've had some discussions about playing in space. Sometimes very coherent conversations and sometimes very late at night, but it's for real.

"I'm thinking of approaching Richard Branson to see if we could do it on the spacecraft he's got happening. Although we do have a lot of equipment, so I guess we'd have to use pods to carry our stuff, and we'd scale back the shows a lot...

"I do think it will be possible in the future and I'm sure it will happen in my lifetime. We'd love to be part of that."

A year earlier, singer-songwriter Gabriella Cilmi told FHM magazine, "I'd love to play the first gig in space - that would top it."

While their opinions may have changed over the past 15 years, Muse are just 7/2 to play the first gig in space, and Cilmi is a 5/1 shot.

Like Muse, Rihanna has also expressed an interest in boarding one of Branson's Virgin Galactic space flights.

She was said to have forked out $500,000 for three seats in 2013.

If she does eventually make it to space, Rihanna - who has the intergalactic-themed song Sledgehammer, which was the soundtrack for the 2016 sci-fi movie Star Trek Beyond - may as well perform a gig there (9/2).

However, she now has two children and another on the way.

If she's anything like Sheeran, the Diamonds star might think such a jaunt is too risky since becoming a parent.

BTS' Space Jaunt? 

Like Rihanna, BTS and Coldplay are no strangers to interstellar-themed songs either.

The two bands have collaborated on tunes My Universe and The Astronaut in the past, and two of BTS' tunes, Mikrokosmos and 134340, even featured on NASA's playlist for an eight-day mission to the moon in 2024.

As a result, the K-pop megastars are just 3/1 to play the first gig in space, and their pals Coldplay aren't far behind at 4/1.

Elsewhere, Dua Lipa (11/2) and Sir Elton John also have intergalactic tunes, with Levitating and Rocket Man, respectively.

Elton's 1972 megahit Rocket Man has even been used as a wake-up call for astronauts on the International Space Station.

He is 7/1 to perform the first concert in space and is just behind Taylor Swift in the market.

While the Blank Space singer hasn't expressed a huge desire to play a concert in the cosmos, she has sung about going to "lunar valleys in my mind" before.

Swift is a 6/1 chance to perform in the final frontier, and her friend Lana Del Rey - who once said she was "more interested" in "intergalactic possibilities" than feminism - is 10/1.

When the time comes, it is guaranteed to be an out-of-this-world gig - whoever is performing.