DJ Paul Oakenfold Plays 'Highest Party on Earth' on Everest
Legendary British DJ Paul Oakenfold has trekked to Mount Everest’s base camp to play the ‘highest party on Earth’.
The three-time Grammy nominee performed a set at 5,380 metres (17,600 feet) this morning as part of a project called SoundTrek, which aims to highlight the effects of global warming.
Oakenfold, who has collaborated with Madonna and U2 in the past, revealed he had no trekking experience before he embarked on the 10-day walk to Everest base camp.
He told Agence France-Presse: ‘I’m not going to pretend it was easy to get here … but it has been a wonderful trek. If you could see the view I’m looking at, it is very inspiring.’
A team of porters and yaks carried the audio equipment needed for the gig.
Oakenfold trained for four months in-between a busy schedule of late night gigs before he arrived in Nepal.
In a video, Oakenfold said: ‘It will be very moving … on our trip and journey up, we’re going to explore local music, sit with the locals, hang out with the locals, it will be interesting to see how we all are when we come back.’
Climber Kenton Cool, who was there to see Oakenfold in action, tweeted: ‘WE DID IT….@pauloakenfold plays a set at Everest Basecamp!!’
The gig is the first in the DJ’s SoundTrek series, which is aimed at ‘taking electronic dance music to many of the planet’s most remote and challenging locations, at the same time raising awareness of environment matters and interacting with local cultures and charities, raising funds along the way’.
Oakenfold is also raising money to help survivors of Nepal’s earthquake in 2015, which killed nearly 9,000 people and left thousands homeless.