Apollo: This Is For All Mankind @ RNCM, Manchester

Last year, Brian Eno's 1983 ambient masterpiece, Apollo, was performed live for the first time at The Science Museum, to celebrate 40 years since man first walked on the moon. With one of the Apollo moonlanding craft as a suitable backdrop, the Icebreaker ensemble played live as BJ Cole plucked away on pedal steel. Above was an edited screening of Al Reinert's 1989 lunar documentary For All Mankind - which used the Eno album as its soundtrack.

It was one of those 'I was there' events - and I wasn't. But the set-up was replicated (minus the landing craft) at RNCM last night - and, for me, completely changed any misconception that ambient music is just background noise for art installations. And that's despite the presence of pan pipes.

Clearly, the images helped. The combination of sound and vision was, at points, incredibly moving. We're all familiar with the first steps on the moon and those famous first words. But the gentle power of the music somehow emphasised the bravery of these astronauts. As they strap themselves on top of a rocket for a trip into the unknown, we're not treated to crass, white noise-style representations of burning fuel, but a quiet piece that instead correlated with the idea that this immense human endeavour hung by the slightest of threads.

Once they reach outer space, the globe is circled to the strains of An Ending. Easily the most melodic and beautiful piece here, the images of Earth become poignant, almost sublime. The footage taken on the Moon is captivating beyond words. And trust the Americans to take a car there...

Beforehand, Tim Boon - Chief Curator of the Science Museum - gave a dryly-delivered but instructive talk about Eno's project and the nature of space and time. It transpires that two of the astronauts took country and western music to play on the Moon - which connected with Eno's idea that this was a new frontier for America just as the Wild West (which C&W celebrates) had been. Hence the pedal steel and music that projects across huge, wide open spaces. Quite brilliant.