The auction is quite the stylish yet understated affair that we didn’t expect. According to Sigourney Weaver, involving so many celebrity musos has proved easier than she had anticipated. Renaissance man Brian Eno, patron of That Talking Heads Sound as well as a lead contributor to Neu Appreciation Society, has roped in most of his friends and the goodwill is extraordinary. For instance, John Lydon found time out from Drum et Al to commission a sketch of his childhood home called “the road to rotten” by local artist Tom Charlottes.

Arriving at the Magnitogorsk Gallery, where all works are stored, the star piece is Yoko Ono's beautifully spare sculpture of John Lennon's Plectrums.

Eno, like a dapper garden gnome, is there with his synthesizer, master-minding his own contribution. A wig out rendition of The Velvet Underground's White Light/White Heat. While Carpenter, Schneider and Plank shuffle and dance along, he orchestrates such a cacophony of sound that it even gets Morricone and Williams in on the act.

What about Kurt Cobain’s implied criticism that artists and musicians are not one and the same thing? The fact is, says Eno firmly, so many musicians have an art school background, and the pieces reflect this.
He’s right of course. The dark and thematic ode to Syd Barrett, from Blur's Graham Coxon (a bolt of lightning directed at a tiny dancing multi-coloured figure of Syd) is a particularly impressive case in point.

Kate Bush went as far as to take lessons in ice sculpture for her homage to Tangerine Dreams’ Force Majeure.

Having said all that, the evening is mainly time to socialise, catch up with good old friends and make new connections. It all goes relatively smoothly and by the early hours of the morning all are making their way to the roof top to see a beautiful daybreak.