Los Angeles  - The founder of Cirque du Soleil announced plans Wednesday to use his upcoming space trip to host a two-hour extravaganza about the importance of access to clean water across the globe.

Guy Laliberte said in a webcast that the gala would take place on October 9 aboard the International Space Station and from 14 cities as well. Among the terrestrial guests on the show will be US former vice president Al Gore, supergroup U2, Indian musician AR Rahman and pop stars Peter Gabriel and Shakira.

Laliberte, 49, is due to take off on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft on September 30 for a 12-day round trip to the International Space Station. Laliberte's fortune is estimated at some 2.5 billion dollars, and he paid an estimated 30 million dollars for the trip.

The event, called Moving Stars and Earth for Water is thought to be the first organized art show from space. In a webcast, Laliberte described it as a "poetic social mission" aimed at highlighting the importance of water for Planet Earth.

The idea of the show will be to present a "poetic fairy tale" that will tell the importance of water through the perspective of four characters: the sun, the moon, the stars and a single drop of water.

The show has been written by Canadian author Yann Martel, (Life of Pi) and will feature many of the extravagant acts that have made Cirque du Soleil famous around the world, Laliberte said. Though he might don his clown's nose for the show, he joked that he won't be allowed to perform fire-eating tricks in orbit.

"People should see it as a moment where the voices of the world are unifying in a specific moment and participating at an event together to talk about water," he said. "This is a moment of great friendship, of great artistic rendering, I believe, and hopefully this artistic project will touch people."

The cities that will host events include Montreal, Moscow, Johannesburg, Mumbai, Marrakesh, Sydney, Tokyo, Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro, Paris and London, as well as the US cities New York, Santa Monica, California, and Tampa, Florida. Laliberte will coordinate the performances from the space station and will be the seventh private explorer to travel to space. (dpa)