Old Age New Age
On Sunday night my brother, Tim, and I went to see Jean Michel Jarre at Birmingham's NIA. It's the third time we've been to see him together (nobody else will go with me!). The first time we went was to the London Docklands concert when I was 13, then at Maine Rd in Manchester when I was 18 and then this weekend, aged 34. Twenty one years between them all!
I never thought I'd have anything but praise for Jarre but I left the NIA under-awed by what I'd seen. I just don't think "small" arena-sized venues are his bag really. Although it was a good show and I enjoyed it there just wasn't enough of a light show to keep me happy (nor did he play my favourite "song"). The lasers (although Tim assures me they're just high power LEDs nowadays) were impressive and it was good to see the Laser Harp make a couple of appearances (some guy has made his own version - if I had the time I'd love to do that!). Here's the Laser Harp in action:
Don't ask me to justify my liking of Jarre. I don't know what it is I like about the music. I just do. But then I can see why others don't. It was funny on Saturday as I was showing Karen some youtube clips of his bigger concerts from the 90s and all she could do was laugh. Was it tongue-in-cheek she asked as we watched him prance round the stage with his banana-shaped keytar.
That's why I only ever listen to Jarre in private. It was nice on Sunday night to listen to the music at full volume without worrying about who would hear. Jarre is my guilty pleasure.
On the way home on Sunday I said to Tim that I don't think I'd go to another Jarre concert (not at ?รบ50 a ticket anyway) unless it was an event in itself. Jarre live should be an once-in-a-lifetime experience on a massive scale. I just hope he does another concert on the scale he used to before he retires.
Here's a clip of his Paris La Defense concert from 1990. Wait for it to pan out to show the whole of the skyline being used as the stage:
If he did another concert like that I'd travel anywhere in the world to see it. I just don't know if he will though. Something tells me he's getting too old for all the BS involved in organising something on that scale.
In the mean time I think I'll skip on the indoor concerts and stick to listening to it on low volume in my office as I work.
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I went to the Docklands concert, I think I was about 19. I was very disappointed, the weather didn't help in that there was a really low cloud base, it just didn't have much atmosphere. The police after the show also made me experience for the first time ever, why they were terrible at managing crowds.
you need to try and track down some of these bootleg recordings...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_for_Supermarkets
I don't remember much of the Docklands concert. I expect if I went today I'd maybe not enjoy it either. From what I've heard it was plagued with issues from the start.
Do you know where you can get a copy Stu? I've always fancied listening to that.
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=053B4DD5FCA0225E&search_query=Music+for+supermarkets
Then use this to get the mp3s ...
http://www.listentoyoutube.com/
Are they the best quality copies there are? Sounds terrible. Like it was recorded on the Tube by holding a mic next to the head of somebody listening to it loudly on their headphones or something...
JM Jarre has always been one of my favorite 'electronic music' artists. Some others to consider:
- Kraftwerk (there recent live Minimum-Maximum double CD is just great)
- Vangelis (his older stuff, like spiral)
- Klause Schulze (softer)
Have never seen him live, but have been a big fan for more than 30 years. One of the Oxygene pieces was my usual "outro track" back when I was DJing.
Note that since he was performing his style of music about a decade before the term 'New Age' came into use, I've never liked applying that label to him.
I seem to remember Oxygene was used in parts of the movie Gallipoli
Don't try and out-stat me on Jarre Richard ;-)
It was his dad, Maurice, who was famous for film scores though: http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/artists/05d4d95c-8803-450f-80c2-7ea606e6f78b
And I was just thinking yesterday, whilst listening to the Docklands CD for the first time in years, that I ought to see when he's next playing! Saw him in Manchester in 1997.
Never saw him live but bought some of his early stuff Oxygene etc.
On a similar vein, someone who left me a little underwhelmed by there live performance was Mike Oldfield, his music seemed to be so different yet his live shows were so inanimate.
the only thing I remember about them was the special speakers he used which, if I remember made by Quad electrostatic and seemed to be made a pine colour as opposed to the usual balck of normal speakers.