End of chapter 1

After a few days off, here I am again..

The tour is over and I am still amazed by the audience we had. I really would like to thank some of the people who have made all this possible.

First of all Francis, Claude and Dominique, the 3 talented musicians sharing the stage with me . Through this tour we became even closer friends than before. We are all complementary, Francis is my memory, he knows all the parts of all songs I did, a great musician, he is also very creative and can save any situation. Dominique is a poet, he is outside of any system, as easily as he can forget his shoes, he can bring tears to your eyes with an impro... Claude is a rock with imagination. I trust him entirely. I know that we could play on the moon and he will get everything under control. Crazy and precise.

Thanks to my dear manager Fiona "my little sister", always in control on all fronts. We have been through so many adventures all around the planet together. She always has been there to solve everything. Thanks also to her new assistant Louis who did a real good job and welcome to the family.

Thanks to Thomas Alsina, such a multi-talented person.Through the years, I feel priviledged to have become his friend. We have done so many things together. He can do almost everything from inventing any new software for 3D film, video fx or electronic music, to deciding 2 hours before a concert to film it in timelapse, to pilot a jet, being a specialist of mangas, computers, Kabuki, bicycles, Opera and silly jokes.
Thanks to Patrick Pelamourgues, like his wife Marie Laure, always in good mood, able to fix anything, anywhere, anytime.

Thank you also to Alain, Mary-Jo and Romain Bilowus, CPM and all the crew for their dedication.

Thank you also to Paul Charles, my agent who put this tour together so quickly.

But more than anything, I would like to thank all of you who have been part of these fantastic audiences, especially you who are following my work for a long time.
Thank you to all of you who have travelled, sometimes with difficulty, to attend 3, 4, 5 or even 10 of the concerts. I feel truly honoured by your dedication and your support and be sure that it means a lot to me...
I am going to continue this blog as much as I can for you.

I have done a lot of things since I came back.

These past few days I have been chasing some analog instruments which I need for some new tracks and for the future on stage. I found a second Moog Liberation and a very rare portable keyboard, the Syntar.

I also went to 2 different exhibitions:
One important retrospective on Louise Bourgeois which I found much less exciting that the one at the Modern Tate in London.

The other one, "Traces du Sacre", also at the Centre Pompidou Museum, is about the relationship between Art and the Sacred, mapping the Sacred in Modern Art.
This is a great idea and to confront in the same room in this perspective, Goya and Damien Hirst, Kandinsky and Bruce Nauman is exciting and ambitious, but the presentation is not clear enough and we can regret the absence of some artists like Pollock ( the dripping period) or Salvador Dali.
Having said that, it is interesting to go and have a look anyway...

I am reading at the moment "My True Story" a very special autobiography on and by David Lynch and I really like it. I also went to see " Iron Man" which I quite enjoyed, my favourite adaptation of the Marvel's Super Heroes Stories so far.

I am now thinking about future projects, the next tour, worldwide this time, and lots of other projects which I'll explain in more detail soon.

Reminds me of someone...

Bruce Nauman, "Traces du Sacré"

Louise Bourgeois

Salamanca

World Heritage of UNESCO, the city of Salamanca is one of the most beautiful cities of the tour. Full of magnificent cathedrals, churches and monuments entirely restored, the spanish city where you have the most students. So the audience was quite young for the concert.
The concert started really well. I think Oxygene 1 has been the best so far, with a lot of emotions, the flute chorus in Oxy 2
and Variation 1 as well. But some problems started in Oxygene 4, we had no minipops in our ears for almost 1 minute. and it was very dificult to keep the tempo. At the beginning of Oxygene 5 , no sound came out from Domino's Eminent. Luc, the backliner crawled until Dominique's position to try to fix it, but still nothing happened. In the meantime I was trying to buy us some time improvising with Arlette on the AKS and various FX. When I saw that it was becoming too long, I decided to start the RMI sequence on the DigiSequencer, but it started at the wrong tempo far too fast. It was too late to change it and then Francis had to play the Bass part at a crazy speed, 140 instead of 96 bpm. I had also to deliver the fastest chorus on the moog liberation of the tour; I shortened it because I thought that Francis was about to explode..
Then It went like that until the end of the gig with a lot of continual crazy things happening. It actually did not come from the band or myself but from the mixing desks. I hope everything will be OK for Zurich!
We will have a lot of work during the sound check on saturday afternoon. It should be OK.
Having said that I tried to deliver the best possible performance and not changing my attitude on stage. The result is that the audience appreciated it and we had a really good response from the audience.
Thank you Salamanca. We'll come back soon.

At 2:00 am we left by bus, the driver was really sick and he dropped us at 4:45 at Madrid airport where we waited almost 3 hours to catch a plane to Paris. At Charles de Gaulle airport, I forgot one of my suitcase and I am still waiting for it.
Good night everyone...

Cathedral of Salamanca built in 1238, amazing..

Eggman with sunglasses.

Load out after the concert, en route to Zurich. Thank you to the crew, you've been great!

Patrick playing a solo on my jamón ibérico bought in town. My favourite..

2:00AM, waiting in front of the wrong hotel in Salamanca..

UEVES 1 MAYO DE 2008

Salamanca en espanol

Patrimonio mundial de la UNESCO, la ciudad de Salamanca es una de las más bonitas de la gira. Llena de magníficas catedrales, iglesias y monumentos completamente restaurados. Es la ciudad española con más estudiantes así que el público del concierto era bastante joven.

El espectáculo comenzó muy bien. Creo que la interpretación de Oxygene 1 ha sido la mejor hasta la fecha, llena de emociones. El coro de la flauta en Oxy 2
y en la Variation 1 también fueron magníficos. Empezamos a tener algunos problemas en Oxygene 4, no nos llegaban los minipops a nuestros oidos durante casi 1 minuto y fue muy difícil mantener el tempo. Al comienzo de Oxygene 5, el Eminent de Domino no emitía ningún sonido. Luc, el ayudante, tuvo que arrastrarse hasta la posición de Dominique para intentar arreglarlo, pero no hubo manera. Entre tanto yo intentaba ganar tiempo improvisando con Arlette en el AKS y varios FX. Cuando vi que la reparación se alargaba demasiado, decidí empezar con la secuencia del RMI en el DigiSequencer, pero comenzó con el tempo equivocado, demasiado rápido. Era muy tarde para cambiarla y entonces Francis tuvo que tocar la parte del bajo a una velocidad de locura, a 140 en vez de a 96 bpm. Por mi parte, tuve que interpretar los coros en el moog liberation más rápidos de la gira; Hube de abreviar porque pensé que Francis iba a explotar...

A partir de ahí y hasta el final del espectáculo, siguieron sucediendo muchas cosas extrañas. Desde luego la responsabilidad no fue de los músicos o mía sino de las mesas de mezcla. ¡Espero que todo mejore en Zurich!.

Vamos a tener mucho trabajo en la prueba de sonido el sábado por la tarde. Debería ir bien.

Dicho esto, intenté ofrecer la mejor de las actuaciones posibles y no cambiar mi actitud en el escenario. El resultado fue que el público lo agradeció y tuvimos una muy buena respuesta de los presentes.

Gracias Salamanca. Volveremos pronto.

A las dos de la madrugada salimos en autobús, el conductor estaba muy enfermo y nos dejó en el aeropuerto de Madrid a las 4:45 am donde esperamos casi 3 horas para coger el avión a París. En el aeropuerto Charles de Gaulle, olvidé una de mis maletas y aún estoy esperándola.
Buenas noches a todos...

Catedral de Salamanca construida en 1238, increíble..

Hombre-huevo con gafas.

Cargando después del concierto, camino a Zurich. Gracias al personal, ¡sois magníficos!

Patrick tocando un solo con mi jamón ibérico comprado en la ciudad. Mi favorito..

A las 2:00 de la madrugada, esperando en frente del hotel equivocado en Salamanca..

(posted on a mobile phone)

Service Note

Hello, this is Thomas. This is the 50th message, congratulations Jean Michel, you did it!

I just wanted to warn you of possible hiccups, as I'm off for two weeks in deep Asia. Louis will act as the JMJ relay, but it might take a few days to iron it out. For those who wonder, JMJ sends the text to me and Louis by mail or MMS, and we correct the typos, blend in his images, and post. 

Talking about mistakes, shameful apologies to the fans in Valladolid for slaughtering your beautiful language: I hadn't spoken spanish for 20 years, and minutes before the show, the production announced there was no interpret. I hope that didn't spoil the show.

Day off in Porto

Today, we finished the shooting of the documentary in Porto. We had quite a good time visiting the caves of Sandeman Porto. Then we left Porto by bus for a 7 hours trip with the band. We had fun with Francis playing Stylophone and Tenory-on.
Zorro drinks with an artist.

The film crew: Benjamin, director, and David, cameraman.

First bootleg edition of the blog, published in the bus by Dominique "Gutemberg" Perrier.

(posted on a mobile phone)

Porto

Arrived in Porto late in the afternoon. We started the sound check at 18:45. The temperature dropped down and the ARP was as usual uncontrolable when we don't have the right heat.. Apart from that the concert went well with an overexcited crowd. We filmed a lot of things today, first of all, in the bus for a long interview while we were going from Lisbon to Porto. Then Benjamin and David intervied Claude and Dominique. Then they interviewed Phil, the executive producer, Alain Courieux, the sound engineer FOH and Julien Vouillon, sound engineer monitors. Last day of shooting tomorrow, good night.
Coliseu in the 40's.

One hour before the concert.

Electro-Lama

Filming each other with Dominique.

(posted on a mobile phone)

Between a circus and an opera house, the Colyseum is a magnificient venue made for a central stage or a traditional one.
Yesterday was the National Day. So doing a concert that night was even more special. It was also my first concert in Portugal. The temperature was over 30 degrees. So, for all these reasons the ambiance was really hot. We had no technical problems with the instruments, and I think the music we delivered was one of the best. David Perrier filmed everything like in Oslo, but with different angles. Tomorrow, we play Porto in the same kind of venue. We go there by bus in the afternoon..
(posted on a mobile phone)

Valladolid, 2:00 AM

Great audience, very enthusiastic, the theater was quite modern but nice.
I still had to fight with the memorymoog and the ARP 2600 but the energy was there again. We are now in the bus ready to go to Lisbon. Waiting for the drivers. The 3 busses are on the parking. We are charging the small helicopters bought in Oslo for an attack against bus 2 where the sound and light crew is sleeping. More news on the issue of the fight tomorrow.
We are supposed to arrive in Lisbon around noon..
Good night......
(posted on a mobile phone)

Clash Magazine

Hi to all
you will find hereafter the link of the latest interview I did for Clash Magazine
http://www.clashmusic.com/feature/jean-michel-jarre
Cheers

Nightmares and Ola

Everything started yesterday when the truck carrying the backline equipment arrived 5 hours late because of a bad puncture. Then we finally did the sound check at 20:35, the concert starting by luck at 22:00.
And then the problems started for me.....
The MemoryMoog went out of tune, the same for the ARP; we had very little time to set up everything. I tried quickly the Moog Liberation (the portable keyboard) and it had a constant vibrato that I couldn't stop. We tried everything and eventually Patrick succeeded to make it usable.
I decided to go on stage with a maximum of energy and ready to cope with anything and..... everything happened!
First of all the Egg chair did not turn properly, the arpegiator of the MemoryMoog was blocked, the ARP was out of tune and I had to retune each of its oscillators live, one AKS had no sound, I had to switch the power off and on to make it work, I had to re-pitch the flute sound constantly all along Oxy 2, the DigiSequencer was blocked and I had to reload the sequence for Variation 2 and play something else in the meantime, the percussive sequence on Oxy 5 was hard to start and the Eminent went crazy on Oxy 13 during the encore..
But I felt Claude, Francis and Dominique really on the case full time and the audience totally with me from the beginning and it gave me the necessary energy to rage against the machines!
The Moog Liberation solo with its strange sound was probably one of the most inspired I've played since the beginning of the tour and the concert one of the most spectacular since the beginning as well.
The result was that the audience went really crazy screaming and doing the Ola at the end - we got the most animated standing ovation. ¡Viva Madrid...!
The French Ambassador in Spain and his entourage came backstage. They all said they enjoyed the concert a lot and were impressed by the excitation of the audience generally quite young. He is a very nice man with a good sense of humour quite different to your ordinary diplomat. He said there is a lot of interest in Spain for an outdoor concert of mine particularly around the theme of the environment - we must meet again soon to pursue. I also spent some time with Rodriguo Sangro from EMI, a very nice, articulate young man, who was in school with Emilie, my daughter. We'll definitely keep in touch.
I am on my way to Lisbon in the bus, I spent some time with Dominique. Janet, his wife was there in Madrid. It was so good to see her around. After difficult times, I found her in very good form and looking beautiful. She loved the show and Domnique told me that she said she received such good vibes that she felt much stronger this morning. In the end, it is what music is made for.
Then we talked with Dominique about our relationship along all these years, the fact that this tour is doing a lot to reinforce our links. He said that he was really amazed by the fact that we are sold out everywhere, with such a success. We're all feeling lucky to get such a positive feedback in the unusual genre that instrumental music is. It is, actually, what makes these concerts so unique. We then talked about future projects and the direction the music should take.
(posted on a mobile phone)

Liceu, Barcelona

Monday has been a tough long day. We went directly from the airport to the venue, one of the most beautiful of the tour. The Liceu is the classical Opera house of Barcelona and has a worldwide reputation. It is like Fort Knox, you have to show your passport for going backstage, you cannot film inside the theater. Thomas, after long negotiations between Fiona and the directon of the Liceu, got the permission to film no more than 20 minutes, staying at the same position.
The stage is very deep and one of the problems was the distance between the first row and my main position.
Because of it, we had to change Oxy 13 at the end: we had to built a riser with one Eminent, replug the Andromeda, plug the Arp Omni and the new MFB synth with a small stone for wind fx (the VCS3 being too far away). I had also to be aware, throughout the show, of the distance with the audience for the Theremin and the Moog Liberation solos for instance..
The final result went well and the concert was a great success. Meeting again with the spanish audience was really exciting. Then I had dinner with my Mum who travelled to join us - she was in good form, considering her age.
Outside the theater a lot of fans were waiting for signatures and photos..

Lunes fue un dia difícil. Fuimos directamente del aeropuerto al sitio del concierto, un de los mas guapos del tour. El Liceu es como Fort Knox: tienes que mostrar to documentación para entrar backstage, no puedes filmar dentro del teatro. Después de negociaciones sin fin con Fiona y el director del Liceu, Tomás obtuvo permisión de rodar 20 minutos de película, no más, quedándose en el mismo lugar.
El escenario es muy profondo, y uno de los problemas es la distancia desde mi posición y el público. Por eso, tuvimos que cambiar el final Oxy 13. Construimos un riser con uno de los Eminent, el Andromeda, el Arp Omni y enchufamos el nuevo MFB sintetizador con una Small Stone para el efecto de viento, el VCS3 siendo demasiado lejos. También tuvo que pensar en la distancia con el público para el Theremin y los solos de Moog Liberación, por ejemplo.
El resulto final fue bueno, y el concierto fue un éxito. El encuentro con el público español fue excitante, pues comí con mi mamá que había venido - estaba bien, considerando su edad. Fuera nos esperaban muchos fans para firmas y fotos.

Week-end in Paris

Just a quick break before Southern Europe.
On friday night, I went to see "Sacred Monsters", a modern ballet with Sylvie Guillem and Ashram Khan. Sylvie is always extraordinary in the way she defines the space around her as soon as she moves. This time, on top of it, she speaks and she is funny and witty. Ashram Khan, signing also the choregraphy is all right but not at her level. Then I went backstage with Gilles her nice husband, to say hello. I met Phillip Sheppard, the composer who did a real good score, mixing classical music with a string trio, a fantastic percussionist and indian music with a pakistenese singer musician and another belgian female singer, making all kinds of sounds with her voice. He told me that" Concerts in China" gave him the desire to become a composer.
Then Saturday I had to find a MFB synth 2, the small german synth, in order to play the white noise part in Oxygene 13 because the VCS3 is too far away at the Colyseum. Actually, because of the unusual distance between the first row and my main position, I need to play the encore more upfront with a proper instruments set-up.
Then I watched" Shine A Light", the Scorcese Movie on the Rolling Stones.
I found Mick, Keith, Charlie and Ronny very moving and impressive. Old pirates with untarnished innocence, Mick and Keith being incredibly fit and delivering a great performance. I have been a bit disapointed though by M. Scorcese's work. The audience in front of the stage looked fake. Mick was right, complaining about the numbers of cameras,18 in a theater like Marigny. So apart not missing one moment of what is going on which is the least of things,, it looks like a TV show and the mood doesn' t match the sweat, the fun and the rough energy of the boys. If I was not particularly impressed by the duet with Jack White, it really works with Cristina Aguilera, such a great voice..
One of the best moments is the duet with Buddy Guy. What he is doing with his guitar and voice is so simple but so unique that for a moment the Stones are becoming his backing musicians! That's probably why Keith offers him his own guitar at the end of the song..
Then I went to the Theatre de la Ville to see " Good Bye Umbrella" by and with James Thierre, Charlie Chaplin's grandson. He is a pure genius. Everybody must see him. He his a poet, an acrobat, a clown, an actor , a director, an author, a musician. His shows are completly unique and magic... impossible to describe. This show is what any artist would dream to express: the purity of a child, the absurdity of life with the control and the talent to serve true unique creativity..
Barcelona today. It is going to be a tough, long day after 3 days off. We'll see...
My mum is also coming tonight and I am glad to see her.
(patiently posted on a mobile phone)

Pictures from Luxemburg

Sound check at the Rockhall, Luxemburg.

Phil, one hour before the show.

The Band.

Morricone wouldn't do better.

My new hat.
(posted on a mobile phone)