jeudi 20 novembre 2008

The Red Arrow

St. Petersburg was great. The sound mixed by Alain Courieux (the front-of-house sound engineer) was amazing. The audience was really hot in spite of the security guys being quite heavy each time somebody started dancing or moving too much. We left right after the gig to go back to Moscow.

On the way to the Railway station, we crossed the city and admired its fantastic buildings beautifully lit and under the snow. So many different styles of architectures make you understand that Peter the Great commissioned a lot of different architects, french, italian, german, swedish, spanish... to make Europe consider Russia as a civilised country at last.
So St. Petersburg conceived artificially, became with time one of the most beautiful town.
Then we arrived at the station.

The Red Arrow:

The Red Arrow is the legendary train that the bolsheviks used to go from St. Petersburgh to Moscow.
It is an amazing train all red of course, with real bed rooms in first class. They are playing the St. Petersburg anthem at the departure and the Moscow one at the arrival.
I am in the train now. A rather scary woman is insisting that I choose amongst 4 types of meat and sausages which she will bring over to me at 6AM precise. After having tried to explain to the dragon lady that I really want to sleep, I had to give up in the end and she will bring me this strange mix in the middle of the night..
The decor of the train is really great. Each cabin looks like a small granny's bed room. Everything is beige and red. Through the window you can see the russian countryside by night, covered with snow under the moonlight, like in Doctor Zhivago's movie.
The restaurant is also quite decadent, very 30's, where you can eat from sausage to caviar and drink all kinds of possible Vodkas...

At six o'clock, dragon lady is knocking at my door with a military enthusiasm. Fortunately, she does not force me to eat what she left.

We arrived later in the morning and we left Moscow station while they were playing the city anthem..

Today is a day off for everybody. I had a few meetings near the red square and dinner with friends at Petrovitch, a cool place totally decorated in Soviet Union style. A rockabilly band was playing live some classics of the 50's and 60's sounding like a Tarantino soundtrack..
Tomorrow is showday, the 2nd Moscow concert at the Kremlin.
Good night!

Smolny Cathedral

Thanks to all the fans waiting in the snow after the concert



Saint Petersburg Hall

Self portrait in the St Petersburg Hall

The corridor of the Red Arrow

My bedroom

Very posh

The restaurant
The Red Arrow and the dragon lady (not our dear danish friend!)

The Arts Square

New russian food product with soviet-style packaging





The KGB building

Petrovitch Restaurant





Crossing the Red Square in russian winter

(posted on a mobile phone with cold fingers)

22 commentaires:

Eniko a dit…

Dear Jean Michel,

Hope you could have a rest after all... And got a pair of gloves with you!
The pictures from the train are really great; thank you for the update. Have a nice time in Moscow!

Eniko

Turid Elisabeth a dit…

Goodmorning Dr. Jean Michel Jarre!:)

Thanks again for sharing!
It's interesting to read your blog this morning and see the pics you've posted!
I can imagine the magic winterlandscape and the moonlightnight!:)
The dragon lady and the traveling doctor in music and his team, trying to get some sleep before a new busy day!:)
Best wishes to you from me!
Hugs ;)

JG a dit…

Did you try (in good old russian tradition) to bribe the dragon lady? :)

GJ

Zwoekie a dit…

Hi Jean Michel and team!

I really like the pics. It must be quite anadventure to see Europe this way.

I'm not so much of a blogger but I've been reading your storiex of the tour with great pleasure and even commenting!


Does the tour inspire you to use the old analog synths for your next project, I surely hope so.


I can't wait what you will produce next.
Well I've got to go, busy day ahead


I finally got my KRK VXT 6 monitor speakers but I have to make room for them in order to get my "sweetspot" LOL!
Now my studio is complete.
Have a nice day and I'm looking forwards to your next message!

See ya!

Zwoekie

Kanta a dit…

Dearest Jean Michel,

Wow, those photos are super especially of you.

I love your blog!

Keep warm.

xxx

Paes a dit…

Wow!! It's so interesting!!

Did you finally eat the sausages??

Thanks for the update.
Have a nice day off!

jawalka a dit…

Hi Jean-Michel,
I hope that the dragon-lady was not so bad :D thanks for great pictures :) This train is realy beautiful. You must really enjoyed your travel.
I can't really wait to see you in Warsaw :)
Have a nice day off :)

Kate :)

Robi a dit…

Dear Jean Michel,

thanks for this great blog.

We, in Budapest, were waiting for hours for having autograph from you, but you couldn't come. :-(

Hope next time!

Regards

Audio Coffee Productions a dit…

Ok, so the 'Dragon Lady' was probably not the sort of 'old lady' you would've liked to have been on tour with...!
Don't have too many nightmares about it though! :-D

Halcyone a dit…

Hey Mister JM!
Merci pour tout ces articles et photos, très sympa de vous retrouver en bloggueur (sic) assidu.
Ici à Marseille, il fait un peu frais aujourd'hui... on est passé sous les 15°C ;)
Mais je crois que j'aurais bravé les éléments pour profiter du travail d'Alain (surtout !!) et de toute l'équipe.

- Alain aurait donc des fans lui aussi ?!?

Bonne chance pour la prochaine.
Loïc / Halcyone

Turid Elisabeth a dit…

Dear Jean Michel!:)

If I was there on the The red arrow,and I had a delicious layer cake with marsipan for you to celebrate Dr. Jarre!
What would you say then?
"Who are you?"
"Can we speak later?"
"Sorry I don't like cakes!"
"I only want some sleep!"
"OK bring it to me but I will not eat it!"

Or maybe you would say:
"What a fantastic cake,let's celebrate!":D

I am so sure that woman wanted you well!But now you have a funny memory of a dragon lady on the Red Arrow

Best wishes

PS:Don't get a bad cold,but keep warm and healthy...no more cold fingers!;)

equinoxe a dit…

Wow, this must be a great experience! thank you for sharing!

Please, come to America (and I'm not talking not just about USA) in your 2009 tour!

Anna a dit…

Dear Jean Michel, thank you for really interesting and funny (about dragon-lady) update! Photos are great! I hope you really like your traveling through Russia. It's a pity you have to go :( I wish you good luck during your further tour!
Anna
P.S. And have you tasted these "new russian products", which you photoed? Or the sausages in train were quite enough? :)

Unknown a dit…

I must say that you keep surprising me with your blog posts. They have a humane and down-to-earth feeling that many websites of popular artists lack.

I hope you will continue to write, as well as compose music of course, and give us a little view on your life as an artist.

I'm thankful however that it's a bit warmer out here in Holland ;).

Cheers,
Tijl

Neil Parsons a dit…

I'm completely new as a reader of your blog, but as soon as I've discovered it, I've added to my favourites links.

Wish I would like to see you here in Spain some time some place.

My sincere greetings for a life dedicated to music and hope to know of your forthcoming projects.

Ignacio Prini (aka Neil Parsons), from Algeciras (Spain).

pazolesky a dit…

Hi Jean Michel, what about the project for Canary Islands concerts?Can you tell us something more about it? Greetings from Spain

Unknown a dit…

Thank you, Jean Michel, for the concert in Saint-Petersburg. It was great.

PS: Very fun photo with some blue pots of conserved milk. I think you know already that they called ZGOOSHENKA. ;)

littlesister a dit…

Thank you for sharing with us all the wonderful words and pictures of your adventures Jean Michel ... hope you have managed to get your hands warm by now ( it really would not do for anything to happen to them .. they are the tools of your trade after all ! )

.. love the coat in the last photo by the way - looks comfy and warm with that fur hood *hee hee ! *

Wishing you and everyone else continued good fortune with the tour.

littlesister

JustMe a dit…

At these photos you are so close and near by...
Thank You a lot! You let us touch the sky!
:=)

tdream88 a dit…

"The visible creates a work in form - the invisible defines its worth" [Lao Tse - Tao Te King]

Have a nice day Jean Michel !
Bonne journée Jean Michel ;-)

Unknown a dit…

thank you very much for this travelouge. this is one of the best ones yet. It gives a real insight into the country and the culture.

if you ever knock this music lark on the head, im sure you could get a job doing this sort of thing no problem :)

cheers. (BTW, listening to ethnicolor right now on my B&W 683's. sounding good!)

Renata P. Espíndola a dit…

The last pic seems that everything was silent in the square while you were waiting for something as a tricky boy...