Special message to the fans

Dear Friends,

First of all, I would like to pay tribute to all my fans around the world who are supporting my work constantly.

It has been one of the most encouraging elements of my life, and particularly this past year, for all the reasons you know.

The feedback, I receive from you all, night after night, in each city I am playing at the moment, is just great and gives me the energy to go on.

I want you to know that I share this Mojo Award with you all, around the world, because in a sense I feel that you deserve it also...

Love,

Jean Michel Jarre

Magic and Amazing Istambul

Istambul 2010 on Fotopedia

16 million people, 4 times as many as Paris.. a perfect mix of Ottoman beauty, European and Asian style, also a perfect mix of tradition and extreme modernity. A total surprise for all of us, the city has changed so much, yet managed to keep its soul at the same time..

Under a very hot temperature, we joined the band at the hotel, then went to see the stage and the crew. Everybody was excited to be together again. We had a dinner in a cool terrace by the Bosphorus organized by Zeynep our charming promoter.. The following morning we went with the musicians to some music stores where Claude and I bought some great and rare turkish cymbals..

Later we went to the venue by boat to do the sound check under 40 degrees... The instruments were so hot that I could not touch my Memory Moog. We did a decent rehearsal, the most challenging moment being to try the laser harp under the sun! We had to cover the captors and wait till sunset to check it..

Then the concert started at 21h40.. I had to climb the back of the grand stand to appear at the top of it, at the beginning of the show, quite an experience.. The concert went really well, in spite of the fact that we did not have our regular PA system and that I was really burning on stage with the extreme heat.. The turkish audience was as hot as the weather and we had a great evening together..

The following day, I had a few meetings, I saw a strange audio/ visual installation, part of a large art exhibition organised at the occasion of Istanbul being European cultural capital 2010. The audio part of this installation is produced by Aphex Twin. In the evening, we all had dinner at a beautiful villa owned by two sisters, lovely women, one being involved in an association taking care of autistic children in Turkey, the other is involved in Soufi music, and she played us incredible recordings of traditional turkish music.

Then we went all together by boat on the Bosphorus to the old part of Istanbul to visit some place they have in mind for a future outdoor concert. We'll see.. Anyway, the trip on the river in the middle of the night surronded by old Mosques, was awesome.

A Memorable Night

After Bucharest, I went for 2 days to Beirut to check the site before the July concerts there. Amazing city, I took a lot of pictures (they are on their way..). I shall tell you more about it in July. Then I spent the beginning of the week promoting the concerts in France.

And then yesterday I was in London to receive a life achievement award at the Mojo Music Awards. The ceremony took place at the Brewery and what happened was an absolute surprise for me..

Such a brilliant audience was attending the event.. Jimmy Page, members of Depeche mode, Radiohead, Sigur Ros, Devo,
Florence and the Machine, Anthony and the Johnsons, Blur, Stone Roses, Jarvis Cocker, Roger Daltrey, Emilou Harris, Mark Almond from Softcell.. either receiving or giving an award. At the end of the ceremony, John Foxx from Ultravox presented the
award to me..

I have been so moved by what Phil Alexander, the chief editor of Mojo magazine and John said about my music and my concerts. How new, different and influential it has been until now.. what an honor coming from such brilliant artists and in London!!

John Foxx also had an interesting view, he said that in England, he was feeling that the style of british pop and rock music was initially coming from America. When he listened to Oxygene, he felt that this music was totally european and had nothing to do with the US, and for him it was the signal that something totally different was happening. John is a delightful man and a great artist I always admired and receiving this award from his hands was really special for me.

I was deeply impressed when I came on stage, in front of a such brilliant and warm audience so kind to me. I told them that it means a lot to me coming from MOJO, specially because I have always had a special relationship with England for artistic and personal reasons, and that I feel rather like a beginner, doing my first real world tour in 2010. There are so many things to do out there in so many fields. So I hope to come back in 20 years to receive eventually a life achievement award part 2...

Afterwards I discussed with Jimmy Page, such a nice and friendly man, and Anthony ( from A.& the Johnsons) about our mutual friend Laurie Anderson. She lost her copy of Zoolook and she would like a new one.. I discussed also with Jarvis Cocker, J.J. Brunel from the Stranglers who is from Normandy and speaks fluent french. He said he would come to the concert in Caen in November with his family. Mark Almond is going at the London gig at the O2 arena on the 10/10/10..

And then on the way back to Paris this morning, I met briefly Jude Law, Sienna Miller and their three children, going to Paris as well in the Eurostar, a very nice couple...

The tour in pictures

Taken by JMJ, who has decided to become his own photograph for this leg.


Liberec in color


Liberec in black & white


A poor lonesome robot far away from home


Liberec, 1910 or 2010


Claude in the move


Jérôme and Claude on the way to Bratislava



Debriefing after the show



Party time..




Jérôme in the bus



In the bus



Ghosts in the cabin



The new tour bus



4am stop on a slovakian highway





Vincent and Luc, backstage in Liberec



Colorful Hungary, far from Soviet Union times



Chris Rowley, Fiona Commins, Claude Samard, Francis Rimbert and new member of the band, Jerome Gueguen



Self-portrait backstage in Budapest

Update

The past few weeks have been difficult.

My Mum passed away the 21st of April… sad, painful, a boy always thinks his mother is eternal.

Then Dominique Perrier told me that he could not be with us in the tour for family reasons and I had to find a quick solution three weeks before Budapest. Fortunately Domino has a good friend, Jerome Gueguen, excellent musician, with whom he has been playing on other projects for a long time.

We rehearsed everything, Domino showed him every detail of his parts, and I must say that Jerome has been quite amazing.
The first concert went almost perfectly and Jerome found the way to be faithful to Dominique’s style plus adding his own personal touch.

I must say that the tour is really going well and every night we are delivering something special… The crew is becoming a real family and Jerome is already totally part of it .

The audiences are really great everywhere - lots of electricity in the air.. !
I also try to give the maximum of energy like if it was a one off every night..

Greece was special, because of the crisis you can feel people feeling abandonned by the rest of the world…More than ever artists and citizens of the world must be close to the Greek community, the cradle of civilisation which gave us so much in so many fields…we must never forget that.
Also for this reason, we really gave everything we had on-stage, both in Tessaloniki and Athens, to a fantastic audience.

Tessaloniki was the first outdoor gig of the world tour, however, the venue being a historical site, limiting weight and installations, we could not hang the cyclo.
I decided then that we should use the site itself, as it is, by projecting films and lights on the trees.
The result was quite fantomatic and very encouraging for the future outdoor gigs where we should have our big screen.

Liberec and Bratislava were also unique because of the venues and the audience. Bratislava is such a lovely city with a lot of good vibes for me. I really would like to come back soon for an outdoor concert by the castle (love to Iveta, Fred and Milan !).

A lot of things are in store for the second part of the year… Because of what happened to me recently, I decided to go not to far away from home this year. A lot of concerts in France, UK and other countries in Europe and going to the US, South America and Asia in 2011. My agent came to Athens and we made quite precise plans about all this.

Next week, I have to go to London to prepare the UK tour, with a possible second 3D filming of the autumn leg and to receive an award from MOJO magazine. I also hope to have the energy to finalise some of the new tracks I have for the coming concerts and new album sometime.

I thank you all, my dear and loyal fans around the world, for your support recently, it has been of a great help to me ...

Love,

JM