Category: Live Reports (Page 19 of 37)

MARSHEAUX, KID KASIO + RODNEY CROMWELL Live at Norwich Epic Studios

12 November 2016 /

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Athens-based synth maidens MARSHEAUX returned to the UK by gracing the beautiful Norfolk city of Norwich at Epic Studios.

One of the UK’s most devoted fans of DEPECHE MODE, Michael Rose treated eager observers to some excellent pieces of rare memorabilia. These included tour programmes from the ‘Some Great Reward’, ‘Music For The Masses’ and ‘Violator’ eras. There were the Bong fan club publications as well, plus letters and assorted promo photographs. And there was the famous jacket Dave Gahan wore on the iconic ‘The World We Live In and Live In Hamburg’ video of nearly from the 1984 ‘Some Great Reward’ Tour, and also the first ever live concert release by the Basildon band.

Stephen Roper provided his keepsakes relating to Gary Numan. He collated a book about the Numan’s imperial era entitled ‘Back Stage-A Book Of Reflections’, which featured contributions from the man himself. More recently, Roper has ventured into gig promotion, hosting a successful live appearance by former KRAFTWERK member Wolfgang Flur.

The happy crowd milling around the venue consisted of diehard fans of electronica, studded with the likes of Sarah Blackwood ex-CLIENT and DUBSTAR, Anais Neon and Martin Swan from VILE ELECTRODES and George Geranios of Undo Records. Also along for the fun were Keith Trigwell of SPEAK & SPELL and Simon Helm of Nordic friendly music blog Cold War Night Life.

The compère for the evening was the lovely Caroline Rose, who was probably the only person in the venue who could pronounce “Les Disques du Crépuscule” and managed to get the audience properly geared up for the evening’s festivities as well as provided interesting info on the night’s acts. Guest DJ James Nice graced the gathering with a variety of new and vintage tunes. He recently resurrected the prestigious Belgian label Les Disques du Crépuscule and its sister Factory Benelux offshoot, as platforms to issue a plethora of archive and experimental material, as well as releasing new music by MARNIE, MARSHEAUX, DEUX FILLES and LES PANTIES.

Nice, who is a music publisher and writer, with an accomplished 2010 book ‘Shadowplayers: The Rise And Fall Of Factory Records’, now looks after both labels, curating its heritage as well as taking care of new acts. The sleeve notes for these releases are written by the man himself, but as he told ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK in his recent interview: “My notes tend to be honest rather than gushing or pseudo-academic, and that’s probably why I rarely get commissioned to write liner notes for other releases!”

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In front of an audience that had gathered from as far as Switzerland, Holland, Ireland, Liverpool and London, RODNEY CROMWELL took to the stage first. Led by Adam Cresswell, his short but sweet set of tunes including ‘Baby Robot’ and ‘Black Dog’ from debut long player ‘Age Of Anxiety’, chronicled his own personal problems with depression. There was also the terrific bonus of his older ARTHUR & MARTHA track ‘Autovia’ featuring bandmate Alice Hubley on lead vocals.

He was pleased with the early crowd turnout as he had told ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK earlier this year: “I think it’s harder to get gigs now… maybe that’s because electronic music’s not as fashionable, because back in the mid-noughties, it was on the back of Electroclash and that hipster thing!”. Well, it was a very successful set too and he managed it without blowing up one of his Korgs, like he had done at the warm-up gig in London the day before!

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The golden boy of 2016, Nathan Cooper aka KID KASIO showcased his talents next during a lively 40 minute set. Cooper has had a successful couple of years, releasing his stunning retro-inspired album ‘Sit and Wait’ with such gems as ‘Full Moon Blue’ and ‘The Kodo Song’, which were both performed to a rather appreciative audience.

Previously of THE MODERN and MATINEE CLUB, Cooper has been involved in electronic music for years and worked with all the big names like Stephen Hague. Most recently, he opened a fabulous recording studio Fiction Studios in London, together with his oh-so-famous actor brother Dominic. Cooper managed to pick up a parking fine during rehearsals, so he amusingly pleaded to the audience to buy at least six CDs to cover his losses! His set went down tremendously well; with massively upbeat and entertaining tracks like ‘The Story Of Kid Charlemagne’ and the über fast ‘The End’, the crowd did not want to let KID KASIO off stage.

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KID KASIO certainly prepared the audience for Greek Goddesses MARSHEAUX, whose hour-long set was simply stunning. The duo are soon to play at the first African electronic music festival in Senegal and kicked off with tunes from their latest acclaimed album ‘Ath.Lon’, accompanied by arty background projections. But the big hits like ‘Breakthrough’ from ‘Lumineux Noir’ were also included and inevitably got the audience pumping.

Apart from being pleasing to the eye, Marianthi Melitsi and Sophie Sarigiannidou also know how to get the crowd going and a few certainly got involved in a very articulated manner. The audience were dancing and singing to the brilliant ‘Inhale’ and the mood continued with DEPECHE MODE’s ‘The Sun & The Rainfall’. With exquisite harmonies brought by the girls, a few people in the audience actually said they preferred MARSHEAUX’s cover album of ‘A Broken Frame’ to the original.

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After the show, many rushed to purchase ‘Ath.Lon’ with its stunning sleeve, dutifully signed by the duo. The demand was such that certain items on the merchandise stand flew out so fast, that a few missed out on goodies such as the lush luminous sleeved ‘Ghost’ 7 inch vinyl.

The happy crowd was entertained and everybody was having a great time. Now, this is what happens when electronic music events are curated by electronic music enthusiasts.

The organisers give their warmest thanks to all the bands, DJs, venue crew, team, helpers and attendees who made the evening such a great success

http://www.marsheaux.com/

http://www.kidkasio.com

http://www.happyrobots.co.uk/

http://www.lesdisquesducrepuscule.com/

http://factorybenelux.com/

http://www.epic-tv.com/

Text by Monika Izabela Trigwell
Photos by John Newstead and Simon Watson
12th November 2016

CHRIS PAYNE vs ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK in Düsseldorf

25 October 2016 /

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK’s Chi Ming Lai had the pleasure of interviewing CHRIS PAYNE live on stage during the first day of the 2016 ELECTRI_CITY_CONFERENCE in Düsseldorf.

Best known as a member of GARY NUMAN’s band between 1979-89 and for co-writing VISAGE’s ‘Fade To Grey’, Payne was also DEAD OR ALIVE’s musical director when the band were touring their ‘Youthquake’ album.

More recently he has been working on RUSTY EGAN’s upcoming debut solo long player ‘Welcome To The Dancefloor’, while also composing material for his production company Electronic Music Library and his synthpop project ELECTRONIC CIRCUS.

Now domiciled in Normandy, CHRIS PAYNE happily chatted about his period with GARY NUMAN and the genesis of ‘Fade To Grey’ during soundchecks on ‘The Touring Principle’ in 1979. The Cornishman studied Mediaeval music and even treated the audience to a quick burst of ‘Cars’ on his bass Cornamuse, a double reed instrument from the period.

The discussion formed part of the 2016 ELECTRI_CITY_CONFERENCE’s weekend long programme of talks and live music to celebrate Düsseldorf’s electronic music legacy.

Also participating were DANIEL MILLER, CHRIS LIEBING, JOHN FOXX, STEVE D’AGOSTINO, RUSTY EGAN, MARK REEDER, MARSHEAUX, ERIC RANDOM, JIMI TENOR and JORI HULKKONEN.

Conference co-organiser Rudi Esch recently published ‘ELECTRI_CITY – The Düsseldorf School of Electronic Music’, an English language version of his acclaimed book documenting the development of city’s innovative and inspiring music scene.

CHRIS PAYNE’s solo album ‘Between Betjeman, Bach & Numan’ is released by Coverdrive Records

‘Roundabout’ by ELECTRONIC CIRCUS is available as a download single

http://www.chrispaynemusic.com/

http://www.electronicmusiclibrary.com/

Text by Monika Izabela Goss
25th October 2016

ELECTRI_CITY_CONFERENCE 2016

23 October 2016 /


The ELECTRI_CITY_CONFERENCE held its second event at Düsseldorf’s CCD following the success of the inaugural gathering.

With impressive line-up that read like a ‘Who’s Who?’ of electronic music, former NEW ORDER bassist Peter Hook, OMD’s Andy McCluskey, HEAVEN 17, WRANGLER, VILE ELECTRODES, METROLAND and Michael Rotherhithe were among those who took part in 2015.

For the 2016 event, John Foxx, Steve D’Agostino, Rusty Egan, Jimi Tenor, Jori Hulkkonen, Eric Random and MARSHEAUX played live while among the speakers were Daniel Miller, Chris Liebing, Mark Reeder and Chris Payne.

The conference coincided with co-organiser Rudi Esch publishing ‘ELECTRI_CITY – The Düsseldorf School of Electronic Music’, an English language version of his acclaimed book documenting the development of the city’s innovative and inspiring music scene which spawned acts such as KRAFTWERK, DAF, RIECHMANN, NEU! and LA DÜSSELDORF. With Jochen Oberlack of Bellerophon Records acting as the weekend’s Master of Ceremonies, the first of the special international guests was Mark Reeder.

Presenting his acclaimed documentary ‘B-Movie: Lust & Sound In West-Berlin 1979-1989’, the film captured the music, art and chaos of West Berlin before the infamous wall came tumbling down.

But as Reeder explained in his charmingly fluent Mancunian lilted German to Tassilo Dicke in the Q&A afterwards, the enclosed conscription free environment allowed a creative melting pot to emerge where everything and anything seemed possible.

Next up was Chris Payne in an interview hosted by ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK. Best known as a member of Gary Numan’s band between 1979-1990 and for co-writing VISAGE’s ‘Fade To Grey’ with Billy Currie and Midge Ure, the Cornishman began by demonstrating his bass Cornamuse, a double reed instrument from the 14th Century.

Revealing that he studied Medieval music, he even treated the audience to a quick burst of ‘Cars’ before reflecting on its limitations and therefore highlighting the expansive possibilities of synthesizers. Now domiciled in Normandy, he happily chatted about his period with Numan, recalling how he had 21 keyboards in his armoury and some of the practical jokes he played on the 1979 support act OMD.

At this time, OMD were a duo comprising of Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys plus a third member Winston. Despite some electronic music publications stating Winston was a drum machine, Payne confirmed that Winston was most definitely a tape recorder. And on the final night of the UK leg of ‘The Touring Principle’ at Hammersmith Odeon, Payne thought it would be amusing to put on the lock of the TEAC A344 4-track reel-to-reel to stop it from playing.

The genesis of ‘Fade To Grey’ occurred during soundchecks on ‘The Touring Principle’, but Payne recalled how the song’s cyclic structure had been composed during his time at music college.

With regards the song’s female French voice, while the eventual German No1 featured Rusty Egan’s then-girlfriend Brigitte, the idea had come from Monsieur Payne and featured on the original recording made at Martin Rushent’s Genetic Studios with a different lyric.

Mute Records impresario Daniel Miller and techno guru Chris Liebing followed and while Miller reflected on his love of German music which inspired his own recordings, he highlighted the musical kinship he had with Liebing and even joked that they would probably want to play exactly the same tracks during their DJ sets later that night at the Time Warp club night hosted by Salon des Amateurs.

The ELECTRI_CITY_CONFERENCE was about live music too and Manchester electronic veteran Eric Random had the honour of opening proceedings. Random recently released his new album ‘Words Made Flesh’ on Austrian record label Klanggalerie, but the one-time CABARET VOLTAIRE and Nico collaborator made his return in 2014 with ‘Man Dog’, ‎having last issued a long player using his own name in 1986.

Opening with his set with the groovy ‘Knock Yourself Out’, he captured the ethos of the weekend with his sinister but funky, voice sample laden electro. Occasionally adding vocoder and his own FAD GADGET inspired vocals as on the hard beat driven ‘Let It Go’, the Germanic environment more that suited his stark style of presentation.

MARSHEAUX’s appearance prompted dancing in the aisles and despite monitor issues, the duo delivered a fine performance. The brooding aggression of ‘Burning’ from the new album ‘Ath.Lon’ proved to be a highlight, while other newbies such as ‘Safe Tonight’ sat well next to slightly reworked fan favourites like ‘Breakthrough’, ‘Dream Of A Disco’ and ‘Come On Now’.

A beautiful rendition of DEPECHE MODE’s ‘The Sun & The Rainfall’ won over anyone who wasn’t already convinced, with two new converts being Claudia Schneider-Esleben, sister of KRAFTWERK co-founder Florian and John Foxx who sat absorbed throughout the entire set.

Finishing proceedings on day one was Rusty Egan with a part live-part DJ presentation of his upcoming record ‘Welcome To The Dancefloor’. Augmented by Nikonn and Chris Payne, it began with a marvellous dual overture where the latter performed instrumental piano based renditions of ‘Down In The Park’ and ‘Fade To Grey’.

He even sneaked in snatches of Numan evergreens ‘Are Friends Electric?’ and ‘Cars’ as well.

Seguing into the ‘Nu Cinematic’ ambient version of VISAGE’s German No1 featuring Payne on violin, there was then the surprise inclusion of the beautiful VISAGE instrumental ‘Whispers’; this was not entirely successful as the monitor problems continued, but it was a brave choice and more than welcome for that very reason.

The video playback section featuring the lead vocals of Andy Huntley, Midge Ure, Emily Kavanaugh and Tony Hadley, such was his enthusiasm, Egan couldn’t resist joining in on the mic. But Egan got his turn on lead when he morphed into an MC for ‘Wonderwerke’, adding a “was ist das?” snarl shaped by his inimitable London swagger.

Closing the main set with ‘Thank You’, Egan’s vocodered list of musical heroes over layers of sweeping synths even prompted him to walk into the audience to encourage their additional robotised contributions.

The following day began with artists and journalists being given an informal tour of Düsseldorf by Rudi Esch. The landmarks included Düsseldorf HBF where KRAFTWERK had their iconic monochromatic photo on Gleis 17 taken and the entrance to the former Kling Klang studios.

Among those present were John Foxx and MARSHEAUX, with one particularly memorable moment taking place outside Der Ratinger Hof, when Foxx held court as he chatted about working with Conny Plank on ‘Systems Of Romance’.

Appropriately, formal second day proceedings began with the showing of ‘Keine Atempause – Düsseldorf, Der Ratinger Hof und Die Neue Musik’, a film about the city’s music scene followed by a panel Q&A.

But afterwards, a familiar character from Berlin reappeared. The scheduled speaker Martyn Ware had unfortunately been taken ill, so Mark Reeder kindly stepped in with an interview in English conducted by ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK; this chat differed from the day before, focussing on Reeder’s own music career and his long association with NEW ORDER.

Interviewed by German journalist Ecki Stieg, John Foxx gave a marvellously eloquent talk covering his entire career. Working with Brian Eno on the first ULTRAVOX! album, the one-time ROXY MUSIC synthesist told Foxx it was important to keep a space at the end of an album to make a new song out of nothing; that nothing of course became ‘My Sex’. Reflecting on the recording of ‘Systems Of Romance’ to applause from the attentive audience, Foxx also declared Conny Plank as the most important record producer since George Martin.

Despite the innovation of his debut solo album ‘Metamatic’, Foxx moved away from pure electronics due to criticism that his music was cold.

At the time he thought “Maybe I’ve done the wrong thing… it made me afraid of my own music in a way… I’ve never been any good at judging the quality of what I do, I like it but don’t know if it’s any good or not!” – this led to the more band oriented sound of the follow-up ‘The Garden’ which included the actual ‘Systems Of Romance’ song.

Talking about his third solo album ‘The Golden Section’, Foxx said “I wanted to combine electronics with psychedelia… I think I failed because I tried to fit too many favourite things together. It’s always a mistake, it’s like having a meal with all your favourite food, you have fish and pudding and cake and soup and it’s not good! You might love them all, but if you put them on the same plate… but it was out of enthusiasm so I can forgive my younger self for making mistakes like that!”

Premiered in 2014 at London’s South Bank, John Foxx and Steve D’Agostino supported by visual artist Karborn gave an assured performance of ‘Evidence Of Time Travel’, “a unique investigation of the terrors and pleasures of temporal displacement. A sinister sonic architecture of drum-machine-music and analogue synthesizers”.

Karborn’s cut-up images and filmed segments complimented the stark and stoic soundtrack. acontinually evolving audio / visual experience, the finale of ‘Empty Clothing Blows Across A Beach’ saw Katia Isakoff join the trio on a Moog Theremin. Locking into a wonderfully trippy improvisation, disturbing schizophrenic voices also reverberated around the enclosure.

 

The second day concluded with a unique presentation of the silent art movie ‘Nuntius’. Featuring a live improvised soundtrack from Finnish musicians Jimi Tenor and Jori Hulkkonen, the film stars Mr Normall as its central, alien character. Seemingly manufactured in outer space, Mr Normall explores the woods, stares intensely and even rides a motorcycle sidecar combination through a tunnel in Helsinki with a Shetland sheepdog named Louis.

The film’s accompanying music ranged from blippy ambient to frantic motorik, with Tenor occasionally taking to a flute while Hulkkonen brought out his portable Trautonium, an electronic instrument with a pressure sensitive glided board and whose conceptual origins date back to 1929. The whole experience was totally mindbending and when Mr Normall appeared on stage with Tenor and Hulkkonen, things became even more surreal.

It was fabulous weekend that was a reminder of Düsseldorf’s importance as a centre for art, culture and fashion. With the rising profile of the ELECTRI_CITY_CONFERENCE, the 2017 event will be a must-attend date in next year’s diary.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to Rudi Esch and Carsten Siewert

Live performances can be viewed at
http://concert.arte.tv/de/electricity-conference

www.electricity-conference.com/

www.facebook.com/Electri.city.Esch/

www.jorihulkkonen.com/

www.facebook.com/jimitenor/

www.mrnormall.net/

www.metamatic.com/

www.altersonicsound.com/

www.karborn.com/

http://rustyegan.net/

http://www.electronicmusiclibrary.com/

http://marsheaux.com/

https://twitter.com/theericrandom

http://mute.com/

www.clr.net/

www.facebook.com/markreedermusic/

https://bellerophon-records.com/

www.groenland.com/en/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Markus Luigs, Roger Kamp, Lola Li and Chi Ming Lai
23rd October 2016

MARK REEDER vs ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK in Düsseldorf

20 October 2016 /

The 2016 ELECTRI_CITY_CONFERENCE had the bonus of a second Mark Reeder interview conducted by ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK’s Chi Ming Lai.

The scheduled speaker Martyn Ware had unfortunately been taken ill, so Reeder kindly stepped in. The day before, he had already spoken in his charmingly fluent Mancunian lilted German about ‘B-Movie: Lust & Sound In West Berlin 1979 – 1989’.

In this insightful documentary, he narrates about the music, art and chaos of the divided city before its infamous wall came down. Now best known as a remixer, MARK REEDER relocated to Berlin after he left Manchester in 1978 to explore his passion for German electronic music such as KRAFTWERK, NEU! and TANGERINE DREAM.

His enlightening hour long chat covered topics such as his time as Factory Records German representative, living in Berlin, his MFS trance label and working with acts such as JOHN FOXX, PET SHOP BOYS, DEPECHE MODE, MARSHEAUX, BLANK & JONES, QUEEN OF HEARTS and NEW ORDER.

The discussion formed part of the 2016 ELECTRI_CITY_CONFERENCE’s weekend long programme of talks and live music to celebrate Düsseldorf’s electronic music legacy. Also participating were Daniel Miller, Chris Liebing, John Foxx, Steve D’Agostino, Rusty Egan, Chris Payne, Eric Random, Jimi Tenor and Jori Hulkkonen.

Mark Reeder’s remix collections ‘Five Point One’ and ‘Collaborator’ are released by Kennen and Factory Benelux respectively

‘B-Movie: Lust & Sound In West Berlin 1979 – 1989’ is released by Edel as a DVD and Blu-ray; the soundtrack album is also available as a 2CD, double vinyl LP and download

https://www.facebook.com/markreedermusic

http://www.b-movie-der-film.de/

http://www.electricity-conference.com/de/

Text by Monika Izabela Goss
20th October 2016

JEAN-MICHEL JARRE Electronica Live at O2 Arena

9 October 2016 /


“Electronic music has a family, a legacy and a future…” said Jean-Michel Jarre in the sleeve notes for the first instalment of his ambitious ‘Electronica’ project.

The French Maestro “had this idea of merging DNA with musicians and artists of different generations, linked, directly or indirectly, to electronic music in a kind of sharing process in a world where we’re more isolated than ever by our smartphones and the Internet”.

So many of the artists he approached to work with said “yes” that a second volume of ‘Electronica’ came out earlier this year. But with so many collaborators involved in the ‘Electronica’ project ranging from YELLO, PET SHOP BOYS and THE ORB to Peaches, Gary Numan, John Carpenter and Moby, how was Jarre going to present this all within a concert setting?

Jarre solved this conundrum by effectively making the show an ‘Electronica’ remix project of its own and carefully chose tracks that would work best as a solo driven experience. Coupled to a high octane visual spectacular conceived by Jvan Morandi and a superb sound system that was not only loud but clear, it would be the largely mature audience’s first experience of something not far from a full-on rave!

Using a new Roland System 8 with a System 500 attached and a Grp A4, Jarre also had his Moog Sub37, AKS, Buchla and ARP2600 at his disposal. Assisted by Claude Samard and Stephane Gervais, both on drums and electronics, ‘The Heart of Noise’ gave the evening a synthesized Spaghetti Western styled introduction with the impressionistic aesthetic of Ennio Morricone. It segued into the uptempo section of ‘Automatic’, the Vince Clarke contribution to ‘Electronica 1: The Time Machine’, accompanied by a speedy backdrop of geometric shapes in yellow.

‘Oxygène 2’ was the first of only five classic oldies to be played during the evening, but 40 years on, it was still as enticing and hypnotic as it was back on record then; the noise sweep into its second section still brought with it that spine tingling sensation.

Gary Numan said Jarre was “one of the nicest people I’ve ever met in my entire life” and the Frenchman certainly exuded charm as he addressed the O2 audience… this is a man who can count Charlotte Rampling, Anne Parillaud and Isabelle Adjani as previous wives / girlfriends don’t forget. He even took time to joke about Brexit and comment on his love of cricket!

The dance pop of ‘Circus’ and its robotic voices kept the pacey momentum going and there was the surprise inclusion of a new composition ‘Web Spinner’, proving that unlike KRAFTWERK, Jean-Michel Jarre is as interested in moving forward as he is in celebrating past glories. The frantic stop / start of ‘Exit’ with an on-screen monologue from National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden gave proceedings a political slant, highlighting Jarre’s continuing concerns about the effects of technology on personal liberty.

Despite a new heavier beat for 2016, the dreamy ‘Équinoxe 7’ was another glorious reminder that it was actually Jean-Michel Jarre rather than KRAFTWERK who took electronic music to the masses; indeed his romantic melodic approach appealed to female music fans and this was highlighted tonight by the gender balance within the O2 complex.

On ‘Conquistador’, Jarre even strapped on a guitar for its ending while there was the treat of a toughened up rework of ‘Oxygène 8’ based on the Sunday Club mix. In a tribute to the late Edgar Froese of TANGERINE DREAM, there was a performance of ‘Zero Gravity’, albeit in ABOVE & BEYOND remix form. As cones of lasers brilliantly shot into the sky, it was as if Jarre was saying “hi” to the German electronic pioneer.

With PET SHOP BOYS not actually on stage for ‘Brick England’, Jarre got round this by substituting an absent Neil Tenant with a vocoder. A superb song that could have fitted onto the ‘Super’ or ‘Electric’ albums, Tennant and Lowe were represented visually as digital line drawings while layers of bending lead synths provided an anthemic celebratory feel.

The melancholic ‘Souvenir Of China’ provided a welcome comedown before more techno oriented offerings came via ‘Immortals’ and ‘The Architect’. An updated ‘Oxygène 4’ inevitably drew the biggest cheer of the evening while a percussive take on ‘Équinoxe 4’ emerged as Michel Granger’s iconic artwork spun into the projections.

Within the latter, an added tribal chant was worked in from ‘Glory’, Jarre’s co-write with fellow Gallic musician M83. While it had been a disappointing trailer to the ‘Electronica’ project back in 2015, ‘Glory’ was transformed live with Anthony Gonzalez’s vocal now removed and the end result sounded more like a Jarre original thanks to a 6/8 schaffel.

The main part of the show had a fitting climax with ‘The Time Machine’; out popped Jarre’s Laser Harp and as the tension rose , the track got faster and the light storms grew more in intensity. If this mind blowing segment was to have a “contains flashing images” warning, it was already too late!

At the age of 68, Jarre showed he was certainly not resting on his laurels. For the encore, he premiered ‘Oxygène 17’ from the third volume of his legendary opus, out later in December to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the original Disques Dreyfus release.

Ending with the tuneful trance of ‘Stardust’, it affirmed what many had suspected earlier… Jarre had in fact beamed his audience into the infamous Gatecrasher club. With it being the evening’s final number, some of the audience even got up to dance in the blue sea of effects.

If KRAFTWERK are the Godfathers of Techno, then Jean-Michel Jarre must be the Godfather of Trance. Yet, Jarre is not given that same kudos by the dance obsessed electronic music press, despite the Ralf Hütter-led brand doing very little as far as new material is concerned. Yes, it’s cooler to name drop KRAFTWERK in order to intellectually justify the more retarded elements of EDM.

But to the general public, Jean-Michel Jarre means much more. And while Kraftheads around the UK were busy fighting over themselves online for a chance to see a KRAFTWERK show that has basically stayed the same since 2009, they were missing out on a live presentation that really pushed itself artistically including 3D effects without the need for 3D glasses!

It’s a funny old world! More lasers please 😉

‘Electronica 1: The Time Machine’ and ‘Electronica 2: The Heart Of Noise’ are released by Columbia / Sony Music.

The third installment of the ‘Oxygène’ trilogy is released on 2nd December 2016

http://jeanmicheljarre.com/

https://www.facebook.com/jeanmicheljarre

http://aerojarre.blogspot.co.uk/

https://twitter.com/jeanmicheljarre

Text and photos by Chi Ming Lai
9th October 2016

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