Blah Blah Cafe, the Jean-Michel Jarre forum

[Robi]

Thats you. However hearing about partly-sold concerts is not good publicity for any of the musicians.

[Kanta]

I agree with you, Robi. Empty seats do not look good at all. Filled ones look better.

[Kanta]

Steve Pumfrey meets French keyboard wiz Jean Michel Jarre
Oxygene, Equinoxe, JMJ rocks!

The article is available to download in PDF format, here.

Thanxs to Robi for the info and me for sharing.

And there is more:

The Oxygene of publicity

Musical innovator Jean Michel Jarre says his In-Doors tour, which comes to Birmingham next month, will now be a “very personal tribute” to his late father. Oscar-winning film composer Maurice Jarre died at the age of 84 and his credits included the scores for Lawrence of Arabia and Dr Zhivago.

Jarre spoke to The Week 24 hours before his father’s funeral in Los Angeles and said: “I decided to go ahead with the press interviews and the tour because that is what my father would have wanted. He was very much a ‘show must go on’ man.”

Jarre’s parents split up when he was about five and it was only when he was in his 30s that he and his father were reunited.

“I can’t say he was an influence in my early life because he wasn’t around but, strangely, I developed an interest in the world of soundtracks which I always thought was my father’s territory,” said Jarre.

“I used to go there and would not always like the soundtrack used and would visualise in my mind what I thought the music should sound like.”

It was clear even as a teenager that Jarre was never going to make the definitive three-minute pop single, although he did harbour a love of rock music, particularly Tthe Yardbirds and The Who.

He also loved the classics and it was his unique style of symphonic pop which earned him worldwide success with his 1976 album, Oxygene.

Jarre then went on to revolutionise the concert scene, with more than one million people present when he performed the 1978 follow-up, Equinoxe, at the Place de la Concorde, in Paris.

These spectacular shows are now de rigueur with rock acts such as U2, but Jarre often faced opposition when he dreamed up the show concepts.

“I was also told there would be difficulties and I guess it was different when you bear in mind my music has no singers, no lyrics and some tracks are almost 20 minutes long,” he said.

Jarre sought out unusual venues to present his shows, such as the Houston skyline in the United States, London’s Docklands, where he presented two concerts, and the Pyramids in Egypt.

“We took a circus approach to the whole thing and were always looking to hijack different types of arenas for the shows,” he said.

Last year, Jarre marked the 30th anniversary of the Oxygene album with a world tour. The In-Doors series of concerts will be a departure.

“It will be the total reverse of the Oxygene tour,” he said. “With the imagery and lasers, the audience will not think they are in Birmingham and the same will go for other cities on the tour.

"We will create a different world, but it will also be a very personal show in tribute to my father.”

Source.

[jp8000]

nice

[Robi]

I'm emailing with editor of Swedish magazine "Eventnews", asking her about their JMJ article. She asked me if i would know the correct media contact, because she hasn't got any answer from contacts (AP!) mentionned on official site ; she would like to ask for updated press images or short video footage.



Thats all. So no wonder why everything is slow from Aero Productions : they don't response for contacts who is trying to help this tour!

[Kanta]

Wow, Robi you should be JMJ's press secretary. I can still make tea/coffee for you both.

Btw, please check your mail Robi.

[Robi]

[GeeJee]

So no wonder why everything is slow from Aero Productions : they don't response for contacts who is trying to help this tour!

Couldn't agree more.

They only answer internal phone calls

[Kanta]

JMJ is concentrating on the contents of the concerts. He leaves the publicity to hmm his publicity people.

[Jon]

". . . . . The In-Doors series of concerts will be a departure."

That sentence doesn't sound promising. A"departure" from what exactly. Is this a suggestion that JMJ is to stop touring/performing concerts after the 'In-Doors' shows, or a departure from the music scene. Usually when someone announces a "departure" from something, such as this, this means an end - departure, to leave.

[Kanta]

[Robi]

Hope he meant touring only. Hopefully he will make one-off concerts and albums of course!!

[lahavana]

maybe it's meant like a departure from the previous type of in-door concerts, the ones last year?... I surely hope this tour is not the last one...

[Jakob BC]

We can speculate from here to eternity. I suppose we'll get a more clear statement, if the worst speculations are true.

[GeeJee]

maybe it's meant like "a departure from the previous in-door concert-type"?...

yeah, he's used this sort of phrasing before. in the past he meant to say "it will be different than what I did before"... don't worry