It all boils down to your preferences, but Mozart performing on his own piano for classical music lovers or Ridley Scott lecturing about Blade Runner if you are crazy about sci-fi movies, would be moments to take your breath away. On Saturday 12th of April almost 1600 people had such a moment in Oslo.
It all boils down to your preferences, but Mozart performing on his own piano for classical music lovers or Ridley Scott lecturing about Blade Runner if you are crazy about sci-fi movies, would be moments to take your breath away. On Saturday 12th of April almost 1600 people had such a moment in Oslo.
I already told you about this event. The Jean Michel Jarre Oxygene Tour visiting Oslo. Today it is history, and I mean History! JMJs Oxygene album is were it all began. Synthesizers had been around for almost two decades and featured by many musicians already, but using the synthesizer on its own, as the instrument to make the complete sound of a musical piece was unheard of. So Jean Michel Jarre did it.
Jean Michel had bought a painting showing planet Earth as a skull where the surface was halfway to fall of like the skin piling of. That painting should be the inspiration for a groundbreaking record that needed its own genre to fit in. Remember that all this happened in 1976, so forget computers and digital music instruments and sequencers. We are talking analogue synths here.
This is the stage, more than 30 years after the release of Oxygene. All these synthesizers neatly placed on stage. To be able to recreate a studio recording Jarre needs the help of his three man team.
Most people will maybe not know Jean Michel Jarre for his music, but for his performances around the world. Using lasers and multimedia to amuse millions of people in open air concerts has become his trademark. But this time it is not the effects that is important. This performance is all about paying tribute to the work that changed his life forever.
The only real effects this time is individually lit instruments, and it works tremendously well. When you look at the pictures, the lit surfaces are not computer screens, but spotlights lighting up the analogue sequencers and instruments. From the ceiling a large mirror is placed above the stage to display the instruments from above as well.
The Oxygene tour is a tribute to the fans of electronic music in general and Jean Michel Jarre specifically. More than a concert, it is like a display taking place in the museum of his genre.
As you can see from the picture, he also played a fully working 'Theremin'. This first ever electronic instrument dates back to the 20s. It is really an achievement that it is still usable.