Jean Michel Jarre in Dublin

And so this was it, Jean Michel Jarre live in Ireland. I made my way to the National Concert Hall full of nervousness, anticipation and above all, a sense of apprehension. I was worried about the crowd’s reaction to him, the whole live aspect and other things, but I was hoping for a night to remember.

Minutes before the show, the lobby area of the concert hall was crowded with a staggering mix of people, some very young, some old with a definite majority of male to female fans. Some hand made t-shirts can be seen, some old concert ones. The place is buzzing with excitement and my own sense of hope for what is to come is heightened.

The NCH is deceptively small, holding around 1000 people, but this gives the concert goers a level of intimacy that may be missing in places like the Royal Albert Hall. My friend and I took our seats, about twelve rows back, dead centre, perfect seats infact. The haunting tones of “Waiting for Cousteau” swirl around the acoustically brilliant hall, and the rest of the crowd mills about. I wonder how many had any idea of what was to come, how many were fans, how many were there out of curiosity and how many were there simply to hear Oxygene IV….

About ten minutes late, the lights dim and the crowd goes pretty wild. A bank of speakers disappears off stage and the infamous Egg appears. There are a few moments of silence and then “Good Evening Dublin….” Jean Michel swivels round with a big smile on his face and the place goes wild. People stand up. It’s a standing ovation before the gig even starts! Jean Michel acknowledges the crowd, looking pleasantly surprised, and there goes one of my worries for the night: the crowd are good! He then very quickly talks about his instruments and Oxygene’s connection with the environment, holding the crowd in the palm of his hand. He then introduces his partners in crime, Francis Rimbert, Dominic Perrier and Claude Samard. He promises to share any accidents with the audience and then they begin to tune the instruments. The crowd cheers again and then we all hear those amazing sounds for the first time.

The first thing that strikes you is that the sound quality is amazing, crystal clear, and sonorous in a way you can’t describe. White noise soars over my head, the different sounds blending together uniquely. The Eminent strings so crucial to Oxygene as a whole, phase this way and that, again whooshing around the concert hall. Then, JMJ starts to play the first bars of Prelude. Electricity hung in the air, and a rapt audience sat back and took it all in.

The Doeppler ribbon controller is the star of this introduction, its unique sound holding the piece together, JMJ finishing with a deep booming bass sound that melds into the opening section of Oxygene I. Another worry I had was that the more ambient parts of Oxygene would fail to keep the crowds attention. How wrong I was! So accomplished is the performance that the crowd is held enthralled, as much interested by the technology being used as the sound they were creating. The excellent light show, never too overbearing, also helps to keep us all involved.

Oxygene II is truly amazing. The throbbing bass line kicks in, followed quickly by the soaring Eminent strings. The VCS3’s and the AKS’s add beautiful colour to the song and then JMJ starts to play the lead, which is a huge improvement on the Live in your Living Room DVD performance. Indeed, that DVD cannot prepare you for the live show. This may well be the highlight of the night, but JMJ has more tricks up his sleeve.
Oxygene III is a track that benefits greatly from live performance. Some might consider it “filler” material but it is great live. Jean Michel cranks up the Theremin, and his performance on this weird and difficult instrument earns a huge round of applause. His playing has come on leaps and bounds since the first time he used this instrument live on stage.
Speaking of performance, JMJ’s musicianship overall is excellent, but his live sequencing is even better. These show’s should be required viewing for anyone studying electronic music. Jean Michel programmed his Digisequencer live, and set up melodic sequences live on the RMI Harmonic Keyboard without a hitch. Indeed, later on, he started to improvise wildly on the RMI, as an introduction to….well that’s for later.

The sequencer kicks in for Variation I, Jean Michel dancing around the stage firing off various effects and tweaking VCS3 white noise generators and OSCar sounds. It is a tremendous effort to keep it all in sync manually but these four guys pull it off..The stage changes colour quickly, the curtains behind the stage open too. Then a familiar sound echoes once, twice, three times…

A VCS3 noise peaks and the Minipops percussion kicks in on Oxygene IV, followed swiftly by the bassline, Dominic Perrier playing frantically. Jean Michel gets to his Memory Moog and plays the famous five note melody, looking out at his audience. The now equally famous mirror starts its descent to wild applause, and suddenly the whole stage can be seen from this amazing vantage point. People behind me and around me are genuinely amazed by this simple effect. The song fades out into Variation II, which marks a nice come down from the heights of Oxygene IV.

Oxygene V and Variation III prove to be THE highlight of the night, for me at least. The mellow opening bars are intoxicating, Francis Rimbert’s Bass lead thumps me in the chest as he plays, ably mirrored by Jean Michel’s RMI lead. Then, some frantic repositioning of the keys on the RMI and some playing about on the DIgisequencer leads us to the magnificent rolling bassline of the second half of Oxygene V. The persussion blends in and the three backing players get in sync. Then, JMJ heads for the Moog Liberation.

What follows is simply JMJ having so much fun that the solo seems to go on and on. Jean Michel fingers the ribbon controller, pitch bend and modulation wheels wildly and we are treated to a bizarre but undoubtedly wholehearted rendition. Again, JMJ is treated to a huge round of applause, and his enthusiastic approach means that Variation III is also a beautiful performance. The sequencer part is so clear, a truly exceptional sound quality.

The curtains pull back fully and the Oxygene 3D skull appears and starts to zoom in as the four musicians start to play Oxygene VI. Jean Michel’s confidence is at a high now and his RMI solo is assured and fluid. It makes you wonder why he hasn’t performed completely live in the past. Again, the VCS3’s sour majestically, crashing waves of sound against the walls of the NCH. Oxygene VI is excellent, and segues into yet more live sequencing. This is where JMJ starts to let loose even more. He plays around with the RMI again, until we get a nice octave jumping melody going. He adds layers and layers of sound to this, literally bashing keys to create explosive washes of noise. And then suddenly, the repeating melody of Oxygene XII appears and the Circle of Life film plays in the background. The music crescendos and JMJ hits the final loud note and the lights go down. Cue standing ovation, handshakes and triumph.

He returns with the sad news of Fiona’s fathers Death and dedicates Oxygene XIII to him. This is a far longer version, coloured with effects and sound at the start and fading out to the same effects. I have always loved this song and this version is excellent. As the last haunting wind fades, JMJ says thank you and the crowd erupts again.
This concert was fantastic, a true ode to analogue synthesis and to the power of live interpretation. And to the power of Oxygene itself. Hearing it complete for the first time, you get a real sense of its uniqueness, and how all the sounds blend effortlessly together to create this perfect symphony. One wonders whether the tour will reach this level of intimacy again, maybe Ireland has been privy to the best night of the tour?