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Jean Michel Jarre live at Elysee Palace

Saw him at concert in Docklands in the pouring rain when I was about 15, no wonder he’s never been back!

I always thought it was miming when live, but he says not.
 
He’ll have a lot of stuff sequenced via a computer/MIDI leaving him one line to actually play live at a time. Pretty standard protocol for electronica. The bloke only has two hands after all!
 
He’ll have a lot of stuff sequenced via a computer/MIDI leaving him one line to actually play live at a time. Pretty standard protocol for electronica. The bloke only has two hands after all!

I completely understand all that but my untrained eye asks is he playing the single line? Difficult to tell with the camera angles, lights and fast cutting. I like a fair bit of his music but these sort of performances leave me cold - guess I want to 'see' some of the craft and that's in the studio.
 
He’ll have a lot of stuff sequenced via a computer/MIDI leaving him one line to actually play live at a time. Pretty standard protocol for electronica. The bloke only has two hands after all!

I stopped going to see TD and never wanted to see JMJ nor Kraftwerk because all you got was something that sounded too much like the studio album while watching some old guys pretend to play the keyboard or check their e-mail.

That's why I'd rather go see a band like Radio Massacre International (if they play live again) or Arc, neither use backing tapes.

 
Saw him at concert in Docklands in the pouring rain when I was about 15, no wonder he’s never been back!

I always thought it was miming when live, but he says not.
I was at Docklands, on the other side of the river (the ticket price was too rich for me, my pocket money was probably 50pence), I was about your age too, it was a very wet night but memorable too, saw the projections and fireworks and could hear the music too.

He did come back.... To the O2 a few years ago and it was a superb show, I took my daughter and she was very impressed, the lasers were especially astounding as was the sound. He's a wonderful musician.
 
Damn I missed the O2!

The docklands concert was a birthday present I think - my parents both came.. Dad hated it! - he was into jazz and just didn’t get it. Mum loved it, she remembered Oxygene first time round.

I’ve always loved his music, especially the beginnings... I now have a pretty vast JMJ collection!
 
I stopped going to see TD and never wanted to see JMJ nor Kraftwerk because all you got was something that sounded too much like the studio album while watching some old guys pretend to play the keyboard or check their e-mail.

Kraftwerk are definitely doing stuff:


I don’t see a lot of difference between that and the bands you cite. It’s all a mix of sequenced stuff and live. Kraftwerk are expected to play familiar songs rather than live improvised stuff such as Node etc, so I can accept the sequenced content is going to be pretty nailed down. I was interested to see one of them here is clearly on AV duties.
 
Kraftwerk are definitely doing stuff:


I don’t see a lot of difference between that and the bands you cite. It’s all a mix of sequenced stuff and live.

If they are adding any variation to the sound it's very subtle, a bit of filtering or some FX but ultimately not a lot different from the Mix version. When I go and see a band, even an electronic one, I want to hear something very different, taking the track to places I've not heard before. As much as I love Kraftwerk, they're not doing it for me live. Ralf claims he improvises a bit but if he does, it's too subtle for my cloth ears to hear.

Kraftwerk are expected to play familiar songs rather than live improvised stuff such as Node etc, so I can accept the sequenced content is going to be pretty nailed down.

WRT sequencing, you get a lot more freedom with the limitations of a Maq, Cirklon or 960 sequencer than if you have a DAW. They are also much more physical to interact with and more interesting to see used.

I was interested to see one of them here is clearly on AV duties.

In the good old days, they'd be sat with the front of house mixer but I guess, if you *must* have 4 Kraftwerks on stage, you better make them look like they're all gainfully employed even if they are seriously limited in what they can do as it has to synch with the track.
 
I've seen Jarre live once. He played a Theremin live at one point, and it was awful... out of tune and just not a sound I ever want to hear again. I love his early stuff, but it's been ages since anything he's produced has been to my taste.
 
I saw Jarre in Dublin doing a recreation of Oxygene....they spent 20 odd mins trying to get their kit to behave before starting. It was quite good.
 
I went to see the Docklands concert (on the day it poured down!) and the brother of the friend I went with was responsible for the sound. I’d watched the Paris concert Jarre did some time before, on tv, and thought it looked mimed, so I asked my friend to check with her brother. “All pre-recorded”, he said.
I went to the Kraftwerk gig at the RAH a few years ago, and before we were allowed into the auditorium we sat in the corridor outside, and could hear the occasional note or three being played onstage as the sound guys were checking, so I feel that gig was probably more ‘live’ than the Jarre one.

Mick
 
First time i saw Shpongle was at Glasto, Raja Ram doing a DJ set.

Didn't have any great expectations when i later went to the Roundhouse so it was quite a surprise to 20 musicians on stage.

Fantastic to see the whole thing done live.
 

Sadly very poor video quality, and the interview is in German, but some fascinating grainy footage of Kraftwerk around the time of Computer World. A lot of kit visible towards the end during Home Computer, though very hard to identify anything due to the video quality.
 


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