Extremely excited for the first big outdoor concert by the maestro since his large gig in the harbour of Monaco, as part of 2011's wedding of Albert II of Monaco and Charlete Wittstock, and considering Jarre's age (75, so how long will he continue doing these kind of events?), I didn't have to think long about getting my plane tickets and make an appartment reservation.
The concert took place on Sunday, May 12th, so I decided (also due to the restricted amount of flight options) to travel to Bratislava, capital of Slovakia, on May 8th, and head back to the Netherlands on May 13th, the day after the concert. Then, Bratislava is a wonderful town which I hadn't visitied before.
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| Most SNP UFO bridge. |
In the years that followed I went to many of his concerts in Europe. From the big scaled Concert Pour La Tolerance (Paris, 1995), Aero (Aalborg, 2002), Gdansk (2005) and Monaco (2011) to the indoor concerts of the Oxygene 7-13 Tour (Rotterdam and Lille, 1997), Oxygene (Paris, 2007 and Amsterdam, 2008), Indoors Tour (Amsterdam, 2009 and Rotterdam, 2010), and even intimate gigs like Bourges (2002), Teo & Tea showcase (Lint, 2007) and IRCAM (Paris, 2023). Also got the opportunity to interview Jean Michel Jarre back in 2010 and 2011, and organised a meet-and-greet after the 2009 concert in Amsterdam.
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| Bratislava Castle. |
We also visited some music stores, went to even more terraces and restaurants, and tried out some of the many ice cream shops.
On Thursday I also had time to watch the second semi-finals of the Eurovision Song Contest (the evening there was no controversy yet).
When we arrived in Bratislava, building of the stage had already begun, so we already went to the concert site in between our tourist activities.
We arrived on Wednesday, and nearing the weekend we met more fans and people who came here to attend the concert. Another fan, Milan Csáplar, who also lives in Bratislava, organized a fan-meeting (before the final rehearsal on Saturday and after the concert on Sunday) at the Riva Bar - a boat on the Donau, near the iconic Most SNP UFO bridge, which also was part of the decor of Jarre's concert. The bar was reserved for fans who litterally travelled all over the world to witness this unique event. It was a real pleasure to meet so many people, who have been connected for so many years, and who actually only use to meet during these kind of concerts. Although I met a handful of them at last year's concert at IRCAM in Paris, previous much bigger meeting had already been a while ago, during the Monaco concert, back in 2011; 13 years back in time to be precisely.
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| Fanmeeting at the Riva Bar, May 11th. Photo by Hogne Bø Pettersen. |
In the previous days we had the opportunity to visit and explore the concert site (which was situated around a fenced parking place with the stage, and nearby highway), and witness rehearsals and various soundchecks. The final rehearsal was on the Saturday, and free to attend. Although a large part of the roads to the concert site were closed, which was said this was due to the drones. In fact I think they would control the amount of people while the neighboring highway was only partially closed, so a sort of risk.
Jean Michel Jarre and his musicians Claude Samard Polikar and newbie Adiescar Chase were supported by Queen's guitarist Brian May. Brian's appearance as special guest was already announced at the presentation of the concert. The collaboration didn't come out of nowhere, as Brian is initiator of the Starmus Earth Festival (of which the first edition took place in 2011), and in 2016 there was already talked about having a collaboration between the two. Which didn't go on then.
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| ESET building. |
During the final rehearsal, all concert tracks were played, sometimes with interruptions in between. We found a nice spot on the outside of the fence, somewhere around 150 meters from the stage, as being in the front part, and inside the concert site was prohibited. All in all a perfect to experience the rehearsals. People attending the rehearsals got a bonus, as "Oxygene 8" was played, but very unfortunate skipped during the concert on Sunday. Reason unknown. The rehearsal started at 9 PM. Slightly past 10 PM the sound volume was put down, due to permissions. And 11 PM they finished the last song, after which everyone smoothly left the concert site.
During the last days, step by step, things to happen during the concert became clear more and more, and increased the excitement. Firstly the track "Second Rendez-Vous" was also being played by a brass section and choir. So powerful. Goosebumps.
Then - something that could also have been derived from the AI visualizations when the concert was announced - there were drones, decorating the sky above the stage. On the day of the concert, it was confirmed that fireworks were also present. So before the concert it was certain that actually nothing was lacking for a classic Jean Michel Jarre extravaganza.
Another advantage was that the weather connditions were perfect all these days. Average of 25 degrees during the day, cooling down to something like 15 in the evening.
The day of the concert, we (Marco, Niek (who arrived on Friday) and I) went to the concert site around 2 PM. Not knowing what to expect yet, by means of people already gathered there. When we arrived, there were already sitting people on the slopes below the highway, offering perfect view on the stage. But it was definitely not that crowded yet.
In the afternoon there was an important ice hockey match between Slovakia and Kazakhstan (for those interested: Slovakia won with 6-2). No idea if this was a reason, but only 1,5 hours before the start of the concert, it became really crowded.
Thanks to Jarre's managament - who spread the word to various fans including Claus, Milan and Signe, a selected group of fans (100-150) - including Marco, Niek and me - were allowed to get into the concert area at 5 PM. An hour before the actual entry. As the entire parking lot was still empty, we got the opportunity to find the best spot to experience the concert. In first instance standing right in front of the stage, but already had in mind to get some more to the back. Together with Marco, Niek, Coen, we found our place right behind the fence of the 'golden zone', which was reserved for festival ticket holders (and this space luckily wasn't packed with people). The perfect spot if you ask me, as we were situated in the center of the stage, at something like 100 meters distance from the stage, overlooking the entire scenery, including the castle and the UFO bridge in the background, the stage itself, the lights and fireworks, and the projections on the ESET building on the right side. ESET was was one of the main sponsors of the event.
Despite the fact that it didn't make the wait less enjoyable, there was no "Waiting For Cousteau" to be heard. The 46:53 minutes piece of music, which always marked the waiting for a Jean Michel Jarre concert for the last three-and-a-half decades. Instead there was repeated a rework / variation of the classic 1990 track. After the wait, the countdown started and we lifted off at 9 PM precisely. The concert was also to be enjoyed worldwide via live stream, so everything had to be strictly according to schedule.
The first half of the show was performed by only Jean Michel Jarre and his band.
An atmospheric opening, after which the energy built up very fast. Reworked classics from "Oxygene 4", "Oxygene 2", "Equinoxe 4", "Equinoxe 7" and "Industrial Revolution part 2" were in fact all classic Jarre songs (except for two songs from the 1986 album "Rendez-Vous", which followed later) during this evening, alternated with some newer tracks like "Web Spinner", "Falling Down", "The Architect" and "Zero Gravity".
During the opening track ("Coachella Opening"), firework were introduced cautiously. A wonderful and promising way to start the concert, and to get involved into the magical world of Jean Michel Jarre.
Slightly before halfway of the evening things got more intense with the introduction of the band members, as well as the trombone section of the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra and members of the Slovak Philharmonic Choir. Time for "Second Rendez-Vous". This was such a blast, especially with the input of the latter two. Halfway the track, which was renamed to "Rendez-Vous Bratislava" for tonight, the iconic laser harp part (which was saved for the finale of the evening) was left from the track. This was the point Brian May came in. Bombastic, powerful, and the realisation this is one of the things I have always loved the music from Jean Michel Jarre for. Concluded with lots of fireworks.
Followed by a welcome slightly calm (at least the start of it) intermezzo performed by Brian May, based on an excerpt of 'The New World", one of my all-time favourite classical music pieces, by Czech composer Antonín Dvořák.
Then it was time for a lot of newer "Electronica" era pieces. "Exit", "Azimuth", "Herbalizer", "Oxygene 19" and "Glory". Followed by the infamous "Fourth Rendez-Vous" (but in my opionion it's a great song, which always works live, but Jarre hasn't include it into his shows for quite a while), building up to the grand finale with "Stardust", going all the way with a more than impressive amount of fireworks. Goosebumps and emotions all over the way. I can die happily!
But not before the encore with Jarre using the laser harp the only time this evening, playing "The Time Machine" (renamed to "Bratislava Time" for this ocassion), joined by heavy rock guitar by Brian May.
What a final, what an evening, what a show!
Only remained the big 'thank you' to all people and organizations involved into this huge project.
And an epic slip of the tongue by Brian May proclaiming Jean Michel as Jean Paul. While the concert video has been edited while we speak, this meme will live forever amongst the established Jarre fan. So keep in mind if anyone is starting a conversation about Jean Paul Jarre, you don't need to correct. Before leaving the stage, Jean Michel Jarre took the opportunity to take a selfie with all audience.
The evening's overall musical vibe was rather uptempo and energetic. I think this was a significant different with Jarre's old shows. But this musical direction he chose to go into might appeal a younger audience, and I can completely live with that!
Visuals made specific for this ocassion were simply stunning, and from time to time the intensity of the lasers created the suggestion that the large environment suddenly became a lot more compact and intimate. Overwhelmed by the fireworks. Everyone was litterally part of it all.
11 PM everything was finished, and once again we headed to the Riva Bar for yet another meeting and after-talk at the Riva Bar.
The day after, I had all the time for some breakfast and buy some souvenirs. During the afternoon I headed back to the airport together with Zita. One of the fans I met at the Riva Bar, and by chance had exactly the same flight back to the Netherlands.
The last couple of days have been very energetic, exciting and overwhelming, and I really felt being 20 or 30 years back in time again.
Jean Michel Jarre once again proved he still can do the things he has been good at for 45 years. Although he seemed little tired at the end of his show (which is not that strange), it's unbelieveable he still has so much energy at at his respectable age of 75. But the question is: will Jean Michel Jarre 'just' continue the smaller scaled concerts in which he has been involved since the pandemic, will we get another opportunity again to see anything on this scale, or did somewhere in between 30.000 and 100.000 people (official sources say 100.000, but it's hard to confirm) really witness his last huge outdoor concert ever? However, it was a privilege and blast to be part of this "Bridge to the Future" project. Another experience to never forget, leaving wonderful memories for the rest of my life.
Opening (Coachella Opening)
Epica Oxygene (Oxygene 4 / Epica)
Oxygene 2
Web Spinner
Equinoxe 4
Equinoxe 7
Falling Down
Industrial Revolution part 2
The Architect
Oxygene 8 (was only played during the rehearsals)
Zero Gravity
Rendez-Vous Bratislava (Second Rendez-Vous)
New World Symphony Bratislava 2024 (classical piece by Antonín Dvořák)
Azimuth
Exit
Herbalizer
Oxygene 19
Glory
Fourth Rendez-Vous
Stardust
Bratislava Time (The Time Machine)
And if you want to see what this fuzz was all about, or just relive this excellent concert, you can still entirely watch the wonderful registration on YouTube. Please note that it was announced that the concert might be taken offline within a couple of days or maybe weeks, so don't wait too long.
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