Blah Blah Cafe, the Jean-Michel Jarre forum

[Kanta]

10/10/2018
Via Medium

DESTINATION DOCKLANDS

THE STORY OF JEAN MICHEL-JARRE’S 1988 LONDON SPECTACLE

Article:

[Dr_Jones]

Cool, the writer is watching us:

In 1968, amongst the cacophony of student protests (internet fan message boards talk of lost TV footage showing Jarre being handcuffed and thrown into a police van),

BTW: clever use of Derek Jarman and Jean-Michel's last name.
I think Derek Jarman filmed Pet Shop Boys' It's A Sin video there.

[docklands88]

I can't even begin to describe how poorly that article is written. I've never seen such meandering, non-sensical rubbish in all my life. I'm a professional, published copywriter and if I submitted a piece like that I'd be laughed at and fired. Granted, there are some interesting points in the piece however he keeps getting off topic and introducing things that bear little to no relevance to the point of the article. It's so hard to read.

[matt222]

Yep, I was struggling with it too. Still, any new stuf about Docklands is worth a look.

[phonetic1990]

I am concerned about the covers for these concerts. Which is the most interesting / the best?
1st cover 1989: https://fanart.tv/fanart/music/86e2e2ad ... 17d007.jpg
2nd cover 1996/97: https://fanart.tv/fanart/music/86e2e2ad ... fd0b5f.jpg
3rd cover 2014: https://fanart.tv/fanart/music/86e2e2ad ... 02d456.jpg

Why couldn't the first cover be the same or similar to the VHS release or the one released a few years after? Usually, from all the other live albums available, you can see where it is from.
Nevertheless, "LIVE" or "JARRE LIVE" has something of a mystery despite, for example, not associated fonts or colors.

[Dr_Jones]

I like the simple aesthetic of the 1989 cover but yeah, you don't really know what concert it is from. But out of these 3, I think I like the 3rd most. The 2014-2015 remasters might not have been very good, but the artwork/CD booklets of most of the remastered albums are really good.

[Finaero]

I've always liked the 96/97 cover art over the others. If I remember correctly, that art was actually used in the original 1988 Docklands programme (as opposed to the bootleg Docklands programme, which featured the Revolutions cover).

[phonetic1990]

If I remember correctly, that art was actually used in the original 1988 Docklands programme (as opposed to the bootleg Docklands programme, which featured the Revolutions cover).

Yes it's true.
https://tiny.pl/r4bgn

However, for the original release I will keep "LIVE" and for the bootleg once found I will use the 96/97 cover

[Richard-Eastham]

I like the simple aesthetic of the 1989 cover but yeah, you don't really know what concert it is from. But out of these 3, I think I like the 3rd most. The 2014-2015 remasters might not have been very good, but the artwork/CD booklets of most of the remastered albums are really good.

Anybody know if the four red, yellow, green, blue abstract colours on the original simple artwork are meant to represent anything?

[Richard-Eastham]

My dad and I were going to go to the original date (24 September), then that was cancelled and rescheduled for 7 and 8 October. I had just finished freshers’ week at a northern uni, but my new boyfriend and I played hooky and travelled down on the coach for Saturday night. We stayed in a YHA on the Friday evening and then planned to travel back on the overnight coach on Saturday after the concert. On the day it was cold, wet and windy. I had £10 in my purse and had left my credit card in my room back at uni. But we were there. And it was every bit as mind-blowing as I thought it would be. After the concert thousands of people crammed onto the tube and the police were directing people to get onto the next train regardless of where it was going.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... al-stories

[rinogurr]

A visual projection picturing a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II is shown in occasion of French composer and musician Jean Michel Jarre 'Destination Docklands' concert, in London, 6th October 1988. (Photo by Georges De Keerle/Getty Images)

[Kanta]

Jean-Michel Jarre Destination Docklands Concert - Jean-Michel Jarre backstage with Princess of Wales - October 1988

[Finaero]

Speaking of Docklands, has anyone determined what the weird sound in this part of Rendez-Vous 2 on the Jarre Live album is?

To me it sounds like JMJ or someone accidentally saying something to the microphone, but since AFAIK there's no (full) audience recording of the second night, I'm not sure if that was the case during the actual concert or if it was some weird edit issue on the album.

[Dr_Jones]

I always thought it was a drum sound

[Richard-Eastham]

I can't even begin to describe how poorly that article is written. I've never seen such meandering, non-sensical rubbish in all my life. I'm a professional, published copywriter and if I submitted a piece like that I'd be laughed at and fired. Granted, there are some interesting points in the piece however he keeps getting off topic and introducing things that bear little to no relevance to the point of the article. It's so hard to read.

I disagree. I think it's a very well written article, effectively capturing the complexities of an event that had significant cultural, political and artistic impact. A civic 'happening' on the scale of Destination Docklands - that took place in that location and at that time - reaches deep into series of interlinked spaces. Will Jenning's writings comes from a left-leaning point of view, and he is often critical of the neo-liberal remaking of the city. This article reflects his positions on these topics, and places Jean-Michel Jarre's concert into a socio-political context. But it does so (I think) in an interesting and connected way, illuminating the reader around the wider ideas and related issues.