Out of all the JMJ concerts I've been to, as well as being the most visually stunning, Paris La Defense was the only one where I didn't come away thinking "I wish he had also played *this track or that track*".
Europe In Concert was also visually stunning, and the musical arrangements were good, but it was pretty limited in respect of the track listing. It wasn't really advertised as the "Chonologie Tour", but that is in essence what it was - the whole of Chronologie and only three or four non-Chronologie tracks. So it was pretty obvious that I'd come away with that nagging thought.
Concert For Tolerance - visually the projections weren't up to the standard of the previous concerts. Also the music - the arrangements were just a bit too flat sounding and lacked depth, perhaps relying too much on Patrick Rondat and crashing rock drums. The track listing was interesting, but seemed to be showcasing more of a B-list of tracks rather than the A-list of La Defense. By that I mean there was Mag Fields 1 instead of Mag Fields 2, and pieces like Equinoxe 4, Equinoxe 5, Zoolookologie, Chronologie 2 and Rendez-Vous 2 were ignored. Having said that, it was great to hear the whole of Industrial Revolutions.
Oxygene Tour 97 was always going to be a little disappointing in my mind as I didn't really enjoy Oxygene 7-13 that much. In particular, it seemed odd to me that tracks like Revolutions and Chronologie 6 were played, yet Equinoxe 5 - which I think of as being from the same era and style as Oxygene was again overlooked. The tracklisting also lacked continuity and seemed to be all over the place.
Until the latest tour, Oxygene 7-13 also seemed to dominate his set-lists. The latest tour is a step in the right direction, and despite him performing Equinoxe 4,5 and 7 (hooray!), I'm sure I'm not the only one coming away thinking "but I wish he'd have played Chronologie 4 or Revolutions or Zoolookologie or Calypso..."!
Blah Blah Cafe, the Jean-Michel Jarre forum
