Its always somewhat strange attending a concert by an act or artist that has nothing new on release to tie-in with the actual tour itself, therefore nothing new to loosely relate to prior too attending the actual concert itself - no new single nor above all an album with a batch of new-tracks too look forward to on the night itself, while not too mention attending a concert for an instrumental Electronic artist adds an different slant to the actual concert itself -irrespective of who there are, while in this instance, and for the first-time in his long career Jean Michel Jarre had chosen too uptake an extensive indoor arena World tour with the set-list itself featuring something of a greatest-hits selection with Jarre himself making his second-visit to Ireland, and Dublin itself having previously made his debut performance within the capital-city in March 2008 at the somewhat usual, but at the same time suitably ornate surroundings of the National Concert Hall with on that occasion providing a stunning concert that focused purely on the Oxygène album to mark the Thirty-Anniversary of its release, while on this occasion Jarre had chosen the completely re-build, and impressively so 02 venue for this concert in the once named Point Theatre, all do, I have no-time for the corporate aspect of the present music scene which it so freely continues to stain, but, leaving that aside, this was very-much an essential concert to attend, and one not too be missed by anyone that has an interest in Electronic music in general.

The concert, and seemly the overall tour itself was too be devoid of a support-band, not that I was complaining as the vast majority of concerts held within Dublin by the big-names within the present Electronic scene would unfortunately normally feature a completely unsuitable guitar-based band as the support-act, while not to mention that the absence of a support-band would also increase the length of the actual concert itself which was due to start at eight, but, didn’t do so until ten-past as the mass of predominantly vintage analogue equipment that spread itself across the openness of the vast stage where warmed-up with their collective lights standing out in the semi-darkness like the cockpit of a transatlantic jumbo-jet while the on-stage arrival of three black-clad musicians of what could loosely be seen as the backing-band signalled the start of the concert itself, while much to the surprise of those in attendance they where soon to be joined by the man himself as he appeared out-of-the-blue at the back of the hall as he proceeded to make his way down the flight of steps and through the audience itself like a championship boxer and towards the stage for the start of which turned out to be a full two-hour spectacular.

The concert itself opened with a succession of familiar tracks taken from his first three-albums Oxygène, Equinoxe & Magnetic Fields while beginning with Oxygène 2 which led nicely into the lengthy haunting tones of Oxygène1 before leading into the more up-tempo pace of Magnetic Fields 1 as something of a pattern was emerging as the tracks themselves switched between slow and fast as the pace was somewhat brought back-down with the sweeping and swirling synths of Equinoxe 7 before perfectly leading into one of my own favourites with the superb up-tempo pace of Equinoxe 5 which led to the first of two impressive appearances on the night of the laser harp with the stark simplicity of Rendez-Vous 3 which was followed by another favourite of mine with the flowing up-tempo pace of Magnetic Fields 2, while the pace stepped back with an account of his visit to China with the track to commemorate the visit itself Souvenir Of China which led back to the Oxygène album with more haunting tones of Oxygène 5 and the suitable named Variation 3 with its concoction of varied electronic sounds and effects followed by the rare live spectacle provided by the Theremin Piece with an unique opportunity to see this instrument being performed live, while the superb Equinoxe 5 complete with excellent visuals taken from the albums cover brought the pace back-up, this was followed by what I later found out to be a new-track which I believe is titled Adagio, itself its a sweeping haunting piece played largely by Jarre himself with the projection screen behind him providing a simple, but stark list of figures related to the World we live in, this perfectly led into the orchestral like feel of Industrial Revolution 2 with its broad, sweeping synths as Jarre stepped to the front of stage with a hand-held synth while leading into the somewhat similar sounding and varied Rendez-Vous 2, and a return to the laser-harp while followed by Chronologie 6 and the big-finish of Chronologie 2 before returning for the first of two encores with the superb Oxygène 4 followed by Oxygène 12 before finishing with the final-track in Calypso 3.

This was quite simply a superb and stunning concert with an excellent set-list complete with a clear and sharp sound that’s one of the highlights of this re-build venue combined with an amazing and spectacular light display that was one of the best I’ve ever seen, and one that combined perfectly with some equally excellent visuals on a large screen with both collectively providing a fantastic concert, this was what concerts should be all about, between the set-list, lights and backing projections that simply left the vast majority of those present simply not knowing what was happening next, both musically and visually as many sat somewhat transfixed at the light-show that poured over their heads in an array of shapes and colours that continued to amaze through out the night itself, while for me, it will be, and unfortunately so, certainly a very long-time before I get the opportunity too attend and witness another excellent performance, light-show and above all a concert as enjoyable as this in a venue to match.