Show Review: Jean-Michel Jarre at the Greek Theatre at UC Berkeley, 5/26/2017

An evening of history and illumination, full of energy and exciting sounds

Jean-Michel Jarre's live setup
Jean-Michel Jarre’s live setup

By this point, I’ve waxed on and on and ON about electronic shows, so what’s in store for anyone attending one shouldn’t be too surprising: elaborate lights and projections, minimal equipment onstage, and a limited scope of what the performers can actually do (by virtue of sounds and lights responding to recorded cues). It’s therefore incredibly exciting to know that one of the forefathers of the genre — French composer Jean-Michel Jarre — is one of the most energetic performers in live electronica today. His stage persona pairs excellently with his dazzling visual effects, and most of the music is actually played live, rather than simply cranked out from a MIDI sequence or a pre-recorded track. It’s taken 40 years for Jarre to do his first U.S. tour, but by all accounts, he has been owning this lap like he’s been doing it for an eternity.

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