Blah Blah Cafe, the Jean-Michel Jarre forum

[dzoolook]

And that they fixed Jarre miming the laser harp a quarter note too early (man would I like to know what happened there, both on rehearsals and on the actual show)

Maybe it was one of the reason why he wore those over-ear headphones, some technical issue about he listening to the rest of the music and himself.

Well it seemed like the cues in his headphones were off by a quarter note. And they didn't fix it after rehearsals. I can't comprehend this

Remember Francofolies. The same thing. It was fixed at the final part when Adiescar is beside him.

[Richard-Eastham]

This is my Francofolies video on my work instagram account. It certainly did not look or sound mimed to me, and I was standing just a few rows back from the front. The harp sound was not as loud later on in the track, after the guitar solo bit when he stops playing for a few moments. When he went back to the harp, the volume was lower. Anyway, mimed, live, magic or whatever ... it's always a brilliant bit of showmanship!

[Robi83]

This is my Francofolies video on my work instagram account. It certainly did not look or sound mimed to me, and I was standing just a few rows back from the front. The harp sound was not as loud later on in the track, after the guitar solo bit when he stops playing for a few moments. When he went back to the harp, the volume was lower. Anyway, mimed, live, magic or whatever ... it's always a brilliant bit of showmanship!

What's mimed on here?

[dzoolook]

I was not talking about miming, I was talking about playing out of time. Bratislava and Francofollies has that same issue

[Jote]

This is my Francofolies video on my work instagram account. It certainly did not look or sound mimed to me

What's mimed on here?

It's not about miming. He's playing everything one quarter note too late. In Bratislava this could've been excused by those headphones, but he doesn't have them here. I can't understand why this was happening.

[Richard-Eastham]

Quarter note too early or too late? See thread.

Personally, I don't hear it as too late or too early. It just sounds like a raw, live "non-studio" version, played in the moment. These laser harp performances aren't meant to be note perfect.

[Jote]

Quarter note too early or too late? See thread.

Personally, I don't hear it as too late or too early. It just sounds like a raw, live "non-studio" version, played in the moment. These laser harp performances aren't meant to be note perfect.

It's very obvious in that video above that it's one quarter note late. This has nothing to do with being "raw" or "live". He plays all the right notes, but the timing is off. I'm not talking about being millisecond precision, it's obvious that while played live the notes will be off. But not by *THIS* amount, and a CONSTANT amount at that. A phrase in "Time Machine" always starts at the beginning of the bar (on "1"). In this performance it ALWAYS lags behind and starts on "2". At this point you can't assume an "improvisation", it's a very obvious mistake.

[Finaero]

Yeah, I can't initially hear it in that clip because the laser harp sound is quite loud (or maybe my ears just focus on it automatically), but about 6-7 seconds in when the first sequence ends you can immediately hear the "unsyncing".

[Richard-Eastham]

Quarter note too early or too late? See thread.

Personally, I don't hear it as too late or too early. It just sounds like a raw, live "non-studio" version, played in the moment. These laser harp performances aren't meant to be note perfect.

It's very obvious in that video above that it's one quarter note late. This has nothing to do with being "raw" or "live". He plays all the right notes, but the timing is off. I'm not talking about being millisecond precision, it's obvious that while played live the notes will be off. But not by *THIS* amount, and a CONSTANT amount at that. A phrase in "Time Machine" always starts at the beginning of the bar (on "1"). In this performance it ALWAYS lags behind and starts on "2". At this point you can't assume an "improvisation", it's a very obvious mistake.

So are you saying it was playback, and that playback that was a quarter note out of sync with the rest of the music? Because of the fact it was *constantly* out of time, rather than sporadically out of time, and not sort of hit and miss, suggests a playback error? I am not bothered whichever way it was performed; it was good to watch and listen to close up – I am just genuinely curious to hear from people with greater musical training and experience than I have about what was going on there.

Also, no over-the-ear headphones at La Rochelle - he looks a lot better without them!

[Jote]

Quarter note too early or too late? See thread.

Personally, I don't hear it as too late or too early. It just sounds like a raw, live "non-studio" version, played in the moment. These laser harp performances aren't meant to be note perfect.

So are you saying it was playback, and that playback that was a quarter note out of sync with the rest of the music?

It's a tough question. Here's my complete analysis:

BRATISLAVA



In the first part, i.e. 1:46:28 until 1:50:05 the following can be observed:
- the Laser Harp notes are in sync with music
- Jarre hits the beams in sync with Laser Harp notes that we can hear
- he IS miming it though, as seen in 1:47:50 - just before returning to the lowest note he mimes a high note with his right hand (B♭) while the playback has an F there.

In the second part, i.e. from 1:50:32
- the Laser Harp notes are inaudible
- Jarre hits the beams a quarter note TOO EARLY with regards to the Time Machine melody played by the guitars

FRANCOFOLIES, however



In the first part 1:29:07 until 1:32:00
- the Laser Harp notes are OUT OF SYNC with the music, a quarter note TOO LATE
- Jarre hits the beams in sync with Laser Harp notes that we can hear
- this performance looks LIVE, which begs the question - WHY IS IT OFF? He does have earbuds, maybe he's hearing something different than the audience does

In the second part from 1:32:28
- the Laser harp notes are IN SYNC with music

It almost looks like the guiding track that he's hearing is wrong in a sense that the break where he doesn't play is one quarter note short, so you can either have 1st part in sync and 2nd part too early (Bratislava), or 1st part too late and 2nd part too late (Francofolies)

[MarnixB]

Due curcomstances I can't visit the upcoming show in Bruxelles. But instead to complain about I pre-ordered the boxset of Bratislava. Looking forward the have the official release!

[Dr_Jones]

It's now also available for pre-order at the record stores. At least in the Netherlands:
https://www.platomania.nl/search/result ... re&format=

[melo]

From Brian May Official Site:

https://brianmay.com/brian-news/2025/06/jean-michel-jarre-live-in-bratislava-release-ft-brian-may/

[Kanta]

[MarnixB]

stardust from Bratislava is now out on the streaming platforms as single