Yesterday marked the end of the Special Summer Live Tour 2025.
The final concert Stuttgart kind of brought the whole tour full circle: just like the very first show in Oslo, it had a bit too much natural daylight during the opening few tracks. This is probably the only actual critisism I can tell about some concerts during this tour. But the visuals still impressed the people who where there based on the reviews I've read.
It’s obvious that this wasn’t a full-length tour, but rather a 30-day concert series where Jarre toured solo, mostly around Eastern and Central Europe. From a organizational standpoint, it was a bit of a last minute project, which was mainly organized because he finally got the opportunity to perform in Venice and Pompeii.
And yet, I still see it as one of the most memorable, significant tours of his career. In a way, this was the first real tour of the “new” Jarre. Back in 2016, during the Electronica era, a lot more people attended the shows expecting the “old sound”, what they call the style of the '70s and '80s. At that time, the younger generation, who live in the world of streaming platforms and VR, knew Jarre's name much less.
Now, in 2025, the situation is completely different. Of course, I’m not saying he’s as popular in the mainstream today as he was in the mid 80s, but we can’t ignore the fact that in the last 10 years, since his “big comeback” in 2015, a whole new audience has discovered him, mainly thanks to the internet and streaming services. Especially after Welcome To The Other Side, when he got a lot of attention. I wouldn’t be surprised if many people started listening to him after his appearance at last year’s Paralympics. And for many of those new fans, this may have been their very first non-VR Jarre concert.
As for those who still haven’t warmed up to this newer direction: well, after 10 years, they’ve probably made peace with the fact that there is no point to wait for a return to the “old days” and they’ve moved on. And that’s perfectly fine.
The technology we saw has also come a long way. I think Jarre always wanted his concerts to look something like this, but only now has the technology that caught up with his imagination. We know he’s directly involved in the visual design of his shows - something not every performer does. Many people say Jarre isn’t just a musician, but a showman. And I agree. But I’d say he’s a showman in the best possible sense.
The concert sound quality was also cleaner, better, more refined than even his shows from 9 years ago.
What was also fascinating was how the tour evolved from start to finish. In the beginning, many people described it as a minimalist tour, but by the time we got to Venice, Brussels, and Seville, it had everything: fireworks, massive projections and lights on the buildings. It just shows you how Jarre and his team kept learning, adapting, and improving after each concert. The setlist didn’t change much after the initial concert. 'If the Wind Could Speak' at least got a live version, but Jarre quickly realized it didn’t quite work on stage and replaced it by Rendez-Vous 4, to the audience’s delight.
So in my opinion, thanks to both this technical evolution and the new audience, the tour was a wonderful success. I’ve read all sorts of comments, comments from hardcore longtime fans and comments from people who only knew his name or had heard one or two tracks, but 99 out of 100 were positive. Even that one negative comment would just repeat the obvious: “it’s not like it used to be.” No other real criticism came up, nothing new at least. So from the perspective of the JMJ fan community, this was a very positive tour: it brought together longtime fans, new fans, young and old people. For me personally, it was a huge joy that instead of debates or arguments, we could finally just celebrate together that this man, who is now nearly 77, still creates new things, year after year.
Now, he’s earned a well-deserved break. He even mentioned in one of the interviews that his next project is to rest.
It’s already incredible that he pulled all this off at his age, through a hot European summer. I do hope there’ll be a good quality recording released by ARTE. It can’t fully capture the immersive experience, but at least it would be something.
Of course, the Jarre-train isn’t stopping anytime soon: we’ve got the Starmus BluRay coming soon, some kind of concert in China at the end of the year, and next year, a new album, the 50th anniversary of Oxygene, and most likely a longer tour. I can't wait to see what comes next.
Jean-Michel Jarre is more than just a pioneer of electronic music. He is a current musician, still adding to his legacy.
- 11/07/2025
