Another article dated 22/04/2026 - What were the 10 biggest gigs of all time?
10 - Jean-Michel Jarre – Place de la Concorde (-1million)
The king of gargantuan free shows, it all started for Jean-Michel Jarre back in 1979, celebrating that year’s Bastille Day on July 14th with his signature explosion of light projections and video displays onto buildings. While rookie numbers compared to his later events, his free show at the Place de la Concorde public square was reported to have been performed to just shy of a million.
By all accounts, a meeting with the then Paris mayor Jacques Chirac revealed that seven births had taken place during Jarre’s electronic theatre atop the site of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette’s guillotine spots.
7 - Jean Michel Jarre – Downtown Houston (1.3million)
Him again. Unleashing another one of his metropolitan spectacles, Jean Michel Jarre decided to let loose his electronic grandiosities amid the skyscrapers of Houston’s central business district. Two birthdays were being celebrated on April 5th, 1985, being the 150th anniversary of the Texan city’s founding, as well as NASA marking its 25th anniversary.
Coinciding with the release of his Rendez-Vous album, the Houston jamboree pulled in an estimated 1.3million people drawn to the fireworks and light displays. So extravagant, legend has it that the 30 large light lamps placed on top of the FBI headquarters drained so much electricity that it interfered with their surveillance of Colonel Gaddafi in the city at the time.
3 - Jean-Michel Jarre – La Défense (2.5million)
Setting up his arsenal of synths in Paris’ La Défense business district, Jean-Michel Jarre returned to his home country to celebrate Bastille Day on July 14th, 1990, performing in a giant pyramid stage replete with custom marionettes designed by Peter Minshall and a live steel drum band for further celebratory zest.
The Paris La Défense – Une Ville En Concert broke records, with approximately 2.5million people watching the show stretching as far back as the Arc de Triomphe. A lauded show among fans, its lack of an official release has seen the set stand highly prized as an essential Jarre bootleg over the years.
2 - Jean-Michel Jarre – Moscow State University (3million)
A recurring theme in our list, with the French electronic composer counting several spots in the records of massive gig concerts. Just about rivalling Stewart’s premier top spot, Jean-Michel Jarre signed up to celebrate Moscow’s 850th birthday celebrations with a free show at the Moscow State University on September 6th, 1997.
Jarre pulled out all the stops, playing a 20-song set replete with laser spectacle and even a live link communication with cosmonauts aboard the MIR orbital station in space. Shifting half a million official tickets, as many as three million were thought to have been watching the event from the university’s surrounding hilltops.
Source:
https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/what-were- ... ll-time-2/Jarregirl YouTube
Concerts attended:
Théâtre Marigny, Paris - 2007
Symphony Hall, Birmingham - 2008
RAH, London - 2008
Wembley Arena, London - 2009
NIA, Birmingham - 2009
POP Bercy, Paris - 2010
NIA, Birmingham - 2010
O2 Arena, London - 2010
Zénith Aréna, Lille - 2010
Port Hercule, Monaco - 2011
TUI Arena, Hannover - 2011
Festival International de Carthage - 2013
Barclaycard Arena, Birmingham - 2016
Jean Michel Jarre, Moscow, 1997: 3.5 million 
