Jean Michel Jarre Will Forever Have A Connection To Houston
Jean Michel Jarre rendered his artistic performance at the Smart Financial Centre in Sugar Land, TX on April 10, 2018. It was a live spectacle and vibrant colorful light show that was synchronized with the music. Fans of electro rock music poured into the venue with great anticipation. Jean Michel Jarre is a superstar by all standards, he is the son of Maurice Jarre, the film composer. His style of electronic music has always been very popular back in France, his home of origin. Many people in Houston, TX are familiar with him as well, but for an even more significant reason. 30 years prior to his 2018 Sugar Land performance, similar sound waves rocked the whole city of Houston, to the highest decibel, when Jean Michel launched his Rendezvous album on the eve of Rendezvous Houston: A City In Concert. Jarre was asked to perform in Houston, TX for The City of Houston’s 150th Birthday, and NASA’s 25th Birthday. And for that, Jean Michel Jarre Will Forever Have A Connection To Houston.
Jarre was fully involved and even met Ron McNair, a saxophonist, and an astronaut at NASA in South Houston, TX. They soon became friends and decided to fuse time together in different places. Imagine the bromance between an astronaut and an electronic music artist! What an impractical combination it was! The two managed to come up with a unique idea, the idea was that Ron McNair would play his saxophone whilst in space, and it would be recorded and used in the Houston concert. Sadly, on January 28, 1986, The Challenger Space Shuttle carrying 6 other crew members, including Ron McNair, suffered a historical disaster resulting in the deaths of all the NASA crew aboard the shuttle. Consequently, Jarre decided to cancel the concert, but NASA astronauts convinced him otherwise. The astronauts encouraged him to honor the memory of the McNair and his crew by continuing with the plans.
38 years later, the indoor presentation in Sugar Land, TX paled in comparison to the large scale and modern outdoor concert in Downtown Houston that looked like something from the future. However, the Sugar Land performance was still entertaining nonetheless. When Jarre released his debut album in 1972, titled "Oxygene" and he was quite a cult hero in France. But Jarre was relatively unknown in the U.S. when he was approached in 1985 by the Director of Houston Grand Opera. While thousands of electro rock music fans watched the performance at Smart Financial Centre in 2018, about 1.3 million people enjoyed the outdoor lively medley some decades ago in Downtown Houston. While the Smart Financial performance may not have carried that same luster as his previous performance, both events will be a talking point for generations to come.
