Jean-Michel Jarre's Xmas day Versailles 400 concert now available

French electronic music pioneer Jean-Michel Jarre has released his recent Christmas day Versailles 400 concert event to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the Château de Versailles as Versailles 400, a mixed-reality concert-film and live digital album.

Versailles 400 features an electro version of JB Lully's (1632-1687) Marche pour la cérémonie des Turcs and Jarre's new single Epica Oxygene, as well as fresh renditions from Jarre's catatogue.

A Director's Cut of Versailles 400 is available on 6play in France and on YouTube worldwide - you can watch this version below - while a 4k version for large screens is currently in production.

Jarre will perform this concert-show simultaneously in front of a real audience in the Hall of Mirrors, and in the metaverse, thanks to his avatar, in the centre of a futuristic Hall of Mirrors with a virtual audience connected in VR or on tablets and smartphones.

"I designed the visuals for the Versailles 400 concert using artificial intelligence to create a graphic universe that merges the visual context of the 17th century with a world of robots, kinetic structures, Op art, sets, and creatures inspired by imaginary futuristic fairy tales, endlessly reflecting in the virtual mirrors of the Hall of Mirrors," says Jarre.

Versailles 400 is one of several large scale virtual live events that Jarre has performed. In 2021 he presented a virtual New Year's Eve show Welcome To The Other Side, which was set in a 'virtual' Notre Dame cathedral. The live show combined life-like concert visuals in VR with a live studio performance.

Jean-Michel Jarre: Versailles 400 setlist
1. Le Château (from JB Lully - unreleased)
2. Epica Oxygene (recently released)
3. The Opening
4. Oxygene 2
5. Equinoxe 4
6. Equinoxe 7
7. Industrial Revolution Part 2
8. Chronologie 6
9. The Architect
10. Oxygene 19
11. Zero Gravity
12. Falling Down
13. Stardust

Writer and broadcaster Jerry Ewing is the Editor of Prog Magazine which he founded for Future Publishing in 2009. He grew up in Sydney and began his writing career in London for Metal Forces magazine in 1989. He has since written for Metal Hammer, Maxim, Vox, Stuff and Bizarre magazines, among others. He created and edited Classic Rock Magazine for Dennis Publishing in 1998 and is the author of a variety of books on both music and sport, including Wonderous Stories; A Journey Through The Landscape Of Progressive Rock.