Rendez-vous Houston - Planning and Problems of The Concert

Planning and Problems of The Concert

In 1985, Jarre was contacted by the musical director of the Houston Grand Opera with the proposal for him related to the celebrations of Texas' 150th birthday in 1986, 150th birthday of the city of Houston and NASA's 25th birthday. Because of NASA's involvement, Jarre got the chance to keep in contact with a friend of his, astronaut captain Bruce McCandless II who later introduced Jarre to a flight companion of his, astronaut and jazz musician Ron McNair. Together they had the idea that for the celebrations, Jarre would create a piece of music that could be performed by McNair on his saxophone. The idea was that McNair, on his next trip into space in the Challenger Space Shuttle, would perform (and record onto video) the new piece of music, which would then be projected (through video playback) onto a giant screen that was to be constructed on the front of one of the buildings.

On January 28th, 1986, McNair telephoned Jarre for the last time. "...Everything's ready. See you in a week's time. Watch me on TV for the takeoff!" On that same day, an appalled world witnessed a historic tragedy - the Challenger Space Shuttle disintegrated in mid-air whilst on its ascent into space. Distraught by what happened, Jarre almost decided to cancel the concert. However, astronauts from NASA (including Bruce McCandless) telephoned Jarre. They asked Jarre not to cancel, as now the concert must go ahead, and be held in tribute to pay respect to the astronauts who had lost their lives in the disaster.

The run-up to the concert itself still did not go smoothly. Rain poured down on Houston a couple of days before the concert, destroying much of the equipment on stage (which was repaired by the day of the concert), breaking wires and ruining instruments. Furthermore, there had been a very strong wind blowing all week, which ended up splitting open the giant projection screen (which was made from several small canvas panels) and causing it to come crashing down.

The local police turned up during the middle of a rehearsal demanding immediate payment of a fine; the residents who lived nearby were complaining of excessive noise and were exhausted from their sleepless nights. Also, FBI officers threatened to put a stop to the whole proceedings because they were being deprived of electricity. 30 large lamps had been installed on top of FBI headquarters, and they were causing problems with their surveillance of Colonel Gaddafi, who was visiting the city at that time.

There was still one more slight problem before the concert started. The chief of the Houston Fire Department, Robert Clayton, had told Francis Dreyfus, Jarre's manager, that the show must be cancelled. This was due to a change of the wind direction; the Chief was concerned that the crowd would be showered with firework debris. After some back-and-forth argument with Dreyfus, Clayton agreed that the concert could proceed on a 'see how it goes' term.

During the concert (specifically, during the performance of Equinoxe Part 5), the amount of fireworks being used and the direction of the wind did indeed cause debris to rain down on the audience, covering them in ash. Clayton frantically began to try to stop the proceedings, fearing that people would be injured. Although his fears were duly noted, the crowd took no notice of the ash falling onto them and carried on enjoying the concert proceedings.

During the concert, Interstate 45 which runs past the downtown Buffalo Bayou Park, came to a standstill as locals and long distance travellers alike stopped, parked on the crowded freeway and applauded, wept and laughed in unison with the thousands below them in the park.