Watch Jarvis Cocker and Chilly Gonzales Perform ‘Room 29’ in Full at ARTE Concert Festival 2017
Too much Jarvis Cocker is never enough, especially when there’s a pandemic raging. Despite pushing back the debut album from his new project JARV IS… until September due to Covid-19 (see note below), the British musician is still making headlines. On Monday, ARTE premiered a video of Jarvis and Chilly Gonzales performing their collaborative album, Room 29, in full at the ARTE Concert Festival in 2017. You can watch the dazzling 92-minute theatrical event below. It’s up through June 26. (Update: La Blogothèque also shared a video of the performance, we have updated the link below)
A concept album inspired by the Pulp frontman’s stay in the infamous room 29 at the iconic Château Marmont, Room 29 pays tribute to old Hollywood glamour. For their stage production, Jarvis and Chilly summon the spirits of the Los Angeles landmark through song, visuals, and dance performed within the set of a hotel room. The performance features The Kaiser Quartett, who play on the record, and dancer Maya Orchin. Jarvis and Chilly went on a brief tour of Europe with the production, including stops in the UK, Germany, and France. The ARTE Concert Festival concert took place in Paris at La Gaîté Lyrique on April 7, 2017, a few weeks after the release of the album.
As for the video, it’s filmed by the talented folks at La Blogothèque with director David Ctiborsky at the helm. La Blogothèque is the production company behind the famed Take Away Shows. During the pandemic, they’ve adapted and launched #StayAwayShows. This new series finds musicians logging on to La Blogothèque’s Instagram and performing a brief set.
This video isn’t the only thing Jarvis has given his stamp of approval during the coronavirus crisis. Most Saturday nights, Jarvis takes to Instagram Live for Domestic Disco. From 9pm-11pm BST/4pm-6pm ET/1pm-3pm PT, the artist curates a dance party from his living room complete with mood lighting. You can check out some of what he’s played here and here. He’s also creating a master playlist on Spotify of all the songs he’s cued up. You can find that here.
Jarvis also maintains a Sunday evening series he calls Jarvis Cocker’s Bedtime Stories. So far, in his sultry English accent, he’s read Richard Brautigan’s Times Square in Montana, Tove Jansson’s The Spring Tune, David Foster Wallace’s Forever Overhead, and Alan Garner’s The Trade That No-one Knows. He posts his readings on Instagram, Facebook, and Youtube. Below, you can find his reading of Forever Overhead.
For updates on JARV IS… and the status of their debut album, Beyond the Pale, sign up for Jarvis’ newsletter here.
Image courtesy of ARTE Concert Festival