Magma Live in Geneva and Lausanne - May 1979
Photos by Joe Paradiso (click on the thumbnails for a larger image)

I've been a fan of the French band Magma for over 30 years now. Although I'm based in the USA, I lived in Europe during much of 1979-1983, primarily Switzerland (first Geneva, then Zurich). I was fortunate enough to see Magma live twice while I lived in Geneva on two consecutive evenings - I recall that these gigs were iin May of 1979. The first evening's concert was in a the function hall (termed "Salle des Fêtes") in a sleepy Geneva suburb - I think it may have been Onex or Thonex. I drove out to Lausanne the following evening to see them again, this time in a proper auditorium right downtown. Both evenings were electrifying - a dream come true for me, as I'd been following Magma's music for many years from the USA with little hope at that time of seeing them in concert. I brought my camera to the gigs, and as there was plenty of light, I was using a fast film, and I could get next to the stage in the Geneva performance, I was able to use my telephoto lens and get several closeups of Christian Vander and the band in action. The set list was pretty close to that on the Bobino live CD (I believe that the actual setlist for this tour is enumerated on the OrkAlarm website). Highlights for me included a performance of Zess, which I wasn't to hear again until the Les Voix CD was released circa 15 years later. I recall that all photos on this site are from the Geneva performance, except for the full-stage views at the end, which came from Lausanne. A portion of the tour poster can be seen at the upper-right corner of the bulletin board in this photo of my desk at the CERN Laboratory taken shortly after the show.