Jean-Michel Jarre's Hong Kong live double-disc collection went one better by featuring hardly any songs played at the gig. It also fell foul of that perennial problem in Hong Kong: a clueless government.

Before U2 built a city building-sized structure to house lights and effects for their 360 tour, the French synth maestro was using real buildings as stages and backdrops for his concerts, beaming video images on to the sides of skyscrapers and harnessing the acoustics of urban canyons to project his futuristic musical pieces.

Through gigs in cities such as London, Lyon and Houston, the extroverted Jarre became renowned for staging gargantuan city-centre concerts that attracted, in the case of Paris, more than a million people.

The Hong Kong performance, played at the end of a massive European tour, was to be similarly grand: staged at the opening of the newly renovated Hong Kong Stadium in March 1994, it also marked Jarre's return to the East after he became one of the first Western performers invited to play in China 13 years earlier. During the gig, Jarre debuted new song Digi Sequencer, featured tracks from the recently released Chronologie album peppered with a few old favourites from his Oxygene and Equinoxe hits, and included, for local colour, songs he'd recorded for and after the China gigs, including Souvenir of China, and an extended version of Fishing Junks at Sunset.

He also brought along a Chinese orchestra and choir.

What the Hong Kong gig lacked was the broadcast of centrepiece backdrops on to surrounding buildings and spectacular pyrotechnic displays that were considered the best of their day.

The reason for these omissions? You guessed it: government restrictions that have since been widened to prevent concerts from being staged at the stadium (interestingly, a 1997 study by the Chinese University found the greatest intolerance to stadium shows came not from residents who lived within the arena's loudest noise range, but from those further away in more expensive buildings).

Though the concert was a sell-out, the government insisted Jarre play for free. The performer said he put on the show nonetheless because 'I really wanted to do this. I see the stadium as an opportunity to give a different image of Hong Kong to the world. It is known as a business centre, and this is a chance to build a bridge to culture. It is in my personal interest'.

The album Hong Kong, released the following November and billed as a selection of music 'based around' the Hong Kong show, was hailed as Jarre's best live recording after the three previous concert albums were panned by fans.

However, keen-eared listeners realised most of the songs had been taken from the show's preceding European dates. According to some fan sites, only one track was actually recorded at the concert - a sound-check version of Fishing Junks at Sunset.