Air Celebrate 25 Years of Moon Safari at Moody Amphitheater in Sublime Futuristic Fashion

Wednesday night at The Moody Amphitheater in Austin, Tx, iconic, electronic French duo Air brought the North American leg of the Moon Safari Tour to its finale. Playing for a capacity crowd, clearly carrying their deep admiration for the 1998, pioneering, electronic classic, Moon Safari, the French duo of Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benot Dunckel accompanied by touring drummer Louis Delorme exceeded any expectations that this experience would be nothing less than sublime.

Dividing the performance into two separate sets, Moon Safari in its entirety from front to back, followed by a handful of career highlights, the band, all in white, moved quietly and methodically through the 1 hour and 40 min performance pausing only to take a short break between sets and the final encore. The pristine, white box of a stage set, served not only as a visual reminder of the band’s ambient, space-pop sound but housed the light show that encased them in their futuristic world.

Those in attendance werent anticipating any musical surprises or discoveries about the band, as they were there to experience the rare event of this highly influential, and inventive 1998 release that established the band as notable composers of groundbreaking music. Ambient, chill, space-pop, downtempo, sexy, and often prophetic. An album released 30 years after the 1968 futuristic masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey, yet serving a similar message albeit musically and possibly a bit more humanly. A message from the future in the present. A message brought this collective audience to this place for this experience that shared it in a way that felt completely unified.

Not only was this particular tour a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity (one can only speculate), but this specific show had a feeling of something incredibly special before one note was performed. The crowd, a fair mix of older and younger fans felt a dedicated group of the bands work, specifically the album celebrated this night, fell right into capture from the moment the trio took the stage. A simple wave and bow to the crowd before they began the journey to Moon Safari, with the opening track “La Femme d’argent” translated to “The Silver Woman”/”The Money Girl”. Speculation that this would be a special experience was quickly cemented as the band worked through the entire album bringing the recording to life almost cinematically. Taking nothing away from the handful of songs performed during the second set, the encapsulating performance of Moon Safari from start to finish was a unified journey back in time while experiencing a hint of the future. A future that, at the time of this release, felt more reassuring and comforting than that which we may be experiencing now.

Maybe that is the reasoning behind the success of this album and this tour. Maybe the timing of this North American tour on the heels of political turmoil was just what we longed for. Maybe we just needed to feel sexy for one night. Maybe Air know something that most of us dont

Set 1: Moon Safari

Set 2:

Radian

Venus

Cherry Blossom Girl

Run

Highschool Lover

Dont Be Light

Encore:

Alone in Kyoto

Electronic Performers