Something in the Air tonight, at The Royal Albert Hall
Sounding like the members of Electric Light Orchestra were kidnapped, thrown into the back of a Citroen 2CV van, driven (slowly) to Paris before ram raiding the local branch of Tandy, French duo AIR’s timeless debut long player ‘Moon Safari’ is still arguably THE definitive Sunday morning album, effortlessly granting the listener a forty-odd minute intergalactic interlude away from their weekly grind.
Initially planning just a handful of dates to belatedly celebrate the 25th anniversary since its release, the addition of a brace of Albert Hall appearances proved way too tempting to pass up; indeed a veritable bucket list opportunity to witness a full live performance of this late twentieth century Gallic indietronica masterpiece within the Victorian magnificence of one of the world’s premier music venues.
Crafting a stage design resembling the Death Star landing bay, drummer Louis Dolorne, tonight's sole augmentee behind Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel; the anticipation almost palpable as the three emerge all dressed in celestial brilliant white. A brittle electronic pulse redolent of Sign o’the Times serves as the ideal propellant before Godin’s epochal bassline ushers in the unforgettable ‘La Femme D’Argent’, faithful to the album opener yet subtly eked out to a spellbinding ten minutes, the controls seemingly set for the coeur du soleil.
If they’d scarpered after that I wouldn’t have cared but ‘Sexy Boy’, and ‘Kelly Watch The Stars’ prove similarly otherworldly treasures, lovingly preserved confit from the fag end of the last century, even if the cheeky kid brother single version of the latter knocked its parent album version into a cocked hat; my gateway drug to this glorious record not an ounce of its charm lost in the intervening quarter century.
Even the lack of Beth Hirsch couldn’t put a damper on things, the duo’s vocoder wizardry filling in just fine on the seductive ‘You Make it Easy’ and the achingly wistful ‘All I Need’. The comet tail of Moon Safari proved as luxurious and enveloping as its vinyl counterpart ‘Ce Matin La’ a pastoral delight and ‘New Star in the Sky (Chanson pour Solal)’ proving as woozy as ever.
Unforgettable.
Words by Michael Price
Air official