930 Forums
=> GENERAL DISCUSSION => Topic started by: bearman🐻 on May 08, 2007, 03:09:00 pm
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My sister saw them in Chicago and I got a full report. Should be a good show, lots of older stuff! Plus they still have the same drummer from the last time they came through, and he kicked ass. Can't wait.
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Ill be there :D
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someone from the board will give me a free ticket tomorrow!
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i'm there - and i'll be scalping a ticket to someone from the board for twice its value so i can get in free :D
i read one old review that wasn't flattering. said the crowd was very chatty, which i can believe - i'm sure lots of frat boys who lost their virginity to "moon safari" will come to the show, but since they aren't into the music will talk about fantasy baseball during the entire set (like the ones i was standing in front of at the Massive Attack show!). reviewer also complained that the music was slow, loungey and atmospheric - i.e. he wasn't expecting an Air show! sorta ridiculous.
i'm definitely looking forward to this. what would be an appropriate drink for an Air show? martini?
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reviewer also complained that the music was slow, loungey and athmospheric
Talking about atmospheric music, last night saw the Lisa Gerrard show at the Birchmere, FANTASTIC!!, what a voice, she's just amazing...
The food, BTW, was excellent :p
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Originally posted by lagos:
reviewer also complained that the music was slow, loungey and athmospheric
Talking about atmospheric music, last night saw the Lisa Gerrard show at the Birchmere, FANTASTIC!!, what a voice, she's just amazing...
The food, BTW, was excellent :p [/b]
great to hear about the Lisa Gerard show. im seeing her tomorrow night, and cant wait. especially since im bummed that i cant see Air. Some other band is playing that night that I have tix too. I think The Kooks.
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I'm going to suspend my boycott on weekday shows and likely go. I don't have a ticket so I'm hoping they're still available at the door. They were so short changed at Coachella and it's so rare for them to play here that I want to support the fact that Seth got them to the club, hoping he'll continue to book the less known artsy foreign acts in the future....fyi acoustic TV on The Radio are playing at the NYC show on Thursday along with Kate. If anyone needs to sell a spare I'll take it.
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Originally posted by xneverwherex:
Originally posted by lagos:
reviewer also complained that the music was slow, loungey and athmospheric
Talking about atmospheric music, last night saw the Lisa Gerrard show at the Birchmere, FANTASTIC!!, what a voice, she's just amazing...
The food, BTW, was excellent :p [/b]
great to hear about the Lisa Gerard show. im seeing her tomorrow night, and cant wait. especially since im bummed that i cant see Air. Some other band is playing that night that I have tix too. I think The Kooks. [/b]
Kooks are saturday.
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i'll be there. i'm trying to figure out where the $40 goes... what's their setup like?
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Originally posted by bnyced0:
They were so short changed at Coachella and it's so rare for them to play here that I want to support the fact that Seth got them to the club, hoping he'll continue to book the less known artsy foreign acts in the future....
agreed.
do you (or anyone else) have the story with their late showing at 'chella? i was in position for Rage at the time and didn't want to leave my spot (which i abandoned one song in, i was TOO close :) ) so i didn't suffer through the wait to hear Air. why were they so late?
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Originally posted by bnyced0:
I'm going to suspend my boycott on weekday shows and likely go.
I don't have a boycott, but logistics that keep me from shows during the week. I'd really like to go, but I think I can only afford the Ben G. show this week.
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Originally posted by slowgraffiti:
i'll be there. i'm trying to figure out where the $40 goes... what's their setup like?
yes, they have a big setup with racks of old synths and lights (i.e. expensive to move around the country). i also bet they are traveling with an entourage (vs. a garage band traveling without roadies, sound techs, managers, etc). finally, i'm sure their earning expectations are high - unlike a garage rock band that will play for gas money. i suspect that they expect a decent payday for each show.
Air does not jam econo.
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Originally posted by bnyced0:
Originally posted by xneverwherex:
Originally posted by lagos:
reviewer also complained that the music was slow, loungey and athmospheric
Talking about atmospheric music, last night saw the Lisa Gerrard show at the Birchmere, FANTASTIC!!, what a voice, she's just amazing...
The food, BTW, was excellent :p [/b]
great to hear about the Lisa Gerard show. im seeing her tomorrow night, and cant wait. especially since im bummed that i cant see Air. Some other band is playing that night that I have tix too. I think The Kooks. [/b]
Kooks are saturday. [/b]
Thanks for the update on the Kooks. I live in NYC and they are playing here on Thursday/Friday nights. The Air date might be wrong, I just know I have a conflict with another concert.
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From Steve Jones, Air tour musician:
It was a nightmare. Here's what happened:
1. The reason we were so late going on stage was that the American crew fucked up big time backstage - there was a spaghetti junction of leads, and no-one knew what was wrong. Half the lines were down, including some crucial stuff like bass, SH-101, JB's keyboards etc. We couldn't start to play until these things were fixed... and it was heartbreakingly frustrating to be kept waiting and waiting.
2. Because of the above problems, there were stacks of problems with the mix.
3. No-one had diarrhea.
4. They were enforcing the set times, so the set was cut really really short - we had four more songs on the list.
Anyway, I feel awful for the Air fans who came to Coachella. Sorry to all of them...
Originally posted by sweetcell:
do you (or anyone else) have the story with their late showing at 'chella? i was in position for Rage at the time and didn't want to leave my spot (which i abandoned one song in, i was TOO close :) ) so i didn't suffer through the wait to hear Air. why were they so late?
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Originally posted by sweetcell:
said the crowd was very chatty, which i can believe - i'm sure lots of frat boys who lost their virginity to "moon safari" will come to the show, but since they aren't into the music will talk about fantasy baseball during the entire set (like the ones i was standing in front of at the Massive Attack show!).
Frat boys would've had "Moon Safari" on their radar? Seriously??
And people talking about fantasy baseball during a Massive Attack show -- that just boggles the mind. Then again, at a Thievery Corporation show a few years back, I recall some two frat-boy types yelling toward the stage, "You guys RAWK!!"
Maybe there's more overlap between the frat-boy and downtempo scenes than I'd like to believe...
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Looking forward to it, as always.
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Originally posted by nonameface:
Originally posted by bnyced0:
I'm going to suspend my boycott on weekday shows and likely go.
I don't have a boycott, but logistics that keep me from shows during the week. I'd really like to go, but I think I can only afford the Ben G. show this week. [/b]
My boycott is basically for the same reason, I'm commuting to the District at the moment so going home and coming back is a pain, then there's my early train in the morning. Problem will be solved once the Floridian is complete.
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Someone should just give me a ticket for a couple of animal crackers.
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I'll be there, really looking forward to it. I've never had the chance to see them before and I have pretty high expectations, here's to hoping I won't be let down.
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Me :D
Thought this would sell out in minutes. Then again, I thought the massive attack show would do the same thing. Chalk it up to dc's lameness I guess.
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The only way Frat Guy lost his virginity listening to Moon Safari is if he was with a super cool girl. And they were at her place.
She was probably really hot too.
Nicely done, Frat Guy.
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Originally posted by Mobius:
The only way Frat Guy lost his virginity listening to Moon Safari is if he was with a super cool girl. And they were at her place.
She was probably really hot too.
Nicely done, Frat Guy.
To frat guy!! Best damn salesman in the office! He squired an entire baseball team! Hell, an orchestra if you count the bastards! To Frat Guy!
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Frat guy is a son of a bitch!
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Originally posted by sweetcell:
i'm there - and i'll be scalping a ticket to someone from the board for twice its value so i can get in free :D
i read one old review that wasn't flattering. said the crowd was very chatty, which i can believe - i'm sure lots of frat boys who lost their virginity to "moon safari" will come to the show, but since they aren't into the music will talk about fantasy baseball during the entire set (like the ones i was standing in front of at the Massive Attack show!). reviewer also complained that the music was slow, loungey and atmospheric - i.e. he wasn't expecting an Air show! sorta ridiculous.
i'm definitely looking forward to this. what would be an appropriate drink for an Air show? martini?
They were very good, ....last year, I think it was. Only downside were the drunk girls. A couple were especially obnoxious, especially the one who seemed to be completely out of her element at a show and was convinced she would get backstage. If she weren't so annoying, it would have been funny.
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I'll be there tonight. CANT.WAIT.
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i'm your last minute DJ and yikes do i need to do some searching in the collection.
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That drummer was AMAZING. Can't wait.
Originally posted by bearman:
My sister saw them in Chicago and I got a full report. Should be a good show, lots of older stuff! Plus they still have the same drummer from the last time they came through, and he kicked ass. Can't wait.
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Was very impressed the last time they came around. Glad to see they have the same drummer. Should be an amazing show as everyone as said before. you think it will sell out at the door?
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Kosmo, can I make a couple of requests?
How about:
Saint Etienne -- Lose That Girl
Phoenix -- (anything would be good)
Les Rhythmes Digitales -- (Hey You) What's That Sound?
Gang of Four -- Is It Love?
Air Miami -- anything from them would be cool
Just trying to help with some ideas :)
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Just saw that they have been playing "J'Ai Dormi Sous L'Eau" on this tour. AWESOME.
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kosmo - not sure if this is helpful, but back in the day when i listened to a lot of air, other bands on my playlist included: CFM band, st etienne, stereolab (emperor ketchup!), and a bunch of lesser-known acid jazz and dub acts.
personally, if i was to DJ this show, i'd go space lounge & dubby downtempo... oh, wait, that's what i'd spin at most every show.
FYI, i'm checking out the opener's (Kate Havnevik) music on her myspace page (http://www.myspace.com/katehavnevik) and am kinda digging it... i was going to propose hanging out in the backbar before Air hits the stage, but what i've heard so far makes me want to catch her performance. vaguely reminiscent of a bjork/sinead hybrid doing the postal service. will definitely go well with a martini.
so i guess i'll save my meet-up idea for LCD this sunday... TBD.
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was just thinking the other day how cool it would be to DJ for Air but figured they'd have their own pre-show music so... but as it was there was a need for the DJ and person original slated to do it dropped out so here i am diggin' through my stacks of CDs deciding between fully a nice mixture of all of the above (thanks for the st. etienne reminder it was crossed my mind before) along with 60s pop, 70s funk, etc, etc... problem is i have oodles of the stuff and deciding at the last minute freaks me out..
it doesn't help of course that the Heaven 17 re-issues came in the mail today
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PENTHOUSE AND PAVEMENT!! God, one of my all-time favorite songs. Kosmo, that would be so damn cool if you played that. I know Air is mellow, but get us in the mood to dance. Stuff like "Kelly Watch the Stars" will get the crowd going, so I don't think it would be inappropriate to play some Heaven 17.
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and i will be djing from doors until the opener with Air scheduled to take over in between acts...
heaven 17 is cited as a influence of air...
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How 'bout Groove Jet by Spiller??? Anytime you're going for a loungy vibe, can't miss with that.
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If this show was any day of the week except Wednesday, I would have went. Have fun everyone, I'm sure it'll be amazing.
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well, serge gainsbourg, of course . . .
bon-eeee
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Bardot is hot.
Originally posted by Mobius:
bon-eeee
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I'm disappointed that Rhett has not yet pointed out that the opener - Kate Havawhatevernik - has been featured on Gray's Anatomy six times.
You're slacking, old man.
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Sorry, it's my wife, via her boss, that's in touch with the Gray's Anatomy stuff. I'll ax her about it.
Originally posted by ggwâ?¢:
I'm disappointed that Rhett has not yet pointed out that the opener - Kate Havawhatevernik - has been featured on Gray's Anatomy six times.
You're slacking, old man.
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Originally posted by econo:
Bardot is hot.
Oui!!
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Wow...another awesome show. I was thinking there was no way they could top the last time they came through, but this was pretty darn close.
Setlist:
Radian
Venus
Once Upon a Time
Napalm Love
Talisman
Cherry Blossom Girl
Run
Remember
People in the City
Mer Du Japon (awesome)
Photograph
Don't Be Light
Kelly Watch the Stars
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J'Ai Dormi Sous L'Eau
Sexy Boy
La Femme D'Argent
All in all, probably going to make my top 10 shows of the year. The lighting was brilliant, sound was perfect from where I was. Some folks might think they're a little bland, but I think they're just perfectionists and they do a great job of making sure that they can reproduce all the subtle nuances of their music. Thank you Seth for bringing them back. It was a great night.
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Oui!!
Looked great. Sounded fantastic.
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bearman: HATE HATE HATE. i was so proud of myself, having nabbed a setlist from the sound tech. was about to post it, but you beat me by a few minutes. oh well, you saved me all that typing :)
a great show indeed, surpassed my expectations. might make the bottom of my year's top 10, TBD (of course). i was on the floor, about 10-12 feet back, and the sound was amazing - arguably the best i've ever heard the club's PA sound. "j'ai dormi" and "la femme" were killer. the boys on stage were obviously having a good time. main set was about 55 mins, encore (after a mercifully short break) was about 15-20. i hung out by the back alley and got jean-benoit to sign my setlist, he was very nice and approchable (and short!). spoke with the keyboardist/bassist tour musician (right side of the stage - Steve Jones?) as well, who informed me that Air will be playing the club again in September. you heard it here first.
Kate Havnevik was damn good too, although a tad sedated. sound wasn't as good, resurrect my suspicion that sound tech purposefully make the openers sound bad/a tad worse than the main act. great voice.
i got to the club about 10 minutes before kate hit the stage, hoping to catch a few of kosmo's selections - but he informed me that kate had "walk on music" (correct term?) so i probably didn't hear any of his set. kosmo, do post your set list.
aside: as predicted, the crowd was chatty. grrrr. downright disrespectful during kate's set, spent a good chuck of her set coming up with evil things to do to the yappers (suggestions that won't get me arrested appreciated). low frat-boy content. club about 80-90% full by the time Air hit the stage. seth and rob from thievery hung out on the stage left balcony (was that twangirl with you?)
seth - thanks again for bringing them to the club. a memorable night.
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Sorry sweetcell...damn, that is GREAT that they'll be back in September! I wonder if I'll get to hit another one of their shows if they do someplace like NY or Philly again. I met JB and Nicholas back in 2001 and had them sign my Moon Safari booklet. Very, very sweet guys and very gracious. Wish I could see them with Phoenix across the pond this summer!
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Well I got the bonus set between bands as well.... Throughout the evening The Monkees, Velvet Underground, Jackie DeShannon, Curtis Mayfield, Sparks, Skye, Emma Pollock, Bjork, Was (Not Was), Don Mayberry and a bunch of other cool stuff
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Aaahh. I'm glad you guys got a great show. Wish that I could have been there. Maybe in September. Glad to see they are doing "Don't Be Light" which is about my favorite Air song.
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Surpassed my expectations as well.
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Great Show
and i am happy to hear they are coming back in September
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J'Ai Dormi Sous L'Eau was the best song they played!@! sooooo goooood.
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everyone there was old, i was surprised. i was in the front row and nobody wanted to dance except for the awfully drunk.
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Glad it was a good show. I saw them at Coachella in '04 and it was amazing.
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I wanted more Pocket Symphony tracks.
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Originally posted by sweetcell:
Air will be playing the club again in September.
Ooh, nice!!
I missed them this time around in order to see Cornelius (who was excellent) in Baltimore. Too bad on the scheduling; I would've liked to have seen both.
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The show was pretty good, too bad that I had to leave the club early (my back was killing me)...anyways, Ill be there in September
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I really wanted a "Surfing on a Rocket" but other than that, they played everything I wanted to hear.
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Originally posted by Christine Moritz:
Originally posted by sweetcell:
Air will be playing the club again in September.
Ooh, nice!!
[/b]
Oh really? Too hasty to ask for a date? Hopefully I'm in town...I had to skip last night, unfortunately.
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Sweetcell's Bjork/Postal service comparison re: the opener was accurate.
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I thought she sounded/looked more like Sarah Brightman!
Originally posted by azaghal1981:
Sweetcell's Bjork/Postal service comparison re: the opener was accurate.
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Originally posted by Christine Moritz:
quote:Originally posted by sweetcell:
Air will be playing the club again in September.
Ooh, nice!!
Oh really? Too hasty to ask for a date?
Seth???
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Originally posted by lagos:
reviewer also complained that the music was slow, loungey and athmospheric
Talking about atmospheric music, last night saw the Lisa Gerrard show at the Birchmere, FANTASTIC!!, what a voice, she's just amazing...
The food, BTW, was excellent :p [/b]
well i missed Air, but I did catch Lisa Gerrard last night. A friend was disappointed with the show at Birchmere, although said she sounded great. Of course, since he saw Dead Can Dance, I'd imagine it wouldnt compare.
her performance in NYC was incredible. played close to 2 hours. Explained some of the songs and why they were written (the people they were written for were in the audience). Sound was really great at Town Hall. I think her performing in a church was just perfect. She looked gorgeous in 2 stunning gowns. Her voice couldnt have been better and the songs were just haunting, atmospheric. Beautiful music.
Tonight - The Kooks - a whole different story.
If only I were seeing Air. Lisa Gerrard and then Air would have been perfect.
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Lisa Gerrard and then Air would have been perfect.
It was... :D
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Originally posted by lagos:
Lisa Gerrard and then Air would have been perfect.
It was... :D [/b]
You suck! Im jealous! (Insanely!)
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And on top of that, acoustic TVOTR is the air opener tonight.
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Originally posted by azaghal1981:
And on top of that, acoustic TVOTR is the air opener tonight.
does this mean with all these good shows i should move back to dc? :) at least i have my own condo to live in for now.
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The show tonight is in nyc.
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Air
9:30 Club
May 9, 2007
If you've never lived in DC, you're never going to be able to find your way around DC. It's a driver's nightmare: you're driving down some street, and you think you've got the grid figured out, but all of a sudden you're on some other street, and this one's named after a state or a dead president, and you have no idea where you're going or how to get back to the street you're supposed to be on. I can't even count how many times I've driven to the 9:30 Club, but I still get lost every time I drive there. The 9:30 Club is a DC institution, a place where you can still order Nachos of Ulysses, even though their booking now leans toward Keane and Paul van Dyk rather than the scattered remnants of the DC hardcore scene. In high school, I saw the Reverend Horton Heat there at least once, possibly more; these things blur. As far as DC institutions go, it's not even all that hard to find, but I still somehow find ways to not find it. And so DC might be the reason that I missed the entire first half of Air's 9:30 Club show earlier tonight; all these years and I'm still useless when it comes to finding my way around this town. Air pissed a whole lot of people off at Coachella this year when they started their set 40 minutes late, not the sort of thing you want to be doing at a meticulously coordinated multi-stage festival. Apparently that Coachella set was an aberration, though; they started on time tonight, and I wasn't there for it. In this case, though, I might have to thank the city of Washington, DC for the inconvenience. Half of an Air set, after all, is all you really need. And if it's the second half, all's the better, since you know you'll be hearing the hits, such as they are.
If you're going to see Air at the Theater of Madison Square Garden tomorrow night, I wouldn't necessarily recommend showing up late. For one thing, you'd miss the opening acoustic set from TV on the Radio, which will either be great or fascinatingly awful. For another, the Theater at MSG is practically custom-designed for this group. The ceiling's glowing pinpoint lights make the room look like a cheap spaceship set from a 70s sci-fi movie, and the seats promise to make the inevitable zone-out moments a whole lot more comfortable. In a crowded club, though, the threat of impending boredom is always very real with this band. When Air first emerged about ten years ago, their lush, wispy pillow-pop felt mysteriously urbane, like a transmission from a future race of Leisure Suit Larrys. That shock of the retro-new wore off a little while after their forbiddingly dark score for The Virgin Suicides, still maybe their most fully realized album. Since then, they've released some obnoxiously messy MOR prog (2001's 10,000Hz Legend) and some exquisite wallpaper (2004's Talkie Walkie). But their zeitgeist-moment has been over for years. These days, Justice is the big news in French dance music, and that duo's addiction to filters is all that keeps them from being Air's evil-twin polar opposites. Given that Air's orchestrated burble was already retro as hell when they were new, that makes the group something of a double-anachronism. Still, DC has love for Air; tickets for tonight's show cost $40, and still the venue filled up with people willing to dumb the fuck out for fundamentally drowsy music, a weirdly heartening sight.
That's especially impressive considering that the guys in Air don't actually do a whole lot onstage. Nicolas Godin hides behind an enormous bank of equipment. Jean-Benoit Dunckel dispassionately plucks at a guitar and wispily sings through a vocoder. Three backing musicians hide in the shadows and fill things out. One of those musicians is a drummer, pretty surprising considering that the group's bubbling wafts of sound have never been particularly concerned with rhythm. But that drummer actually made a good addition, upping those tracks' urgency and putting some meat on their bones. You wouldn't necessarily be wrong if you thought that "Kelly Watch the Stars" wouldn't really benefit from a lite-jungle breakdown, but that breakdown somehow didn't hurt the song either. And a little bit of urgency goes a long way when it comes to this group's effete lounge-pop; their light guy also deserves props for turning Godin and Dunckel into strobing feathery-haired silhouettes at the slow-build climax of the show-closing "La Femme D'Argent." Dunckel plays up his Frenchness the same way that, say, the Reverend Horton Heat always played up his Americanness. (Actual stage quote: "Thank you very much, merci. This next song is very romantique.") But that affectation never felt bloodless, especially since the beefed-up arrangements and dizzy lights kept things interesting for the forty minutes I was there.
I'm not sure whether a band that leans so hard on distance could maintain that level of interest over another forty. But the band's rippling, glimmering melodies felt just as inviting as they did back when I first heard them. A couple of days ago, I wrote that the current crop of French filter-metal producers tended to prize adrenaline over emotion. Air have always done just the opposite, letting their pretty melodies dissipate into the air without ever pushing them anywhere. There was something refreshing about that in 1998, and there still is now.
http://www.villagevoice.com/blogs/statusainthood/archives/2007/05/live_air_not_su.php (http://www.villagevoice.com/blogs/statusainthood/archives/2007/05/live_air_not_su.php)
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That was an extremely arrogant, generally uninformed, most useless review. If you don't belong there - b/c you're so cool that you look down on folks who enjoy a night out with Air and are too provincial to know they should be listening to Justice only - why are you there?? Moreso, why are you writing about it? And if you're so inciteful, why don't you realize that the guy was playing bass (nicely) as much or more than guitar - and the show was about the experience rather catching the "hits."
The guy tries to establish himself as a hipster authority, but comes across as mainly clueless to what was going on around him. DC appreciates atmospheric (dare I say elegant) down tempo music - whether that's the style or not. I guess he comes around in the end - but again, if you don't belong there, why are you there, and why are you writing about it?? Just get in your car and go home.
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Well, any shred of credibility flew out the window when he confused Nicolas and JB. 'Nuff said.
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Yeah I could've sworn Nicolas played bass on quite a few songs.
Originally posted by bearman:
Well, any shred of credibility flew out the window when he confused Nicolas and JB. 'Nuff said.
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just to be clear and to back up what bearman said:
Nicolas Godin hides behind an enormous bank of equipment. Jean-Benoit Dunckel dispassionately plucks at a guitar and wispily sings through a vocoder.
nicolas was on guitar and bass and vocoder. jean-benoit was the one behind the "bank of equipment" (keyboards). what a douche. he's not even consistent - starts off hating them then finishes with how timeless their music is. great way to start an article, too - discussing DC street and how he gets lost. fascinating.
sending someone to review a show that they don't like from the outset seems kinda pointless to me.
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I wasn't at Wednesday's show, but -- from the last two Air shows I saw, and the film "Eating, Sleeping, Waiting, and Playing" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0229965/) -- their outrageously strong French accents are for real, as is their tendency to pronounce English cognates as though they were French words (romantic/romantique).
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Sounds like a great show. I wish they would have hit the Mile High City on this tour but perhaps in the fall. Their show at the Karma Club in Boston on the Moon Safari tour was one of my favorite shows of all time. That and their 2004 show at the Hollywood Bowl with an orchestra.