Air

an Air show with no planes
I don't think I'll ever get tired of going up to a Will Call window and saying, "I'm on the band's guest list." I love it so much. Someone at Luke's magazine has a connection with Astralwerks, so we got free tickets to the Air show at the TLA tonight. The TLA, which is one of my favorite venues of all time, is now even better. They've installed hardwood flooring over the concrete, which makes the whole thing more classy and more comfortable. It's a very small venue with a 21+ balcony and glass chandeliers hanging around the disco ball on the ceiling. We stood to the right near the wall, about 30 feet(?) from the stage.

Kate Havnevik opened. I don't know much about her -- will have to do more research tomorrow. She was great. She sounded kind of Sia- and Imogen Heap-like, especially when she did a looped acapella thing with her voice as accompaniment. She seemed very in-command of her performance, confident that the audience would respect her. And they did. She wore a purple taffeta dress that would have looked ridiculous on the street but seemed just the thing to wear on stage.

The Air show was a good follow-up to the discussion about Chuck Klosterman's claim that it's better to see a cool band than a great band. Air are undeniably cool, but performing isn't their strong suit -- in fact, when they formed they decided not to perform live. The peformance was pretty much what I expected -- a couple of guys standing and sitting around, singing and playing guitars and keyboards. Three backing musicians added depth but not stage presence. Nicolas Godin is nice to look at -- much more handsome in person than in pictures. He looked like a young Robert Redford in Levis and a button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up. Neither he nor Jean-Benoit Dunckel is a compelling frontman, but when they spoke to the crowd they seemed sincerely grateful for the attention and applause. There was something charming and even bashful about the way they said "merci beaucoup. Thank you very much."

At first it seemed odd that Dunckel sang the women's parts -- many of Air's songs feature guest female vocalists. But he did well -- I barely noticed it after a song or two. (I do wonder why Air didn't pull Kate Havnevik back on stage. That seemed like an obvious solution.)

Highlights for me were "Cherry Blossom Girl" and "Kelly Watch the Stars". Air played most of their "hits" and the crowd went home happy after an extended encore. To sum it up, I'm really glad I saw Air live, but I don't think it's necessary to see this particular band live to appreciate it.

J'aime l'electropop.