Always Live Has Added Air Playing 'Moon Safari' in Full to Its Already Jam-Packed 2024 Lineup
The French duo's celebration of their iconic 25-year-old album joins a program that already features Jack White, The Offspring, St Vincent and heaps more.
When you make an album that lasts the test of time, that feat is worth celebrating. Moon Safari isn't the only record from French electro-pop duo Air that's as stellar now as it was when it first met the world, but the dreamy 1998 release is the album that Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel have been celebrating in 2024. To mark its 25th anniversary, which arrived last year, the pair have been touring the globe to play Moon Safari in full live — starting in France, of course, but also heading everywhere from Switzerland, Italy, Germany and the UK to the US and Australia.
For Vivid 2024, Air brought their current show to Sydney midyear — before the entire planet's eyes were on them during August's Paris Olympics closing ceremony, where they were part of Phoenix's set alongside Kavinsky, Angèle, Vannda and Ezra Koenig from Vampire Weekend. One trip Down Under this year isn't enough, however, so Air have now joined the Always Live lineup.
From 'La femme d'argent' to 'Le voyage de Pénélope', the entire record will be performed live — 'Sexy Boy', 'All I Need', 'Kelly Watch the Stars' and 'You Make It Easy' included, of course. From there, Air's sets usually feature equally excellent tracks from across their career, such as 'Playground Love' from Sofia Coppola's The Virgin Suicides soundtrack, plus 'Venus' and 'Cherry Blossom Girl' from the duo's 2004 album Talkie Walkie.
For Always Live, Air are playing a one-night-only gig under the stars at Sidney Myer Music Bowl on Wednesday, December 4, 2024, adding to an already jam-packed program that's bringing Jack White, The Offspring and St Vincent to Victoria as well for Australian-exclusive shows.
Mathieu Rainaud
"We were a duo doing some electronic thing, dreaming of selling 10,000 copies and being recognised by other musicians as cool. Then suddenly, we met the world," explains Dunckel about Moon Safari, calling the album "a deep, universal spell, full of love and mystery".
If you missed Air in Sydney, here's your second chance to catch them in Australia this year. And if you need any more encouragement, the Moon Safari set was captured live at London's Royal Albert Hall earlier in 2024, which you can stream below:
Air Play Moon Safari heads to Sidney Myer Music Bowl on Wednesday, December 4, 2024, with tickets on sale from 10am local time on Tuesday, November 12, 2024.
Always Live 2024 runs from Friday, November 22–Sunday, December 8. For more information, and to get tickets, head to the festival website.
Live images: Raph_PH via Flickr.
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