A chic, architecturally meticulous venue, the Walt Disney Concert Hall is an immaculate complement to Air’s chic, architecturally meticulous sound. And the staff knows how to expedite a show without any hassle. At promptly eight o’ clock, AM, the opening act for all of Air’s North American dates, took the stage amidst the intimate lighting.
For the set, singer-songwriter AM scaled down his full band to just a minimal three-piece to play stripped-down versions of his songs, many of which came off his latest release, Future Sons & Daughters. They grandiosely permeated the hall with little more than a guitar, a couple keyboards, a snare-less drum set dominated by bongos and toms and AM’s sunny voice. Their less-is-more approach worked very well, even in the massive music hall, and it’s no wonder Air duo Nicolas Godin and JB Dunckel handpicked this band themselves. While bearing major stylistic differences from Air, AM still accented the evening with a moody, easy-going sound. But that’s not to say the trio didn’t get the audience to dance in their seats. They ended their dreamy 35-minute set with “Self-Preservation,” a vigorous number that ignited the audience’s fuse as fast as anything Air played later on. I wanted to hear more from AM, but alas they stepped aside. Needless to say, I’m sure the band will soon discover they have many more hundreds of fans after Sunday night.
Shortly after, Air, joined by Badly Drawn Boy drummer Alex Thomas, strutted on stage and greeted the ecstatic audience. They armed themselves with instruments and, wasting no time, dove right into a Love 2 song trifecta (“Do the Joy,” “So Light is Her Footfall” and “Love”) to begin the night. Godin really has a unique style with his bass guitar, plucking and strumming licks as if he was playing a guitar solo. He seemed to be in his glory doing so, and perhaps his affinity with his bass style is why Love 2 turned out to be such a tribute to retro rock.
Although they were touring for last fall’s Love 2 album, the duo wasn’t afraid to dip into their back catalog. Dunckel stepped up to his vocoder and offered the crowd a robotic “Merci Beaucoup!” A light wave of laughter echoed throughout the hall, and then Air broken into the first non-Love 2 song, “Remember,” a Moon Safari staple. Dunckel and Godin captured every little nuance of the original recording (why would I expect anything less of Air?), from the multitude of keyboard layers to the lightly-processed snare drum sound. It makes one realize the time and effort they put into their live shows. Before skipping back into more Love 2 fare, they continued with “Venus” and the lesser-known “J’ai Dormi Sous L’eau.” It didn’t matter what Air played; every song was a fan favorite with the audience.
It was around this time that I noted a recurring disturbance. At the beginning of nearly every song, a techie, strapped with a small flashlight to his hat, would come out from back stage and spend a minute or two programming the settings in Dunckel’s keyboards. Luckily, Air and their visual projections were flashy enough to keep the attention where it was needed. The pairing of the harder-edged tunes “People in the City” and “Don’t Be Light” all but made the techie disappear. Immediately after, Air graced us with a pair of somber songs, “Alone in Kyoto” and “Cherry Blossom Girl,” making for the night’s most reflective moments.
Only for encore’s sake, the band left the stage after “Kelly Watch the Stars” and returned just a minute later. They offered one more Love 2 track, “Heaven’s Light,” and then gave us diehard fans the ultimate final dose of Air. First was “Sexy Boy,” a performance that completely eclipsed the studio track. Its disco bassline and melodramatic beat threw the entire concert hall in a kind of futuristic past only Air could create. They closed the night with the improvy “La Femme d’Argent,” a true testament to Air’s talent, both digital and acoustic. Its extended runtime let the moment shine for seemingly ever, and by the time they walked off stage, it was as if the concert had flashed by in the blink of an eye.
For a band that sounds so damn amazing in a studio recording (and often times so unattached from live, acoustic music), I can successfully say that they write their music to, first and foremost, be performed rather than recorded. It’s why people from all walks of life crawled to Downtown Los Angeles to see them. From the elite class, who looked like they were attending a night at the opera, to the swarm of teens and indie twenty-somethings, the international folk and the flirtatious cougars sitting next to me, Air are true musical unifiers. I’m sure they get sick of hearing this everywhere they go, but bravo!
by Jory Spadea
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