The group AIR, icon of the “French Touch”, in concert in Paris to replay its cult album “Moon Safari”

The duo AIR reunited by surprise a few weeks ago for a world tour. They will notably be in concert on Thursday March 7 at the Olympia, in Paris.

Seven years since they last gave a concert together. We thought of AIR as a memory, with melancholy, convinced that Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel no longer wanted to keep alive the flame of a major group from the 1990s. But last year, their first album Moon Safari celebrated its 25th anniversary. For the occasion, the duo reunited by surprise a few weeks ago for a world tour where they will replay the titles of this cult opus, such as Sexy Boy, Kelly Watch The Stars or All I Need. This series of concerts will pass through Amsterdam, Berlin, London, Rome, Los Angeles, New York and Paris with a concert on Thursday March 7 at the Olympia. The rooms immediately filled up, especially in the French capital.

“AIR is known a little bit, but everywhere. So it’s great to be able to travel to all these countries.”

The group also says it is better prepared because it judges that it knows its audience better. “The AIR audience wants good venues, good conditions, good sound, so we choose carefully where we want to play”confides Jean-Benoît Dunckel.

A surprise hit, especially in England

Beyond a major album that marked its era and much more, Moon Safari was for the two young people from Versailles the culmination of a dream, and a surprise tidal wave. “All our childhood and adolescence we only thought about that, about making music, about forming a group”he remembers. “Since high school we have recorded lots of songs. Finally it was when we turned 26 that we did Moon Safari, because we had a deal with Virgin”he says. “The success of the album completely surpassed us in some ways, we didn’t think at all that it was going to happen like that, that it was going to become massive in certain countries like England for example.”

A quarter of a century later, AIR still appears alongside Phoenix, Etienne De Crécy and Daft Punk in the pantheon of the “French Touch” which swept the world in the mid-1990s. “It was kind of a crazy 20s. Crazy 20s of electronic music”, confides Jean-Benoît Dunckel. In addition to the tour, Moon Safari will be reissued the week of March 11, with many alternative versions and a sound as hypnotizing as ever. The duo will give another concert in Paris on June 24, at the Philarmonie.