The languid opening notes of La Femme d’Argent are a musical madeleine that elicits a collective gasp from the Coliseum. God only knows how many late nights and fuzzy dawns Air’s album Moon Safari soundtracked when it came out in 1998. It seemed to be everywhere, like an essential utility, and triggered a deluge of chill-out music, none of which could outdo the Parisian duo’s lambent beauty and chic retro-futurism.
While playing all of Moon Safari, followed by a greatest hits set, in the gilded home of English National Opera is an enticing enough notion, Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel deliver far more than high-end nostalgia. They have sometimes struggled to transport their exquisitely arranged music to the stage, but tonight’s presentation is light years ahead, propelled by technology that was inconceivable in 1998. Air have reimagined intimately familiar songs in an audiovisual extravaganza as spectacular as any arena show. It’s a trip.
