Vivid Live: Air
Opera House Concert Hall, May 30
★★★★½
It has been nearly 20 years since the French duo Air populated coffee tables everywhere with their debut album Moon Safari: the kind of record that was so perfectly put together you'd never believe they could pull off a satisfying live re-creation of its otherworldly sensual electronica, nor of the best of Air's subsequent sonic adventures.
Even now, despite the twosome having had plenty of time to work that out, it's the most wonderful experience to hear (and see, given how they seem to have embraced Vivid's "festival of light" angle) the results.
Jean-Benoit Dunckel, flanked by keyboards, and Nicolas Godin, switching between acoustic guitar, bass, his own synths and even a banjo, are augmented only by a dynamic drummer and a fourth colleague surrounded by – why not – more keyboards.
Dunckel and Godin share vocals mostly filtered through vocoders, but notably perform instrumental versions of songs previously distinguished by guest singers, such as the still heart-crushingly gorgeous Playground Love, if indeed they play them at all (there is, alas, no Beth Hirsch present, and thus no All I Need).
As it turns out they don't play anything later than 2004 yet throughout, Air sound invigorated and still in so many different ways.
You can hear it in the way metallic drums come crashing through Don't Be Light; in the hypnotic whistle-fest Alpha Beta Gaga; and in the sultry, simmering build of Talisman.
No one else sounds like this outfit, to the point that even when they play something resembling a pop song it sounds as though it was beamed in from another planet, whether it's Kelly Watch the Stars building up a head of steam before an epic prog meltdown or the seductive electronic coo of Sexy Boy.
Air finish on this night where for many they began, with the languid groove of Moon Safari's opener La Femme d'Argent and yet another absorbing exploration into the most artful of sounds.
Come back and ask us in a couple of weeks, but this could be this Vivid Live's stand-out show.