Air

I spent a week in New York, and I don’t think there was any artist that was capturing more of the Apple’s attention then Air – they were literally everywhere; from Agne B’s boutiques, to the Virgin Megastore, from the Village Voice to the New York Times. The crowd in the Hammerstein Ballroom, while clearly knowledgeable, was also clearly expectant.

As is conventional (using that word to describe Air simply surprises me!) from any band on what is in reality a promotional tour, they concentrated heavily on 10,000 Hz Legend, their latest album. That in itself is no bad thing, as while it might not quite scale the heights of Moon Safari, it certainly avoids the troughs. Yet while we sailed majestically alongside the French adventurers in electronica, willing every moment for them to reach out and beckon us aboard they never quite did.

While there can be no doubting the skill with which Air go about their craft and that they can almost take you to that other planet – the one they clearly inhabit – there was something that made me yearn for more. Throughout the show, I continually expected the next moment, the next gorgeous crescendo to be the one that blew us all away. It never quite made it. All the while there were moments of beauty and depth, but they were never quite sustained, never quite took off.

Despite this, ‘Lucky and Unhappy’ and ‘How Does It Make You Feel’ immediately stuck out as both emotive and evocative, with the vocal harmonies always perfectly in tune, and the synthesisers and guitars sweeping around the drum and loop core. While always trying to stay true to their electronic roots, Air weren’t afraid to adapt tracks for live performance too and ‘Radio #1’ was, to put it simply, a cracking tune – and if ‘People In The City’ isn’t written for New York, I don’t know what is.

Yet it was only on the final song of the encore when they let rip with a swaggering, punked up version of ‘Sexy Boy’ that they finally seemed to give the crowd their al. Now, they have to show us that isn’t a cross to bear, but a badge of honour. In the long run I think they’ll succeed. Vivre le difference.