Legendary French duo AIR has announced an extensive North American tour to celebrate the 25 anniversary of their debut album Moon Safari, which includes two stops at the Beacon Theatre on October 21 and 22, 2024.
Similar to their recent European tour, which sold out in record time, AIR will be playing their widely celebrated album in its entirety for the first time. The band released the demo version of “New Star In The Sky” ahead of the digital release of the 25-anniversary deluxe album on March 15, featuring over ten cherry-picked Moon Safari audio rarities.
On Jan. 16, 1998, AIR released Moon Safari, an album that catapulted Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoit Dunckel to the top of electronic music’s ladder. Their sound – Fender Rhodes trills, loping basslines, and sensual yet playful vocal hooks – conjured the sensation of the masses.
Since forming the band in 1995, the prolific duo has released six albums in addition to their acclaimed EP Premiers Symptômes, the release of the aforementioned classic Moon Safari, and two soundtracks that sold millions of copies. AIR garnered an extensive list of worldwide accolades for their unique brand of downtempo electronic music.
“The hype was a violent experience,” reflected Jean-Benoit Dunckel, 25 years later. “AIR’s music is not accessible or easy to discern: The format is strange, the voices are strange, the subjects are strange. Even ‘Sexy Boy’ sounds strange. We were a duo doing some electronic thing, dreaming of selling 10,000 copies and being recognized by other musicians as cool. Then suddenly, we met the world. Personally, it took me time to see that we could be a big, important band.”
In short, Moon Safari was a nest of contradictions. Today, the record’s legacy is canonical, but its multi-million success was far from assured.
“This kind of bedroom music was all about fantasy,” says Nicolas Godin. “In my mind, I was picturing myself at Capitol Records, surrounded by all the best musicians, feeling like Burt Bacharach. In reality, I was in the fucking 18th arrondissement of Paris, with a sampler, singing into one microphone. But when your fantasy is so strong, I think it goes in the wires and through the speakers. The power of Moon Safari was to make people believe in what we believed in.”
While AIR’s precise alchemy and absence of geographical anchoring placed Moon Safari outside the grip of trends, the album intersected with the world below’s revolutions at precisely the right moment.
Through Moon Safari, AIR transfixed some of the great visionaries of the late 20th century — David Bowie, Madonna, Beck — as well as influencing preeminent aesthetes of the incoming age – including Charlotte Gainsbourg Kevin Parker, and Sofia Coppola. AIR helped fan the flames of a rare Francophilia which surged through the typically nativist British charts in 1998. Moon Safari birthed three hit singles in “Kelly Watch The Stars,” “All I Need” and “Sexy Boy,” which shifted over half a million copies in the UK and pushed AIR into headline contention at banner festivals such as Glastonbury.
25 years on, it’s not hard to alight upon why Moon Safari has stood the test of time. AIR’s unique grasp of pace and mood, surety of direction, and earworm hooks compelled the world toward it.
“To me,” Godin concludes, “Moon Safari is perfect.”
Presale goes on sale on March 7 at 10 a.m., while general tickets are on sale on March 8 at 10 a.m. Tickets can be purchased here. There are VIP packages and experiences for fans to take their concert experience to the next level. Packages include premium tickets, an official tour poster, vouchers to the concession stands, and more. For more information, visit vipnation.com.
AIR PLAY MOON SAFARI
NORTH AMERICAN TOUR 2024
*Not a Live Nation Date
9/25 – Vancouver, BC @ Queen Elizabeth Theatre
9/27 – Seattle, WA @ Benaroya Hall
9/29 – Los Angeles, CA @ Orpheum
9/30 – Los Angeles, CA @ Orpheum
10/2 – San Francisco, CA @ The Masonic
10/4 – Denver, CO @ Bellco Theater
10/6 – Minneapolis, MN @ State Theatre
10/8 – Chicago, IL @ Auditorium Theatre
10/10 – Detroit, MI @ Fox Theatre
10/12 – Toronto, ON @ Massey Hall
10/13 – Montreal, QC @ Place Bell
10/15 – Boston, MA @ MGM Music Hall at Fenway
10/17 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Met
10/18 Washington DC @ The Anthem*
10/21 – New York, NY @ Beacon Theatre
10/22 – New York, NY @ Beacon Theatre
10/24 – Atlanta, GA @ Tabernacle
10/26 – Miami Beach, FL @ Fillmore Miami Beach
10/29 – Dallas, TX @ Music Hall at Fair Park
10/30 – Austin, TX @ Moody Amphitheatre
