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Moon Safari

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Moon Safari (25th Anniversary Edition)

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Air play Moon Safari review: Spectacular, unique, and still revolutionary

W hen Air released their 1998 debut Moon Safari , there was nothing else like it. The French duo – Jean-Benoît Dunckel and Nicolas Godin – had conjured an electronic masterpiece full of refined retro-futuristic pop and gentle psychedelia that became essential listening across all sorts of disparate groups, from comedown ravers to the middle-class dinner party set via Radio 1 and film soundtracks. It was utterly of the moment, inspiring countless imitators. That it was all conducted with a chic Parisian insouciance only added to the allure.

But if the record was a unique achievement, it is similarly hard to think of anything quite like their spectacular recreation of the album on the UK debut of a belated 25th anniversary tour. Last night in the opulent setting of London’s magnificent Coliseum, Air brought to life their grand statement in thrilling, emotive, transformative fashion.

Ever the aesthetes, the staging was immaculate. In keeping with the album’s themes – nostalgia for the pair’s 70s childhood and the promised new space age that never materialised – Air, dressed all in white, performed from inside a white rectangular box, a sleek and sophisticated base from which tasteful lighting and otherworldly visuals could emerge. It often brought to mind Kraftwerk recreating 2001: A Space Odyssey .

The immersive setting enhanced the sense of wide-eyed wonder in the music. Air were joined by an impressively agile and powerful drummer and Moon Safari ’s inventiveness came to the fore. Opener “La femme d’argent” began as a lounge track, unfurling leisurely above Godin’s typically precise yet loose bassline before Dunckel added layers of noise. By the end, it had become a swirling psychedelic onslaught.

The hits – a sumptuous “Sexy Boy” and giddy “Kelly Watch the Stars” – sounded invigorated. It was a reminder of how ahead of the curve Air were: at the time, vocoded vocals were still rare in popular music; Moon Safari pre-dated Cher’s “Believe” by nine months. That said, Godin used a vocoder to sing the luxurious ballad “You Make it Easy” (its original singer, Beth Hirsch, was absent), and it was the only moment that didn’t enhance the feeling of the record (the cut-up sampling of Hirsch’s voice for “All I Need” worked far better).

If past Air concerts were a bit too nonchalant for their own good, then last night a sense of occasion brought out, if not quite showmanship, a certain personality that hasn’t always been evident. Dunckel, stationed between two sets of keyboards, often faced the crowd and played both at the same time in an impressively offhand manner. For his part Godin strayed around the stage as he swapped guitars, all smiles and lost-in-the-moment grooves. When an excited audience member shouted “we love you!” during the twinkling intro to “New Star in the Sky”, it could have killed the moment stone dead. Standing at his keyboards, Godin smiled and raised a fist in salute. After album closer “Le voyage de Pénélope” – a wavey, frantic finale – the pair could barely contain their joy at the standing ovation.

Bleachers' Jack Antonoff is a pop Springsteen

After the success of Moon Safari ,Air were so desperate not simply to remake it that, in recording the divisive 2001 follow-up 10,000Hz Legend , they locked all their previous equipment in a cupboard and threw away the key. A wisely chosen second set, then, plucked the highlights from the rest of their catalogue (notably nothing later than 2004). The melodious alt-pop songs of 2004’s Talkie Walkie – the wistful “Cherry Blossom Girl” and guitar-led “Surfing on a Rocket” – are some of their very best; from 10,000Hz Legend , the Krautrock-goes-prog “Don’t be Light” was exhilarating, as was the closing Kraftwerkian manifesto “Electronic Performers”, which ended with an onslaught of dark noise.

But it’s the Moon Safari set that will live long in the memory: an extraordinary performance of an extraordinary album.

Air perform Moon Safari at the Royal Albert Hall on 30-31 May. Then touring

Air's Moon Safari is an era-defining French album worth celebrating, 25 years on

Topic: Arts, Culture and Entertainment

Air's Jean-Benoit Dunckel and Nicolas Godin as depicted on the cover of 1998 debut album Moon Safari. ( Supplied: Virgin Records )

There's no telling how many special moments have been soundtracked by Moon Safari, the acclaimed 1998 debut album from French duo Air.

An era-defining record of pristine, space-age lounge music delivered with cinematic atmosphere and a distinctively French je ne se quios , Moon Safari was a universal critical and commercial success upon release.

The lush easy-listening music was perfectly suited to post-club comedowns, hip cafes, and make-out sessions: smooth and dreamy enough to be played in the background, but singular and masterfully crafted enough to reward close listening.

It proved highly influential, too. But the wave of mellow, down tempo imitators and 'chill out' CD compilations it spawned struggled to surpass Air's chic, exquisitely woozy beauty.

'It was not meant to be played live'

Jean-Benoît Dunckel, one half of Air alongside Nicolas Godin, never expected Moon Safari's enduring success.

"We never imagined this album could work that way worldwide," he tells Karen Leng on Double J Lunch. 

"It took time, it took decades, [but] the success is not by us, the audience made [it]."

This year, the duo has been playing Moon Safari in full around the world on their first tour in seven years, including Australia.

"It was not made to be played live," says Dunckel. 

"We had to adapt it for the live [setting]. That is what the people want to get — this special feeling they heard the first time… to live again these feelings."

Having played two nights at the Sydney Opera House as part of Vivid Live , Air will live-stream their show at London's Royal Albert Hall this weekend.

"It's a beautiful venue," says Dunckel, who is keen to preserve a pristine performance of the album online for future access.

"It's really important to do that because… people can also discover the band live. Some people appreciate the live versions more than the recorded versions."

Performing as a trio, alongside drummer Louis Delorme, Air play inside an oblong box adorned with dazzling lights and visuals, which morph from swathes of minimalist colour to the perspective of a spaceship enjoying interstellar travel.

"We play in a box of light. It looks a bit like the studio on the cover of 10 000 Hz Legend," says Dunckel, referencing the band's second studio album — a weirder, wilder reaction to Moon Safari.

Air take the Sydney Opera House audience on a cosmic voyage. ( Supplied: Mikki Gomez/Sydney Opera House )

"It could be a home, it could be our world, our head, our architectural concept. It helps for people to enter into a world… people like [that] intimacy."

Dunckel says people often ask: "Are you not bored to play these songs you play for 20 years now?"

"Sometimes I struggle — because you have to concentrate, and you have to play. But I'm never bored. It's always a pleasure."

Moon Safari is a product of its era, but it's also aged beautifully.

It's an evocative listening experience, from the moment lengthy opener 'La femme d'argent' ushers you in with the sounds of water and slinky bassline, through to the weightless pop and robot-voiced melodies of 'Kelly Watch The Stars' and 'New Star in the Sky'.

In 1998, its retro-futuristic arrangements already sounded timeless. 25 years later, its ability to transport your mind and imagination elsewhere hasn't dated one iota.

"It could be a journey, a love story," remarks Dunckel. "That's why we're really attached to it. I think the audience is searching for that, too.

"It helps human relationships in every way," adds Dunckel. Over the years, Air fans have shared "so many stories" of what the album means to them.

"Most of the time it's for love. It's always, 'I met my girlfriend or wife this time'."

Back in 1998, Dunckel told triple j that while hiking in Iceland, his guide revealed Moon Safari was his love-making soundtrack.

There's "probably" plenty of babies in the world with some of the album's DNA in them since, Dunckel estimates of a new generation discovering Air for the first time.

"As we are getting old now, it's becoming that people say, 'oh yeah, my parents were listening to Moon Safari when we were travelling in a car; this family time'."

Air's Jean-Benoit Dunckel and Nicolas Godin are finally bringing their legendary debut album to life on the live stage. ( Getty: Eric Fougere )

Sexy Boy, the surprising queer anthem

For many, debut single 'Sexy Boy' was their first introduction to Air. A seductive slice of synth-pop that brought vocoder back to the pop charts and sung in both French and English.

It's a seemingly simple song but Dunckel notes there's "a lot of tolerance and freedom" embedded in it.

"Sexy Boy, first of all, is a strange title because it breaks a certain taboo. The taboo is that heterosexual boys can check out other boys," he explains.

"Also, it became a gay slogan in a way. A gay anthem."

The song took on a new meaning in late 90s Paris when the electronic music scene's wider acceptance of the LGTBQI+ community led to more club and techno nights dedicated to queer punters and DJs emerging.

"There was a lot of gay parties," says Dunckel. "Homosexuality is everywhere in the world, and it's always existed, always there. So, it was important to liberate this movement."

Originally, the song's titular phrase was inspired by Parisian fashion culture.

"People are checking each other out all the time… In Paris, when a couple is meeting another couple, the girl is not going to check out the boy. She's going to check out the other girl: analyse what she wears, how she behaves, what is the fashion or type of the boyfriend.

"Sexy Boy is speaking about that. The fact a man wants to be a pretty man and he is checking [out] other boys."

A popular soundtrack choice, featured in teen rom-com 10 Things I Hate About You and noughties TV drama Queer As Folk, 'Sexy Boy' is also a testament to youth.

The French verses are "celebrating that golden age of being young," Dunckel explains.

"When you're young you don't realise you're at the top of your life. You have a lot of power, actually… because you're beautiful. Your skin, hair, you feel great, you have a lot of energy."

The makings of a classic

Despite its iconic status, Moon Safari was actually the last roll of the dice for Dunckel and Godin.

Raised in the conservative suburb of Versailles, the pair began making music together after meeting at school. But after having their demo tapes rejected by every record label they approached, they quit music and instead focused on their studies.

Each had established careers — Godin in architecture, Dunckel in mathematics — when an opportunity presented itself in a close friend landing a role with Virgin Records imprint Source.

They landed a deal with the label but ditching their jobs for a full-time career in music to support their burgeoning families was a gamble.

An architect and a mathematician: Air's Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoit Dunckel in 1998. ( Getty Images: Paul Bergen/Redferns )

"We were 26 years old. We were not sure we come be musicians for the rest of our life," remembers Dunckel. "I was already working [as] a physics teacher… I had a baby."

Thankfully, their risk was rewarded when their debut album became a breakout international hit. Air was swiftly lumped alongside a fresh wave of Parisian artists reinventing the electronic music scene in the late 90s.

Dubbed French touch, the movement included Cassius, St. Germain, Étienne de Crécy, and Daft Punk, who recorded their breakout 1997 album Homework down the street from where Air made Moon Safari.

"There was a kind of energy circulating all over Paris," recalls Dunckel. "Paris is kind of small; all the media, artists and business part of it [were] working all together."

The worlds of music, fashion, contemporary art, cinema — "everything was mixed," Dunckel says.

"At this time, new generations of young people coming from the suburbs are even inside Paris and mixing all these rich, futuristic concepts together with new machines, samplers, computer programs to make music."

A fond farewell to youth

Despite being poster boys for the future of French music, Moon Safari was an evocative, nostalgia-drenched ode to Dunckel and Godin's past.

"In a way it was the end of my youth… That's why the songs [on Moon Safari], there are a lot of regrets and it's a goodbye to our youth and the innocence of it.

"It's full of vibrations from teenage times."

Although labelled an electronic act, Air's music wasn't rooted in beats and house music. Instead, they armed themselves with analogue Moog and Korg synthesizers, vintage drum machines, vocoders and the trusty Rhodes piano.

The resulting compositions bore the esprit of Serge Gainsbourg, electronic pioneers like Jean-Michel Jarre, and the 1970s film and TV soundtracks of Dunckel's childhood.

There's a fondness for the psychedelic grandeur of Pink Floyd and ELO. But also, Burt Bacharach arrangements, particularly in the wistful French horn topline of ''Ce matin là' (This morning) and the easy-going 'You Make It Easy' and 'All I Need', both featuring the lyrics and vocals of Godin's then-neighbour, Beth Hirsch.

From its lush, otherworldly sounds right down to its title, Moon Safari gives rise to cosmic ideas and conducive to escapism. That spirit is central to Air's entire ethos.

"I think music exists in paradise and you can feel this [album] is in a strange interface between our world and something else."

Such ephemeral expressions might be surprising coming from a former physics teacher, but Dunckel says "both sides of your brain help" when it comes to making emotive art.

"There is a mathematic aspect of music, that analyses and helps you perform and conceive music. But there is something else happening, your heart is talking.

"As a musician you're organising the vibrations of your heart and the feelings into music… vibrations travelling into space and air."

"When I do a song, it's all about 'what do I feel?'" Dunckel concludes.

"For me, good means it affects me. No good means I don't feel anything… if it affects me, it's going to affect others, too. They're going to feel the feelings I do, too."

Air live-stream their performance at London's Royal Albert Hall on Saturday 1 June. Details here .

Hear Karen Leng hosting  Lunch on Double J from midday Monday to Thursday.

Moon Safari

Air’s instant breakthrough of a debut is effortlessly cool—a haze of vaporized vocals, warm synths, and stainless steel hi-fi sensibility. Without being as kitschy or (wink, wink) ironic as its spacey “Sexy Boy” single might lead you to believe, the album is an immaculate collection of suave Moog moves and future-disco downtempo. A defining achievement in the chill-out subgenre, it rightfully dominated compilation racks at the turn of the century on the strength of songs like “Kelly Watch the Stars” and “You Make It Easy.”

January 16, 1998 10 Songs, 43 minutes Label Parlophone, ℗ 1998 Warner Music France

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AIR PLAY MOON SAFARI

How Air’s ‘Moon Safari’ became an elegant masterpiece of '90s electronic music

Released in early 1998, Versailles duo Air’s debut album ‘Moon Safari’ was a gentle antidote to the wave of French Touch at the time. With an emphasis on melody and mood, it became a ubiquitous soundtrack to the end of the 20th century, and still sounds inspired today. Here, Ben Cardew explores its legacy

This feature was originally published by DJ Mag North America in 2019

So much electronic music is dominated by rhythm: the 4/4 stomp of techno; the woozy pulse of dubstep; the clattering breaks of jungle and drum and bass. However, some of the best electronic music — from Kraftwerk to Daft Punk, Masters at Work to Underground Resistance — is based on a wonderful understanding of melody, creating those hooks that stick in your head at the end of the night when the legs have been reduced to a mushy pulp. 

To this list we might add Air, the silkily nerdish duo from Versailles, who combine classical melodies with heady atmospherics, Serge Gainsbourg-esque élan and more than a hint of sex. Their music laid a framework for a generation of magenta-hued chill–out bands to idle out of the woodwork in their wake.

1998’s ‘Moon Safari’ was Air’s debut album, and, to date, their defining act. If you were young at the end of the 1990s and had anything more than a passing interest in electronic music you will have heard it, soundtracking dinner and after parties, school runs, chill-out rooms and 1,001 stodgy TV dramas. So ubiquitous did ‘Moon Safari’ become, in fact, and so many terrible bands did it inspire, that Air became almost persona non grata in the 2000s, their career hobbled by the intolerable omnipresence of their debut.

And yet, when you consider everything Air had against them, it was a minor miracle they even made their breakthrough. Air weren’t particularly fashionable, for a start. Even in the mid ’90s, when Parisian music was riding the sizzling wave of French Touch, band members Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel resembled more the architecture and maths students they had so recently been than the fashionable men around town their peers aspired to. 

“It was the late 1990s and Paris suddenly had this incredible electronic music scene: all these clubs were opening up. I didn’t get to go to all the parties, though, because I was generally at home with my wife taking care of Solal, our baby,” Dunckel told The Guardian in 2016. “We were poor. I knew our livelihood depended on Air being successful.”

Air dreamed to be different, both visually and sonically. There was nothing edgy or unconstrained about the band, no whiff of rebellion to get the heart strings pounding, and little in the way of beats to dance to. Most of all, as a stylistic decision, Air chose to be quiet: a gentle Gallic nuzzle to the ear rather than a voluptuous bear hug.

‘Sexy Boy’, the first single to be taken from ‘Moon Safari’, is typical of the duo’s individualistic approach to songwriting, marked by an androgynous, indistinct vocal. "If we’d sung ‘sexy girl’, it would have been a disaster. ‘Sexy Boy’ felt different,” Godin told The Guardian. “The song was about who we wanted to be; we weren’t handsome when we were younger; our friends always had more success with girls.”

So Air were big, unfashionable softies in a musical decade marked by innovation, ambition and noise. It would have been easy for Air to spanner together disco samples and filters to create a French House tune that would temporarily captivate the Parisian nightclubs. What Air did was to rely on melody and timbre to make their hugely elegant point. ‘Moon Safari’ was the epitome of this, the album’s 10 tracks forming a closed loop of such melodic brilliance and galactic ambience that listening to anything else afterwards felt like scraping muddy boots on a silk-lined boudoir. These are melodies that stick in the brain like glue, suspended in zero G by a velvety ambience of Fender Rhodes, clavinet, vocoder, strings and Moog.

Countless articles have been written about the recording of ‘Moon Safari’, and you can see why: the album pulled off the difficult task of sounding both futuristic and retro, its mixture of vocoders, synths and Serge Gainsbourg bass resembling a 1960’s vision of the gilded future, a combination best heard on the impossibly lush string and vocoder jam ‘Remember’.

Album opener ‘La Femme d’Argent’ is a wonderful example of Air’s insouciant melodic brilliance. The track also features stunning bass work, sporting the kind of bassline that carries the song on its back and leaves you singing in the shower.

Air were classically trained musicians who wore their hearts on their sleeves. The atmosphere of their music was balanced by the human emotion in their songwriting. ‘You Make It Easy’, a glittering highlight, spoke of the magic of falling in love, Beth Hirsch’s vocal soaked in emotion, while ‘New Star in the Sky (Chanson pour Solal)’ seemed to inject a whole galaxy of love and wonder into four tightly-packed lines with the ultra efficiency of a haiku.

And it was this, ultimately, that separated ‘Moon Safari’ from the music that came in its wake. Among the trends that the album inspired were an international Serge Gainsbourg revival, a renewed interest in film soundtracks, and the career of Sofia Coppola, with the band scoring her directorial debut The Virgin Suicides the year after ‘Moon Safari’s’ release. You can hear the album’s influence in the work of acts like Kid Loco, Bent, Röyksopp, Crustation, Tim “Love” Lee, Cibo Matto, Sébastian Tellier and more. But what few of these acts seemed to grasp, in their search for ever lusher melodic beds, was at the centre of Air’s artifice was a beating heart. Rather than the clatter of drums, this was the rhythm that ‘Moon Safari’ moved to.

Air Plot North American Tour to Mark 25th Anniversary of Debut Album ‘Moon Safari’

By Althea Legaspi

Althea Legaspi

Electronic French duo Air are marking the 25th anniversary of their debut album, Moon Safari , with a tour. Launching this fall, the trek will feature them playing the album in its entirety for the first time, as they did on their recent European tour.

The 19-date tour kicks off in Vancouver on Sept. 19 in Vancouver at Queen Elizabeth Theatre, before venturing down the West Coast with stops in Seattle, San Francisco, and two shows in Los Angeles. Midwest dates include Minneapolis, Chicago, and Detroit before they head to the East Coast and then south, culminating in Austin at Moody Amphitheatre on Oct. 30.

Tickets go on sale March 8 at 10 a.m. local time, with presale available on March 7 at 10 a.m. local time.

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The original album made Rolling Stone ’s “ 100 Best Albums of the ‘90s ” list, describing their space-pop debut as “a truly obsessive  hommage  to easy listening, a sublime Eurocheese omelet. They built their music out of classic Sixties French schlock: bongos, castanets, vintage electric piano, dream-weaver synths, and shag-carpet organ straight from the soundtracks of movies like  Un Homme et Une Femme .”

Air Moon Safari North American Tour Dates Sept. 25 – Vancouver, BC @ Queen Elizabeth Theatre Sept. 27 – Seattle, WA @ Benaroya Hall Sept. 29 – Los Angeles, CA @ Orpheum Sept. 30 – Los Angeles, CA @ Orpheum Oct. 2 – San Francisco, CA @ The Masonic Oct. 4 – Denver, CO @ Bellco Theater Oct. 6 – Minneapolis, MN @ State Theatre Oct. 8 – Chicago, IL @ Auditorium Theatre Oct. 10 – Detroit, MI @ Fox Theatre Oct. 12 – Toronto, ON @ Massey Hall Oct. 13 – Montreal, QC @ Place Bell Oct. 15 – Boston, MA @ MGM Music Hall at Fenway Oct. 17 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Met Oct. 18 Washington DC @ The Anthem Oct. 21 – New York, NY @ Beacon Theatre Oct. 24 – Atlanta, GA @ Tabernacle Oct. 26 – Miami Beach, FL @ Fillmore Miami Beach Oct. 29 – Dallas, TX @ Music Hall at Fair Park Oct. 30 – Austin, TX @ Moody Amphitheatre

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Air Announce Moon Safari North American Tour Dates

Air have been playing their 1998 classic Moon Safari on tour in Europe, and the French duo has now announced the North American leg of the anniversary tour. The shows in Canada and the United States take place in the fall. See all of Air’s upcoming tour dates below.

It’s been over a decade since Air last released an album of new material. After putting out Le voyage dans la lune in 2012—a soundtrack for the restored version of Georges Méliès’ iconic silent film—the duo did share the compilation LP Twentyyears four years later, and it included the two previously unreleased songs “Roger Song” and “Adis Abebah.”

See which album Air’s Nicolas Godin picked for a list of “ 33 Musicians on Their Favorite Albums of the Last 25 Years .”

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03-07 Paris, France - L’Olympia 03-08 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Paradiso 03-24 London, England - London Coliseum 05-30 London, England - Royal Albert Hall 05-31 London, England - Royal Albert Hall 06-02 Zurich, Switzerland - Unique Moments Festival 06-14 Barcelona, Spain - Sónar Barcelona 06-21 Rome, Italy - Cavea 06-22 Ferrara, Italy - Summer Vibez 06-24 Paris, France - Days Off Festival at the Philharmonie 06-26 Halifax, England - The Piece Hall 06-27 Southampton, England - The Guildhall Square 06-30 Dublin, Ireland - Trinity College 07-05 Gdynia, Poland - Open’er Festival 07-09 Cascais, Portugal - Cool Jazz Festival 07-16 Luxembourg, Luxembourg - Neïmenster 07-18 Gent, Belgium - Gent Jazz Festival 07-19 Gent, Belgium - Gent Jazz Festival 07-21 Berlin, Germany - Spandau Citadel 07-23 Vienna, Austria - Metastadt Open Air 09-25 Vancouver, British Columbia - Queen Elizabeth Theatre 09-27 Seattle, WA - Benaroya Hall 09-29 Los Angeles, CA - The Orpheum Theatre 09-30 Los Angeles, CA - The Orpheum Theatre 10-02 San Francisco, CA - The Masonic 10-04 Denver, CO - Bellco Theatre 10-06 Minneapolis, MN - State Theatre 10-08 Chicago, IL - Auditorium Theatre 10-10 Detroit, MI - Fox Theatre 10-12 Toronto, Ontario - Massey Hall 10-13 Montreal, Quebec - Place Bell 10-15 Boston, MA - MGM Music Hall at Fenway 10-17 Philadelphia, PA - The Met 10-18 Washington, D.C. - The Anthem 10-21 New York, NY - Beacon Theatre 10-24 Atlanta, GA - Tabernacle 10-26 Miami Beach, FL - The Fillmore Miami Beach 10-29 Dallas, TX - Music Hall at Fair Park 10-30 Austin, TX - Moody Amphitheatre

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Watch AIR LIVE at The Royal Albert Hall

The iconic French duo, AIR will played their widely celebrated album  Moon Safari  in its entirety for the first time across Europe including a night at the Royal Albert Hall.

Celebrating its 25th-anniversary last year, the release of  Moon Safari  catapulted Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel to the uppermost rung of electronic music’s ladder and left an indelible imprint on pop culture at the end of the 20th Century. The album birthed hit singles in ‘ Kelly Watch The Stars ’, ‘ All I Need ’ and ‘ Sexy Boy ’, sold millions of copies around the world, and pushed Air into headline status at major festivals. 25 years on, it’s not hard to reason why Moon Safari has stood the test of time.

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Damion Pell

Loves long walks along the beach, holding hands and romantic 80's power ballads, partial to electronic music and likes to make the odd mix or two.

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AIR played Moon Safari at Royal Albert Hall – the synth setup

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AIR played the iconic Moon Safari album integrally last May at the Royal Albert Hall: here is the live performance and a look at the synth setup.

The French synth-pop duo AIR has been touring Europe and Australia since the beginning of the year, initially in halls and opera houses and in the summer in open-air locations. Each evening, the iconic Moon Safari album from 1998 is featured with a small best-of selection from various other albums – setlist . 

On May 31st, 2024, the start of the summer season, AIR stopped at the legendary Royal Albert Hall in London to celebrate the Moon Safari album. The TV channel ARTE recorded and published the entire 1h30 concert for its Concert series on YouTube.

• AIR Moon Safari Synth Setup

When the French synth-pop duo hits a city, synth enthusiasts are not far away. So, we look at AIR’s synth setup on the Moon Safari Tour. 

On both tours in 2024 (winter/summer), the synth setup was minimal compared to the previous performances.  There were plenty of vintage synths in the past ( Moog Source, Solina String Ensemble, Roland SH-101, etc. ), but this tour was more modern and simple.

This was also because the band only consisted of three people this year.

Jean-Benoît Dunckel (JB Dunckel) used a Fender Rhodes Mark I stage piano 73 , on which stood a Moog Sirin played with an Arturia Keystep Pro MIDI controller.

On the other side was a white stage piano. I’m unsure which one it was; it could be a Fender Rhodes Mark II or Wurlitzer 200A. On it was a white Korg MS-20 FS , which always shines at “La Femme D’argent.”

Right next to it was an Arturia MiniLab Mk3 MIDI keyboard . The cable went into a black box, but it was unclear which device JB Dunckel played. In the past, he had the Roland MKS-70 synth in his rack.

More Moog Mono Synths

In the middle was the home of live drummer Louis Delorme. In addition to the drums, he played a few synth lines on a Moog Minitaur/Sirin with an Arturia MiniLab MKIII keyboard on some songs.

On the right was Nicolas Godin, who played bass, guitar, and synths again. His AIR Moon Safari tour synth setup included a stage e-piano (Fender Rhodes or Wurli), a black Korg MS-20 analog Synthesizer, and a vintage RE-501 Chorus Echo. In another video, this can be seen in the setup.

Next to it was a Komplete Kontrol S25 MKI keyboard (recognizable by the LEDs) and a Moog Minitaur/Sirin. It was impossible to tell whether other sounds were played with the MIDI controller. Nor whether there were rack devices.

All in all, a straightforward live synth setup. Anyone looking forward to a wagon full of vintage synths was a bit disappointed. AIR took the more convenient route for the synth setup for the Moon Safari tour. 

I can only warmly recommend the recorded concert from the Royal Albert Hall. Even though it was a bit short, at one hour and a half, the performance was fabulous musically and visually.

Good news for all non-EU readers: AIR will tour the USA, Canada, and Mexico from September to November 2024 with the Moon Safari album. 

More information here: AIR 

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I performed alongside them at Vivid festival this year, and I asked Nicolas how the setup worked and he said they’re triggering a whole heap of synths that are hooked up out the back or to the side of the stage. Whether that was true or not I’m not sure. But also plausible!

The Wurly makes a great Grand Piano Sound! 😀 I suspect it to be a Nord Stage in a custom (electric piano looking) case. Just for the vintage looks.

I don’t even need to click the video; I can already hear La Femme D’argent playing in my head…

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