Did you know that back in 2001 I began calling myself “The $ynchronizer” because of the Air song, Electronic Performers? Just last week, before I even knew there was a performance coming up, I was listening on the iPod and debating whether La Femme d’Argent was my favorite song ever — I placed it second only to Destiny by Zero 7. But ever since I found out about the Thursday night concert happening at Bimbo’s, Air has been first on my mind. It’s so rare that I make it to concerts but, for a band like this one where it’s a given that I have all of the albums…that I’ve been listening to since college…it was worth the money and worth the effort. God, I’m fucking glad I went.
The concert was a lot like I always imagined an Air concert would be: never more than one guitar playing at a time alongside the drums and keyboard, but there was so much equipment! It took the band 40 minutes to set up and come on after the opening act. Lots of button-pressing; I don’t think Jean-Benoit broke a sweat the entire show, but he was adding the coolest sounds to some surprisingly funky beats. And the other guy, Nicholas, did get the chance to shred a few times during the night so it was nice to see that it’s not all synthesizers. Although I cannot go through life without owning a talkbox at some point.
There’s no question that as good as the albums are, the live show is so much better. They picked a fantastic setlist. Who says that Air isn’t danceable music?? And certainly they were playing for fanatics, but that feeling during a concert when the band plays the first two or three notes and everyone immediately recognizes the song and there’s this collective feeling of “YES! Fuck yeah!!” happened for every song. I was just so happy to be there. I swear I almost cried when they played Talisman because I was thinking about how many times I’ve just plopped on the couch, closed my eyes and listened to the song. Or when I’ve imagined using the song as part of a movie score; the music playing while a solitary man walks through the pouring rain during the opening credits. It was just perfect. Music I’ve loved for so long and it creators and performers just doing it not 15 feet away from me in the midst of hundreds of people who felt the same way.
And during the show I waited for them to play La Femme d’Argent. They jumped across every album but finally trotted it out as their closing piece. On the album it’s about seven minutes long but they went off in a fitting finale. A normally chill song was just that but it also became electric and thunderous and grand and that song is the fucking JAM. It’s too bad I wasn’t able to drag anyone out to share the joy with, but I’m satisfied having a personal memory of a wonderful night.
The $ynchronizer 2: All Due Respect 