There's a certain justifiable trepidation about going to see Air live.
When Nicolas Godin and Jean Benoit Dunckel first threatened to perform their debut album, "Moon Safari", in 1997, no one believed for a second they'd recreate their carefully constructed analogue warmth on stage. So when the duo appeared at Shepherd's Bush with a full live band and played the opening bars of "La Femme D'Argent" to studio perfection their audience was pleasantly stunned.
Sadly, pleasure turned to disbelief as success went to Nicolas and JB's heads and, halfway through a blissfully chilled set, they decided to unleash "Air - the rock band", pumping their fists into the, um, air and shouting: "Let's rock". Second time around and Air re-appeared in dark gothic mood to interpret their "10,000 HZ Legend" LP. Armed with an album with few high points, their performance was equally let down.
Now, three proper albums along, Air are back with "Talkie Walkie", undoubtedly their best LP since "Moon Safari", and expectations are cautiously back up. Brixton Academy is sold out and Nicolas Godin and Jean Benoit Dunckel enter bathed in purple and green mist to a roaring crowd.
After the histrionics of their earlier garb ("Moon Safari" all-in-one NASA suits and "10,000 HZ Legend" vampire capes) tonight they're dressed in the sensible casual wear of their recent publicity shots. The support band of previous engagements has also been scaled-down to a drummer and one keyboard player come programmer - who also covers for faux female backing vocals.
Godin assumes centre stage, clutching his guitar, while Dunckel masterminds a bank of keyboards and they soon erupt into a driven live version of "Alta Beat Gaga" - a strange combination of glam electro and Sixties pop that sees Godin deliver a whistle that would make Rodger Whittaker proud. If they were planning to repeat their rock band aspirations this would be the moment, but the duo stay deliberately locked in dark postures of Parisian cool. "Venus" is rendered the same studied reserve, although it reveals a new roughness to their sound.
Initially "Talkie Walkie" material is greeted with enthusiastic support. But as "Run" begins to sound more and more like 10CC's "I'm Not In Love", the enthusiasm for the new material starts to fade and the biggest cheers are reserved for the few "Moon Safari" moments, such as "Talisman", that make it into the set. The lack of old material makes for irresistible encore bait and after an inexplicably long delay, the band return to an expectant audience and strike-up "Universal Traveller", followed, at last, by "Kelly Watch The Stars".
Finally they deliver an unexpectedly high-voltage version of "La Femme D'Argent" and from this most unexpected source, Air at last begin to rock-out. And we mean a real, 15-minute-drum solo-style, rock-out. The biggest surprise of all is that it works.
