Air

The Roundhouse is a fine venue and Air are undoubtedly a fine band, so it was with great excitement I made my way up Chalk Farm road to this exciting event. Moon Safari is one of my favourite albums, and to be honest, those were the songs I was most looking forward too.

The night was good and the crowd was right, but something about Airs performance lacked presence. It was good. But I was expecting great, and it left me feeling a little unsatisfied.

While I pitched up in the photo pit, I was bewildered as I went to take a closer look at the setlist. The page in front of the mic was actually printed song lyrics, something that immediately worried me. If a band has to have their new songs written out in front of them, are they really going to play them with gusto? 

Perhaps they are a band more suited to being background music, as their stage presence was somewhat lacking. They stood there, looking rather cold and self involved and although they provided a rather pretty light show, there was no significant advantage I could see to watching them perform. The set comprised mostly of tracks from Love 2, as expected. It was enjoyable, but not passionate. I would imagine if I had seen them in their Heyday after releasing Moon Safari, I would have gotten what I was looking for. I felt their songs were technically excellent, but performed void of personality and joy. If they couldn’t get excited about their own music, it’s very different to lift and engage the crowd.

It picked up near the end with two classics Kelly watch the stars and La femme d’argent. This improved the night somewhat, but I don’t think it was enough.