LIVE REVIEWS
It’s Spring 2024, and the air is thick with nostalgia. This year, there seem to be just as many anniversary tours as there are jaunts plugging new records – with the likes of everyone from Liam Gallagher and Green Day to Interpol, Bloc Party and Death Cab/Postal Service celebrating their past and transporting you back to an era of your choosing. Hell, in these dumpster fire days, who wouldn’t wanna take a trip back in time? Tonight, we find ourselves in the fittingly opulent London Coliseum for French chill-tronica icons Air, marking 25 years of their immaculate debut ‘Moon Safari’.
The achingly stylish Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel – joined by live drummer Louis Delorme – step into a wide letterbox-shaped stage to lead us through the album in full. There was already a certain timeless spirit to the effortlessly cool lounge ambience of ‘La femme d’argent’, the European seduction of ‘Sexy Boy’, and the subtle euphoric future-pop of ‘Kelly Watch the Stars’. But here, tonight, with their fellow album tracks fleshed out with some jazzy flair and the visual feast of the Kubrick-esque staging, this feels less like a snapshot of the ‘90s and more a performance holding you very much in the now.
The pure musicianship would have been enough (it beggars belief that a trio can create such a galaxy of sound), but the whole experience is one that lifts you from your seat. Never a lull, the show is one of delicious Versailles luxury for the eyes and ears. It’s heartening to see so many concert-goers regularly turning to their pals in glee, mouthing what we can only assume is the French for “holy shit!”
The blissed-out ‘New Star In The Sky’ and ‘Le voyage de Pénélope’ wash over the sold-out crowd, hungry for more. When the trio return to the stage for the luscious horizon of ‘Radian’ and the sci-fi romance of ‘Venus’, it seems we still have miles to go. The rest of the set leans heavily on electronica staple albums ‘Talkie Walkie’ and ‘10 000 Hz Legend’, proving how wonderfully Air imagined a future at the turn of the century. Highlights come with the runaway space-rock rush of ‘Don’t Be Light’ and, of course, the gentle twinkling perfection of ‘Alone In Kyoto’ – yes, that one off of Lost In Translation – before closing with a genre-clash nod to Kraftwerk on the cinematic ‘Electronic Performers’.
It takes a certain dedication to play an album from top to bottom, but Air have created an immersive universe for ‘Moon Safari’. Rather than yearning for the past, the band suspend us in time with thick grooves and sheer class – a constant joy from start to finish. See this show at all costs.
‘Moon Safari’ set:
‘La femme d’argent’
‘Sexy Boy’
‘All I Need’
‘Kelly Watch the Stars’
‘Talisman’
‘Remember’
‘You Make It Easy’
‘Ce matin‐là’
‘New Star in the Sky (Chanson pour Solal)’
‘Le voyage de Pénélope’
Set 2:
‘Radian’
‘Venus’
‘Cherry Blossom Girl’
‘Run’
‘Highschool Lover’
‘Surfing on a Rocket’
‘Don’t Be Light’
Encore:
‘Alone in Kyoto’
‘Electronic Performers’
LIVE REVIEWS
“Express yourself,” a whispered voice hushes through the main stage as the lights flicker. Doja Cat is about to take to the main stage to headline the final night of Coachella 2024, and when she emerges at the end of the runway in a hazmat suit, you know she’s going to do as those two words say.
For the rapper, expressing herself often means doing things others might not – either because her form of expression is too off-the-wall for the rest of the world or too controversial. Tonight, she proves the former spirit is well and truly alive, bringing a touch of brilliant weirdness to the desert.
After the opening two songs, she takes off the white suit that leaves only her face visible to reveal a body suit covered in long locks of blonde hair. Ominous tones roll out over the field as she crawls up to the main stage before ‘Demons’ cuts in, and she’s joined by dancers dressed in yeti costumes. If these are the demons she’s rapping about, they don’t look too bad – cuddly, almost – and she embraces them fully, climbing on one’s shoulders to deliver the final parts of the track.
This is just the beginning of the Doja Cat spectacle tonight, which includes multiple outfit changes and stage antics that get increasingly madcap. After a commanding ‘Tia Tamera’, she disappears behind a curtain, only her silhouette visible, as the buzzing sound of an electric razor whirrs, and she pretends to shave off the thigh-length blonde hair she’s been whipping around until now. When she emerges, she sports a shaved head and a look that can only be described as high fashion cyborg.
As the performance enters its final throes, she’s joined by a very special, unusual guest – the gigantic skeleton of a dinosaur. It rolls down the runway after her as she airs ‘WYM Freestyle’, looking like she’s about to be its next victim. Before the track is up, though, it appears to decide Doja is too formidable an opponent and retreats back to where it came from.
Formidable is exactly what the star is tonight, crafting a fiery set that bounces through her rap-focused songs and never lets the energy drop. ‘OKLOSER’, which gets its live debut tonight, is an infectious highlight, while ‘Balut’ drops the tempo to something a little more soulful but still powerful. When she brings out living human guests to join her on stage, she doesn’t come close to being overshadowed.
21 Savage appears for ’n.h.i.e.’, while Teezo Touchdown ups the weird, vocalising into a flower that seems to require his whole head to be submerged in its petals. A$AP Rocky makes his second appearance of the weekend for a ferocious ‘URRRGE!!!!!!!!!!’, trading bars with his host from the top of a scaffolding tower. Earlier in the evening, South African a cappella group The Joy bring light to ‘Shutcho’.
It’s unfortunate that the crowd tonight isn’t much bigger than it is – or that, other than the fans down the front, its energy isn’t far higher. Sure, it’s the final night of the weekend and the chilly desert winds are roaring, but the reception for Doja is disappointingly flat. Perhaps that’s because she doesn’t give the casual viewers what they want – her pop hits. There is no ‘Say So’ in this set, nor a rendition of ‘Kiss Me More’ – with or without a cameo from SZA. ‘Paint The Town Red’, her latest smash, is saved until the penultimate track in the setlist, but even when its opening notes drop, the response is muted.
Regardless, Doja sticks to her guns throughout and closes the performance in the kind of way that leaves the audience confused. After a brief break from the stage, the rapper reappears back at the end of the runway, which has now turned into a ring full of slimy, grey mud. She and her dancers get stuck into the mess as she closes the set with ‘Wet Vagina’, somehow not slipping and sliding through it but nailing the choreography.
As Doja strides back to the main stage and blows a kiss goodbye, the crowd hesitates, wondering, “Is that it?” They get their answer when the lights finally go out – a subdued ending, perhaps, but one that comes after 90 minutes of pure pageantry.
‘Acknowledge Me’
‘Shutcho’
‘Demons’
‘Tia Tamera’
‘Fuck The Girls (FTG)’
‘Gun’
‘OKLOSER’
‘Ouchies
‘n.h.i.e.’
‘Attention’
’97’
‘Balut’
‘Need To Know’
‘MASC’
‘Streets’
‘Agora Hills’
‘Ain’t Shit’
‘WYM Freestyle’
‘URRRGE!!!!!!!!!!’
‘Paint The Town Red’
‘Wet Vagina’
