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Mar 05, 2024 By Mark Redfern Photography by Manuel Obadia-Wills

French duo Air have announced some North American tour dates this fall where they will be performing their beloved and acclaimed debut album, 1998’s Moon Safari, in its entirety. They previously announced some EU and UK Moon Safari shows. Some Moon Safari rarities are coming to streaming platforms on March 15, including demos, live tracks, and BBC session tracks. Last week the band shared “New Star in the Sky (Demo 1).” Listen to that below, followed by the tour dates and a trailer for the tour, as well as the tracklist for the rarities release.

Air’s Jean-Benoit Dunckel had this to say about Moon Safari in a press release: “The hype was a violent experience. Air’s music is not accessible or easy to discern: The format is strange, the voices are strange, the subjects are strange. Even ‘Sexy Boy’ sounds strange. We were a duo doing some electronic thing, dreaming of selling 10,000 copies and being recognized by other musicians as cool. Then suddenly, we met the world. Personally, it took me time to see that we could be a big, important band.”

The band’s Nicolas Godin had this to add about the album: “This kind of bedroom music was all about fantasy. In my mind, I was picturing myself at Capitol Records, surrounded by all the best musicians, feeling like Burt Bacharach. In reality, I was in the fucking 18th arrondissement of Paris, with a sampler, singing into one microphone. But when your fantasy is so strong, I think it goes in the wires and through the speakers. The power of Moon Safari was to make people believe in what we believed in.”

Air’s last album was 2012’s Le voyage dans la lune, their soundtrack to the iconic silent short film of the same name (aka A Trip to the Moon). Read our 10th anniversary look back at that album, from 2022.

Air North American Moon Safari Tour Dates:

9/25 - Vancouver, BC @ Queen Elizabeth Theatre
9/27 - Seattle, WA @ Benaroya Hall
9/29 - Los Angeles, CA @ Orpheum
9/30 - Los Angeles, CA @ Orpheum
10/2 - San Francisco, CA @ The Masonic
10/4 - Denver, CO @ Bellco Theater
10/6 - Minneapolis, MN @ State Theatre
10/8 - Chicago, IL @ Auditorium Theatre
10/10 - Detroit, MI @ Fox Theatre
10/12 - Toronto, ON @ Massey Hall
10/13 - Montreal, QC @ Place Bell
10/15 - Boston, MA @ MGM Music Hall at Fenway
10/17 - Philadelphia, PA @ The Met
10/18 - Washington DC @ The Anthem*
10/21 - New York, NY @ Beacon Theatre
10/24 - Atlanta, GA @ Tabernacle
10/26 - Miami Beach, FL @ Fillmore Miami Beach
10/29 - Dallas, TX @ Music Hall at Fair Park
10/30 - Austin, TX @ Moody Amphitheatre

Moon Safari 25th Anniversary Edition Rarities:

01 Dirty Hiroshima (Demo)
02 New Star in the Sky (Demo)
03 Ce Matin Là (Demo)
04 Maggot Brain (Live)
05 J’ai Dormi Sous L’eau (Bbc Live Session)
06 Sexy Boy (BBC Live Session)
07 Kelly Watch The Stars (BBC Live Session)
08 Kelly Watch The Stars (Extended)
09 Remember (David Whitaker Version)

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