Saw AIR live in Cascais

This one started with a phone call from a colleague, Doro.

An unexpected reconnection

I had just cut my time short with IPTOR following a corporate restructuring. She reached out and we ended up talking about life for a while. What started as a casual check-in turned into a proper friendship. The kind where you actually make plans and follow through on them.

Doro lives in Setúbal and we live in Cascais, so when the Ageas CoolJazz Festival was coming up right in our backyard, the three of us figured why not go see AIR.

I mean, I knew Sexy Boy

I wasn’t exactly a die-hard fan going in. I knew Sexy Boy. I knew the vibe. That dreamy French electronic thing that soundtracked a million coffee shop playlists and Sofia Coppola movies. But I hadn’t really sat down with a full album.

Turns out they were touring the 25th anniversary of Moon Safari and played the whole thing front to back. So I got the full album experience whether I was ready for it or not.

The set

They opened with La Femme d’argent and as a bass player that opening line just grabbed me immediately. Nicolas Godin apparently recorded that one on a borrowed Höfner and you could really feel it live. Warm, melodic, driving the whole thing forward while the synths floated on top.

Sexy Boy hit early and the crowd loved it. Then All I Need came in with this heavier, darker bass tone and I found myself just watching Godin’s hands the whole time. Talisman was another one where the bass carried everything. Kelly Watch the Stars, Ce matin-là, the whole album flowed really well live. It sounded bigger and warmer than I expected.

After Moon Safari they played some deeper cuts. Cherry Blossom Girl, Venus, Don’t Be Light. And they closed with an encore of Alone in Kyoto and Electronic Performers, which honestly might have been the highlight for me.

Festival air

The Hipódromo in Cascais is a nice venue for this kind of thing. Open air, relaxed crowd, people smoking in the crowd. There was this moment where I was just standing there with a cigarette and the warm night air and this wash of synths and I realized I hadn’t been to a proper festival in years. I had sort of “grown out of it” at some point. Or at least told myself I had.

But it felt really nice to just be out there again. Not in a pit, not losing my mind. Just standing in a crowd with friends, listening to music under the sky. Different energy than what I’m used to, but good. Really good.

Sometimes you don’t need to be 19 and covered in mud at a metal festival to enjoy live music. Sometimes you just need a warm evening in Cascais and a French duo with a vocoder.