Air Gives Life to Early ‘70s Rock

In pop music, history has a weird way of repeating itself.

Let’s say that you’re too young to have witnessed the progressive-rock era in all its glory, that you were not able to see Genesis, or Yes, or Pink Floyd in a smoky London club during the early ‘70s.

Not to worry. Air’s show at the Mayan Theatre on Tuesday (the first of three sold-out nights) was a seamless re-creation of the prog-rock experience, complete with trippy lights, analog keyboard sounds and highbrow song titles such as “Radian” and “La Femme d’Argent.”

If you subscribe to the belief that prog-rock was a flawed but fascinating movement filled with limitless ambition, operatic fury and experimental vigor, an Air concert is instant nirvana.

If, on the other hand, you applaud the punk invasion for bringing rock back to the street and its senses, you will probably find the French duo’s music pretentious--though, in an ironic cultural twist, it’s affiliated with the electronica movement and therefore is widely seen as edgy rather than stodgy.

One thing is undeniable: Nicolas Godin and Jean Benoit Dunckel have grown as a live act since they presented 1998’s brilliant “Moon Safari” album at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre, and last year’s “The Virgin Suicides” soundtrack at the American Legion Hall.

Those appearances evoked a gentle, tasteful atmosphere. Back then, Air’s electronic sweetness bordered on continental lounge-pop, with a female vocalist singing exquisite ballads, and the melodies borrowing liberally from the romanticism of European soundtrack composers.

Now touring as a quintet (including L.A.-based pop hero Jason Falkner) with three keyboards, bass, drums and a bit of guitar, Air sounds loud and intense, completely engrossed in its psychedelic mission. It has become an organic outfit that knows how to rock and invites you to lose yourself in its somber moods.

Truth be told, Godin and Dunckel are primarily sophisticated listeners. Air’s music doesn’t limit itself to obvious art-rock references, and Tuesday’s selections from Air’s new album, the eerily beautiful “10,000 Hz Legend,” evoked a kaleidoscopic array of snippets from forgotten bands such as Supersister, Gong, Caravan, Focus, Camel, PFM and France’s own Ange.

Most of the audience enjoyed the concert with eyes closed, bodies still, distant smiles on their faces. More like an Eastern meditation temple than a rock show, this scene underscored Air’s ability to make its listeners dream, to transport them to imaginary landscapes of the mind.

* Air, with Sebastien Teller, plays today at the Mayan Theatre, 1038 S. Hill St., L.A., 8 p.m. Sold out. (213) 746-4287.