Pitchfork

Self-described "French Band" Air have announced they'll be teaming up late next month with fellow freedom-haters Stereolab for a three-day mini-tour of Southern California. For Air, the trip marks their first U.S. dates since April (if you aren't counting May's Coachella Festival), having been otherwise tied up by their Talkie Walkie tour in Europe for the past three months. The two bands will be joined on this jaunt by Norwegian singer/songwriter Sondre Lerche, who is currently cooling down from a summer of European festival appearances... much like his tourmates, really.

Stereolab, incidentally, are still touring in support of this year's Margerine Eclipse (with a more recent limited edition 7" titled Rose My Rocket Brain just released August 2nd)-- their most recent appearance fell just last Friday at Cannes, France's Pantiero Festival. The band's official website also alludes to a series of U.S. dates to follow the California shows, though dates for those have not yet been announced.

One final hook to this particular tour is that, at the concluding Hollywood Bowl date, all three performers will reportedly be joined by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, who apparently have nothing better to do than back ethereal French pop bands. In addition, tickets for the Hollywood Bowl show start at just $3-- only $1 per band. Viva la value! The dates:

9-24 San Diego, CA - SDSU Open Air Theater
9-25 Santa Barbara, CA - Santa Barbara Bowl
9-26 Hollywood, CA - Hollywood Bowl