French bands Phoenix and Air will both perform at the closing ceremony for the 2024 Paris Olympics on Sunday, August 11th.
The two Versailles-based groups helped usher in the Olympics with a special concert at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport on July 17th — along with Étienne de Crécy and Izzy Lindqwister, Phoenix and Air performed on the roof of Terminal 1, serving as a pre-Olympics summer party as well as a commemoration of the airport’s 50th anniversary.
Now, after the massive Olympics opening ceremony featured performances from Celine Dion, Lady Gaga, Gojira, Aya Nakamura, and dozens others, the closing ceremony will feature even more spectacle. In addition to “French Touch” legends Phoenix and Air, Tom Cruise will reportedly be pulling off a stunt on the Stade de France — Le Parisien confirms that Cruise will be apart of the handoff that symbolizes the transition between Paris 2024 and Los Angeles 2028, and includes footage captured in Paris over the last few months.
Both Phoenix and Air are commemorating some major anniversaries in 2024, making their appearances at the 2024 Olympics even more celebratory. Phoenix have been remembering the 15th anniversary of their seminal fourth album Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with performances at Just Like Heaven, Primavera Sound, and a few other festivals — we even caught up with the band’s Christian Mazzalai and Laurent Brancowitz backstage at Just Like Heaven to discuss the album’s making and impact.
Meanwhile, Air is celebrating the 25th anniversary of their 1998 album Moon Safari with a fall North American tour where they’ll play the record in full. The tour begins in late September and runs through October; get tickets here.
The 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris continues throughout the week, concluding with a closing ceremony on Sunday, August 11th at 3:00 p.m. EST.