A few more words on Daft Punk

Photo by David Greenwald from Coachella 2006

Yes, they played here in L.A. on Saturday; yes, they lived up to and maybe even exceeded the hype. But mainstream media coverage afterward was surprisingly lacking, so I’d like to make some quick points to all you Daft Punk fans out there curious as to how their first show in this U.S. tour went:

1) To these ears, they played the exact same set as they did at Coachella. I have the Coachella bootleg downloaded on my computer and have played it over so many times that I’ve practically memorized it by now, and I couldn’t notice any difference this time around, not even in the timing of the mixing.

2) Being on the floor was something else. You could look around the arena and see everyone up in the stands losing their freaking minds.

3) The light show was also, as far as I could tell, the same as Coachella’s. These observations, coupled with the intricate synchronization of the visuals to audio, makes one wonder what, exactly, is being performed live. Daft Punk could, if they wanted to, just pop in a pre-recorded mix CD and sit there pretending to twiddle knobs while the music and synchronized light show just went on autopilot. In fact, because they are wearing robot suits, it wouldn’t even be necessary for them to actually be there – they could just hire actors to wear the suits, as they did with their movie Electroma. I have no real evidence that I actually saw Daft Punk, and even if I did, that I actually saw them perform any music. And yet it was one of the best shows I’ve been to, and it’s safe to say that was also the overwhelming sentiment of the audience – an audience that demographically skewed heavily in favor of a generation known (fairly or not) for its cynicism and need for authenticity.

4) The one big difference this time around, the trick up their sleeve: an encore. For me, the definite high point. (Video after the jump.) [Continue reading…]