From
Chart Magazine...
LIVE: Daft Punk Ruin It For Everyone
Tuesday August 14, 2007 @ 02:00 PM
August 5, 2007
Arrow Hall
Toronto, ON
by Matt Reeder
I hate Daft Punk. OK, not really, but I'm royally pissed at them for what will surely amount to their stealing away my ability to be impressed by anyone else’s live show for who knows how long. Sure, I read a couple of reviews and watched the YouTube videos of last year’s Coachella performance, but after witnessing the robot suit-clad duo in the flesh (my flesh, of course, not theirs), there’s no question Thomas Bangalter and Guy Manuel De Homen-Christo have tapped into a live music experience nothing short of revolutionary.
Before The Rapture exited the stage after a solid set warming the floor for the Daft duo, co-frontman Luke Jenner exclaimed to the audience, "Get ready for the most incredible show of your life." A lofty claim, sure, but I’m pretty certain a good chunk of those who were there wouldn’t disagree.
Everything about the show was a spectacle: the mass exodus of thousands of indie kids and dance music fans from downtown Toronto to Mississauga; the huge venue unaffectionately known by all as "that fucking airplane hangar;" the mind-blowingly complex light show; and, of course, the two masterminds themselves, perched atop their pyramid of light in utter control of thousands of minds and bodies.
Indeed, this show put to rest any notion that Toronto crowds are dour and indifferent. It was a hipster pep-rally of the highest order, with enough neon, crazy sunglasses and funky sneakers to fill the Dos and Don'ts section of Vice Magazine for at least the next few years. But rather than standing with arms folded, people danced unabashedly and actually gave themselves over to the music.
As with many live electronic shows, the actual songs didn’t matter as much as how they played into the overall set. Although the duo touched on all their hits, they were often cut up, remixed and mashed-up together in new and exciting ways. "One More Time" and "Da Funk" garnered the most raucous cheers, but one of the finest moments was their seamless blending of "Around The World" and "Harder, Better, Faster, Stonger" into an orgy of vocoder vocals and huge beats.
Visually, Daft Punk put on a show unlike any other. Centred around a pyramid structure that doubled as a giant video screen and the duo’s musical control centre, and completed with an ingenious geometric grid of lights and an arsenal of flood lights, the stage was ablaze in a frenzy of colour and images for the entire set. What’s more, the light show actually followed a loose narrative with the songs. The band blasted off in automated streams of white light with "Robot Rock," only to get progressively more organic and then "human" near the end, with random faces flashing across the giant pyramid during "Human After All." It may sound cheesy but, trust me, it’s not.
By the time the duo returned for an encore, the entire crowd had morphed into one hot and sweaty mass, literally transforming the air-conditioned convention centre into a kinetic mess that could have been in the running for the title of "world’s best dance party" if there were such a thing.
Ultimately, Daft Punk’s show works so well because it’s stylistically consistent and rich, yet never alienating or pretentious. It pushes the boundaries of what pop music and live music can be, but never loses sight of the bottom line: having fun. And that’s exactly what you’ll get — a live show that has the power to wrap you up in the moment. As one of the many sweaty concert-goers standing within earshot put it so well to his friend: "I wanna be a robot, too." I think we all did, friend.