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Saturday October 13, 2007 - 11:15 PM
few, if any live acts over the last five years have garnered anywhere near the amount of critical acclaim and general "must-see" buzz as France's gift to electronic music; Daft Punk.
In april 2006, inside Coachella's ( www.coachella.com ) Sahara Tent; a tented festival stage that has seen the likes of the klaxons, madonna, richie hawtin, benny benassi, the rapture, lcd soundsystem, infected mushroom, and countless others, Frenchmen Guy Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter turned traditional electronic music performance on its' ear with their now-legendary set, immortalized in possibly more youtube videos than any single festival act before.
to get just a fragmented idea of the nature of the set and light show, I would advise simply searching "daft punk live" in google video.
the visual performance (calling it a light show really doesn't do it justice) was actually the product of eighteen months of planning and development, involving intense collaboration between Guy and Thomas and the visual conceptual team. not to mention approximately half a million dollars from GoldenVoice- the people who put on coachella each year, and who brought daft punk out of their live retirement. everything from the gigantic LED screen, to the frames of equilateral triangles, to the pyramid, was designed and purpose-built for daft punk. the end result was an experience that had a story line, a theme, and intensely psychedelic progression, but that would change dynamically each night with the show; regardless of claims by confused or un-observant reviewers, the show, both aurally and visually, is different every night.
the show itself is being run using (everyone's favourite) ableton live software on multi-thread systems designed specifically for the show. ableton, however, has been a staple of electronic performance for quite some time. what makes this performance so special is that instead of simply playing back and tweaking existing tracks, the music is actually constructed live, each night, using Behringer BCR midi controllers, and vintage minimoog synthesizers as well as "many other tricks up our sleeves" -(Bangalter). the setup is in essence their entire studio, packed into towers backstage, and controlled remotely from the pyramid itself. in response to repeated accusations of sending up replacements in their costumes, the reponse from de Homem-Christo was simply "the view from the pyramid is so beautiful... why would we trade such a thing?". this is not simply a tour, says Bangalter, but a culmination of their collective vision since they began making music as daft punk in the nineties.
Alive! at coachella recieved almost ridiculously glowing critical praise; critics were clamouring that Daft Punk had managed to create an intensely psychedelic and personal audio-visual experience the likes of which had not been seen since the likes of legendary showmen like David Bowie, or the 'darkside' era of Pink Floyd- hundred foot pig and all. countless bloggers blasted the critics for their lavish praise, and many, many people doubted, when a subsequent Alive! 2007 tour was announced, that the experience would retain its' magic after being so lauded.
daft punk 1 - hype 0
I took hypershine and jammcat, and it was every bit as good as any glowing review.
the encore is something that literally has to be seen to be believed. no words can accurately describe the feeling, the sound, or what was seen. all that can be said it that for that moment, ten thousand people inside arrow hall were transported to a perfect place in space and time- a swirling, isolated galaxy, with two robots in the very centre, pushing beautiful energy out through the universe, through anyone lucky enough to be a part of it.
the last performance of the Alive! 2007 tour will be at the Vegoose festival in Las Vegas, Nevada, on October 28th. I advise, nay, implore you to go by whatever means necessary.
if you can't, just hope that perhaps, in another ten years, the robots will return and blow us all away again.
Friday August 10, 2007 - 3:48 PM
I'll just say this...
I feel bad for anyone who missed this event!
It was amazing! I've never seen such a great lightshow before, and timed so well to the music.
I hope I get the chance to see them again.
Wednesday August 08, 2007 - 9:52 PM
I went to the montreal show at The Bell Center, I`d say it was one of the best light shows I have ever seen. A giant trip down memory lane. Got to go with Julie (the love of my life!) The encore was dope! HUMAN
Tuesday August 07, 2007 - 5:23 PM
robot love <3
this was everything i wanted for the past ten years.
Monday August 06, 2007 - 7:24 PM
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Monday August 06, 2007 - 7:06 PM
Well I totally enjoyed the music and the visuals as well as running into people I haven't seen in ages  ...the live band sucked but Sebastian and Kavinsky were pretty good...I was just glad that there was TONS of room to dance and move around but I hear it was jammed the closer you got to the stage so we stayed near the middle area 
I just wished this venue was used for other parties instead of The Guv/Koolhaus for when big name DJs come to town...
Monday August 06, 2007 - 2:54 PM
brilliant regardless of what some say!
they truly rocked the house!
5 stars easy!
and also cause the rapture played "WOO! alright yea...uh huh"
wich rocked my sox right off.
ALOT of ugly people tho.
with good music i expect pretty epople not 12 yr olds dosed..i'll rave for that
[yes i have seen live p.a before.]
Monday August 06, 2007 - 2:15 PM
lame
so lame
that was not the Daft Punk show that they have become famous for playing, that was 2 jerks in costumes bopping their heads. You can tell when a person is actually working and doing a live PA...they were not. It was a prerecorded CD with a fancy lightshow times to that CD
quite frankly Paladin is better, at least he DJs
Monday August 06, 2007 - 1:54 PM
AMAZING
i paid little to no attention to the opening acts as we arrived after they started and i was too focussed on getting my drink on.
it was a fucking RAVE in there and it was awesome - i haven't felt like that in really long time. being in an old party venue that i had not been to in almost 10 years made it even ravier and better.
the visuals were insane and the beats had me moving from start to finish and the ENERGY from the crowd was just insane and added so much to the whole experience.
most definitely THE highlight of my summer as nothing has come close to what i experienced last night, i raved my little ass off and i loved every minute of it.
Monday August 06, 2007 - 1:49 PM
the lightshow was amazing.
the music was fabulous. i loved the way they mashed and layered all their hits.
and the crowd was fucking amazing. i don't think i've ever danced so hard in my entire life.
ROCK. ROBOT ROCK.
Monday August 06, 2007 - 10:24 AM
I made a point of not watching any previous sets from this tour, so I wouldn't know what to expect, and it paid off.
Great light show, music being what you would expect (all the heavy hitters from their three albums, layered and mashed up over each other), and the encore was great.
I wasn't blown away, but I wasn't expecting to be... so I left Arrow Hall smiling and sweaty.
Now if we just could have done something about all the hipster douchebags with mullets doing The Robot, thinking they're being all ironic, then the night would have been perfect.
Monday August 06, 2007 - 3:56 AM
Monday August 06, 2007 - 3:36 AM
Amazing lighting setup, killer sound, lots of smiling happy people. Good times.
Their encore was pretty sweet too.
what i did -not- expect, was the sound/music being siphoned out to be what it was (pre-recorded and just sounding monotone) and having 2 douchebags in outfits (who may or may not have been the actual artists) just stand there bopping their heads.
What the fuck WERE you expecting? Do you even comprehend the meaning of monotone? Have you ever seen a live pa before?
Some people's kids...
I love it how some tards in here figure it wasn't them, seriously. What got fucked up so bad in your life that you figure you're constantly being screwed?
Monday August 06, 2007 - 3:22 AM
what i did -not- expect, was the sound/music being siphoned out to be what it was (pre-recorded and just sounding monotone) and having 2 douchebags in outfits (who may or may not have been the actual artists) just stand there bopping their heads.
WHICH show were you watching....?
no way was that pre-recorded. and what do you expect two people in the midst of a live show to do other than bob their heads? (robot cart-wheels?... )
i thought it was awesome. i give it 4 stars simply because it was the same track list as the famous coachella festival set... nothing wrong with that i guess, and they did do a couple things a bit differently here and there.
the lighting effects were amazing..
Monday August 06, 2007 - 2:47 AM
it was a so-so show.
kavinsky rocked.
the rapture was just bland.
Sebastian should stick to producing.
Daft Punk. well.. during the week, watched a full recording from a concert on their new tour, so i knew what to expect.
what i did -not- expect, was the sound/music being siphoned out to be what it was (pre-recorded and just sounding monotone) and having 2 douchebags in outfits (who may or may not have been the actual artists) just stand there bopping their heads.
giving it a 3 because of the massive crowd all grooving to teh shtunes/everyone enjoying themselves.
not worth the money though, i'd prefer to go to an AD/D party and see/hear the same type of shiz, for a fraction of the cost.
/edit/
and the cliche was fulfilled: They did play One More Time, a second time.
Monday August 06, 2007 - 2:27 AM
I WANT DETAILS!!
Im sitting at work overnight so i couldnt see them tonight, but im really excited to see them in Montreal on Tuesday!! 
Monday August 06, 2007 - 1:48 AM
HUUUUUUUUUUMMMAAAAAANNNNN...
RO-BOTTTTTTTT.....
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17 reviews 