After hearing this song everywhere this past year, I started becoming bitter. Everyone was hailing Daft Punk as the second coming of Christ. I kept thinking "Sure, they are great, but you are 7 years late!" I even saw them in Brooklyn over the summer, and sure enough, the show was rapturous, but I was still saying Daft Punk were overrated.
Then I listened to their memento from this past tour, Alive 2007, and I think I understand something I didn't before. Daft Punk created a spectacle, in the vein of a Broadway show. They themselves said "The music is the same, the show is the same, but every performance is different." They used their tour to bring their old songs to life, to showcase new tunes, and to create a complete sensory escape from reality. The ecstatic roar of the crowd in the recording is very good at conveying the atmosphere that Daft Punk were going for. It is the sound of thousands of beaming smiles. I find that if I stop looking for constant innovation in Daft Punk and really appreciate what they are doing (as opposed to what they are not) I enjoy their music more. Also, I think their surging popularity in 2007 speaks about the strength and longevity of their songs. "Around the World" was a hit in 1997, and here we are 10 years later with a whole field bouncing in ecstasy. To top it off, it feels relevant. Not a nostalgia act in any sense. So I am quite convinced that I bore witness to one of the greatest shows ever. But I still don't want to hear "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" in a club... for now.
Oh, and finally, at the show, they played "One More Time" one more time at the end!
0 comments:
Post a Comment