Daft Punk, I salute you

Why have I chosen to document something that so many before me have, and no doubt more eloquently and profoundly than I am about to do so? Because of my own recollection, because even now, over a week later, I am still in absolute awe of the display of music I was given last week at Daft Punk. Certainly in the past 15 years others, those trained and paid to write clichéd and psychophantically literary pieces paying homage to one of the greatest and most evolutionary dance music duos to grace the sweaty, drug and alcohol enhanced dance floors and music events of Europe and the globe in the past, but I’m not trained and while I can be wordy I doubt often my eloquence. Here I shall present what is no doubt going to be a self serving and indulgent piece, but I cant hold back for my brain, as time progresses, due to the alcohol and afore mentioned drugs consumed by any who have equally imbibed daft punks music as well as said substances, my memory may fade, or at least things I wish to cling to will be squandered as the rest f my life progresses. But not this, so this is for me as much as anyone, and it began about four months ago.

Vividly I remember the initial whisperings, first on JJJ, Daft Punk were touring Australia, but it seemed incredulous, and then when the whisper grew to include a possible Perth stop, the idea itself seemed fantastical, some small bit of self simulation on the part of the Perth dance community to feel part of something so big, for we are after all, just Perth, tiny and small and when you consider us in the scheme of things, rather insignificant. Yet one day, driving my children to school, it happened, the confirmation occurred….. not only were Daft Punk coming to Australia, they were playing a show in Perth. I was not alone in my euphoric exhaltation, just go online and have a look, this leg of their tour sold more tickets, and indeed sold them faster than ANY OTHER DAFT PUNK TOUR IN HISTORY. Thank you Perth, we justified their trek to us, and last Sunday, we truly showed our appreciation, and it was paid back tenfold by the greatest performance I have ever witnessed.

After months of heady excitement, of watching you tube videos of the gig, of getting goosebumps, at the giddiness of the mere imagination of how good it could be, days before the gig the horrible fated news, they had oversold…… the fear that maybe I would miss out (as my wonderous work collegue Iris would say, FOMO or fear of missing out) As it turned out it was rumour, but one that struck fear into the hearts of many a ticket holder, for as my friends and I plodded towards the Esplande last Sunday, tickets and rain gear firmly in hand, as we passed through those gates, zionic in their brilliance, a mere 20 mintues after they opened, the sheer size of the crowd already there was sign enough that something big was happening, and we were ready.

Rain and clouds teased us all afternoon, as did somewhat mediocre and humdrum bands, but I didn’t care. So the rain made my naturally curly hair frizz, who cared I was waiting only metres from the stage that would soon showcase the pyramid of Daft Punk. Daft Punk, even now as I type this I can quite believe I have seen them live, Daft Punk. It defies comprehension!

Well the crowd continued to swell and estimates after ranged from 15,000 to 20,000, then factor in the apparently couple of thousand more who pack the foreshore and surrounding area to just hear the show. I know people who sat opposite the park and just drank in the atmosphere from outside the venue, now how many musicians can claim to be able to provide that kind of showmanship without even really playing for YOU?

They were due on at 815, and like any good bride, fashionably late, but not enough to cause panic, and like every other good bride, they did not leave us, the ‘grooms’, as to any doubt as to how much they couldn’t wait to get there. As an odd eery silence fell, after a mad few moments when they had played, to my absolute joy, Life on Mars by Bowie, there was no music, then the signature from Close Encounters rang out over us, and we knew it was just moments before that curtain would part and we would be face to face with the pyramid. As if to reiterate to us just how mortal we were in the presence of these gods, and the smoke rose and the curtain parted to reveal them, it thundered through the speakers.”Robot………………..” and as a group of humanity joined by one desire, to see Daft Punk, we joined in one enourmous voice to scream ABSOLUTE FUCKING MADNESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

From then on in it was like being bathed in the most glorious things one could ever dream of. If someone had ever said to me, you can see daft punk what songs would they play to make the set perfect? It all played out before me last Sunday. As the lights penetrated my vision, and my ears ached from the incredible bass, so intense that I swore my phone, set to vibrate, was constantly ringing, I flew. I flew musically harder, better, faster and strong than I have ever flown before!

The most amazingly mind blowing mix I have ever heard of Technologic, and the lead into Harder Better faster Strong from face to Face left many of us gasping in an almost orgasmic afterglow. At no point did the intensity drop, even in the quiet lulls which were so artfully placed between some of their most intense mixes, just drove the crowd to an even greater pitch of feverish excitement.

Like when they chimed in the start of One More Time, I think I actually cried a little bit! They took us to the point where we were sure we knew what was about to come next then they flipped us completely upside down, threw us all over the Esplanade and we loved it!

There is no way to verbally convey the iridescance and brilliance and sheer luminosity of the light show, of the images floating through the crowd, literally wrapped you in the music, this doesn’t even make sense, but the whole experience was such a sensory overload, one week to the day later I am still getting goose bumps and shivers just thinking about it. It was a sensory invasion like no other….. Aerodynamic and One More Time woven into some mind blowing tapestry; for me the penultimate moment had to be as Televison, ironically, bombarded our senses, then without warning, in it came, my favourite Daft Punk song, Crescentdolls…….. I was actually lifted into the air for a moment, literally (thankyou Alex!) and figuratively! I say it was the penultimate moment because well, there was one greater, but I don’t know which one it was… was it the opening “Robot” or the closing to “Da Funk”, or the way they made us wait for what felt a good ten minutes before they did the encore, they left it so long, teased so well, I saw a few people make their way towards the back, only to come screaming forward as they appeared before us again in the pyramid.

I cant separate these moments. Music has always been such an intense thing for me, and the whole day was just one huge moment. As Daft Punk played those final few minutes, as I prayed that the night would continue forever, they left the stage to thunderous applause, screaming, begging for them to return, but the lights came on, bathing us in the sterile light so different to the existentially esoteric show of lighting brilliance that had coated our senses for the previous 90 minutes. The crowd began to discipate, gaps in the tight throng appeared, and then it happened, over the speakers came the deep lingering strains of Elvis Presley “Can’t help falling in love with you”……… I was wrapped up in the arms of someone and we danced like it was a wedding waltz! We sung out loud, we spun, we dipped, we were giddy, and then we smiled at one another and we left.

We do not remember days, we remember moments, and Daft Punk was the greatest musical moment of my life.