Rumours have been swirling for a while now that Daft Punk are touring in 2017, with some massive headline slots at festivals possibly in the works too. There’s a lot of speculation in among the few facts – here’s what we actually know.
Are Daft Punk headlining Lollapalooza 2017?
In late September, a Reddit user wrote that they’d discovered an empty Daft Punk page on the Lollapalooza website that had been built in February 2016. This would indicate that the French electro duo had been booked to play the August 2017 edition of festival all the way back then. The fact that Lollapalooza have since deleted that page would indicate that Reddit users may have stumbled upon something close to the truth – that Daft Punk may make their live return in 2017.
Why is a Daft Punk tour such a big deal?
Because they don’t do it very often at all, and it’s usually amazing. The band last played live in 2014 at the Grammy Awards, alongside the likes of Stevie Wonder, Nile Rodgers, Pharrell Williams and the session musicians from their 2013 album ‘Random Access Memories’, and as you can see from the below video, it was pretty great.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mscigB4WtvA
Prior to that, there was 2006/2007’s world tour, remembered for its incredible illuminated pyramid, from the top of which Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo used to perform (it’s nothing to do with Glastonbury’s pyramid, by the way). When they were just 22 years old they also had a smaller but no less notorious 1997 US & Europe tour, in support of their debut album ‘Homework’, for which they used their own home studio equipment. And after both of the above two tours, they produced albums – ‘Alive 1997’ and ‘Alive 2007’ – which have since added to their live show’s mystique.
So – on this [currently hypothetical] tour, fans are expecting an influx of live instrumentation – as in their 2014 Grammy performance – and possibly the presence of the legendary guitarist Nile Rodgers, who was behind ‘Get Lucky”s indefatigable guitar line. That would be pretty great.
Do Daft Punk actually tour every ten years?
A lot of fans are citing the fact that Daft Punk toured in 1997 and again in 2007 as evidence that they’ll definitely make their live return in 2017. It’s worth remembering that it’s not a pattern if something has only happened twice. That’s, like, Key Stage 2 maths. It’d be nice if the 2017 speculation is true – and the Lollapalooza thing does make it sound more likely – but the first two numbers of our ‘pattern’ could also be applied to the Fibonacci sequence, which would see them return in 2027, then in 2057, and you’d think people were mad if they were insisting that was the case. The truth is, we actually don’t know when they’ll come back.
Is the spoilsport Daft Punk ‘source’ reliable?
“An industry source tells Consequence Of Sound that Daft Punk have no plans to perform live next summer.” It seems like a death knell for excited fans, but there are plenty of legitimate reasons to stay in denial about the source’s pronouncements. Remember all the times Sam Smith said he wasn’t doing the Bond theme? Or all the times Game of Thrones stars said Jon Snow was actually dead? The more times this news gets discredited by ‘sources’, the more some fans will believe they’re just covering up the truth. And the band themselves haven’t said anything.
Is Thomas Bangalter’s hearing still fucked?
One half of the duo, Thomas Bangalter, suffered from tinnitus in 2002, and people say he gave up DJing because of hearing difficulties. It’s also believed that this caused him to quit playing live following the 2007 tour, though his friend Orde Meikle said Bangalter has recovered from the condition sufficiently for it not to affect his career. But it’s caused some people to assume Daft Punk will never play live again, which would be bad news for these rumours.
Are Daft Punk playing Glastonbury 2017?
Late September saw the rumour mill churn out another gem: that both Lady Gaga and Daft Punk had been ‘approached’ to play Worthy Farm next June. The report – in the Daily Star – said that Daft Punk were being tipped for a headline slot.
What is the new Daft Punk website?
It’s called ALIVE 2017 – minus the year, that’s the name of Daft Punk’s live albums so far, from 1997 and 2007. Keep in mind that it could have been built by a trolling fan, but equally it could be a twist-filled mystery promo strategy, which would be very Daft Punk. If computer users choose to view the source code (not very complicated: right-click and select ‘view source’) they’ll see the coordinates below, which a fan on Genius has worked out point to cities across the world:
Paris (48 51 24 2 21 03)
Los Angeles (34 03 118 15)
London (51 30 26 N 0 7 39)
New York (40 7128 74 0059)
Tokyo (35 6895 139 6917)
Sao Paulo (23 5505 46 6333)
Ibiza (39 0200 1 4821)
Indio (33 7206 116 2156)
The problem with these is that some are in random places. The ‘London’ one is in Thamesmead, for example – not exactly known for its banging music venues. But Indio is where Coachella is, and Daft Punk playing Coachella isn’t even a rumour yet. There are also coordinates for the Andromeda galaxy, a reference to Shep (a character from Daft Punk’s musical movie Interstella 5555) and a timer – hidden in the ‘I’ of ALIVE – which counts down to October 27, 2016. Read into those details whatever you will…