Daft Punk | 07.31.07 | Red Rocks

Words & Images by: Tim Dwenger

Daft Punk :: 07.31.07 :: Red Rocks Amphitheatre :: Morrison, CO

Daft Punk :: 07.31.07

My ears are still ringing a bit and when I close my eyes the image of a giant pyramid pulsing with light still dances on the inside of my eyelids. While that may soon fade, the mind altering experience of seeing Daft Punk‘s invasion of Red Rocks is burned into my memory forever.

The party started nearly an hour before the showtime listed on the ticket with a DJ set from the middle of the 20th row by electro phenoms SebastiAn and Kavinsky with a little help from the new guy on the tour, Busy P. Old school jams from the likes of C&C Music Factory got the crowd on their feet and they didn’t sit down all night.

As the sun dipped behind the mountains, The Rapture took the stage and cranked the energy up just a little bit higher with their post-punk electro-rock. Towards the end of their crowd pleasing set, Rapture frontman Matt Saber paid homage to the headliners, saying, “This is going to be the best show you’ve ever seen. Better than sex. Better than your birthday. Better than your wedding.”

Daft Punk :: 07.31.07

As soon as the last note faded away, the crew quickly cleared The Rapture’s gear from the stage and a flurry of activity began behind a giant black curtain as the final preparations were made for Daft Punk to bring the house down. In a successful attempt to distract the crowd from the technical happenings onstage, SebastiAn, Kavinsky, and Busy P returned to the DJ stage for a 45-minute set that fed on the energy of the ravenous crowd. As they spun records and twiddled knobs, the DJs gave the crowd a little taste of the thumping beats and climatic moments that were about to transport us all to another dimension.

As the moment of truth approach, SebastiAn dropped the needle on his remix of Rage Against the Machine‘s “Killing In the Name Of” and the party really kicked into high gear. As the track came to an end, the lights went down and the first sound that was audible over the deafening roar of the crowd was the five familiar tones from Close Encounters Of The Third Kind. Suddenly, the massive curtain dropped, sharp beams of light erupted from a giant pyramid and a robotic voice spoke the words “Robot. Human. Robot. Human. Robot. Human” in perfect sync with a giant bank of LED lights that spelled out the words the voice was repeating in an increasingly faster rhythm. The speed of the words increased to a climax that morphed into the thunderous beginning of “Robot Rock.” The entire audience went berserk when Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter appeared atop the pyramid clad in their infamous robot suits.

Daft Punk :: 07.31.07

This epic entrance was only the beginning of a night that saw the majesty of Red Rocks dwarfed by two French robot men and their massive display of sound and light. “Robot Rock” led into “Technologic,” and as the 90-minute set raged the frenzied crowd churned and gyrated to “One More Time,” “Harder. Better. Faster. Stronger” and many other tracks that have helped to make Daft Punk the iconic electronic music figures they are.

However, as impressive as the pulverizing, throbbing beats were it was the visual element of the show that left each and every ticket holder simply awestruck. As the set progressed, the duo unleashed visual effect after visual effect, each more impressive than the last, until people were literally clutching their skulls in sheer disbelief.

At first the LED screen was the central spectacle, then it was the triangle shaped grid that flanked the Pyramid, and then, just when you thought they had done it all, the pyramid lit up and eventually became a hi-res video screen. With the stunning synchronization of all these aural and visual elements the robots effortlessly took control of all our senses.

Someone, someday will come up with something that will top the sensory orgy Daft Punk is touring across the globe right now, but, until then, these two men hold the concert industry in the palm of their hands. They are so far ahead of the curve that until the rest of their competition can pick their jaws up off the floor and go back to the drawing board Daft Punk will continue to set the bar for electronic music performances. Let’s just hope it doesn’t take them another ten years to come back to our side of The Pond.

Daft Punk :: 07.31.07

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