For a genre with its roots in club culture, electronic dance music (EDM) has traditionally been more about the sound than the spectacle. DJs, the faceless ringleaders of dark, smoky hotspots, were wizards atop podiums, mixing throbbing bass lines to move the dancing feet and pumping fists of the crowd. As EDM ventured from the dance floor to the stage, however, the transition seemed unsuited to a forum accustomed to watchers or, perhaps, wallflowers paying a ticket price rather than a cover charge.
Daft Punk perform in Sydney, Australia, in December 2007.
Therefore, the early days of EDM as concert attractions were off to an unsteady start as most featured an audio/visual setup consisting of little more than a few speakers and a film projector. Although the shows changed and matured with the genre, many point to Daft Punk’s first appearance at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California, in 2006—where the duo unveiled their now-legendary pyramid—as a game-changer. Manning a 24-foot-tall aluminum pyramid of custom-built supercomputers covered with screens, Daft Punk created what many believe to be the best electronic show ever assembled, a veritable LED-infused honeycomb pulsing with music and purpose. 3
Daft Punk INT.indd 3
8/22/13 9:28 AM