A simple album playback turned into something that’s apparently never going to happen again: a thousands-strong dancefloor, brought together by Daft Punk.Random Access Memories has been echoing in the metallic domes of Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo for half a decade. The sheer number of collaborations on RAM, including noted movie composers Paul Williams and Giorgio Moroder, finds Daft Punk building upon their new-flesh narrative, adding to their storied, cinematic mythos of the diminishing boundary between computers and people. That feeling of letdown was only compounded by the years waiting for a follow-up that never arrived.īut under the disco ball at the 79th annual Wee Waa agricultural show, curios like Touch, featuring Paul Williams, made as much sense as pop hits Get Lucky and Lose Yourself to Dance. Some missed the fist-pumping highs of past Daft Punk, others found the throwback vibe derivative and a bit naff. In the weeks that followed, Random Access Memories went through the inevitable hype-to-backlash cycle. Humble as it was, there was something pure about the Wee Waa experiment. Their split this week after 28 years (many spent not doing much publicly at all) was the final shrug from a duo that never cared about the Super Bowl. Of course, Daft Punk’s refusal to take a victory lap is precisely what makes us want one so keenly. Daft Punk’s subsequent production work, on Kanye West’s Yeezus in 2013 and the Weeknd’s Starboy in 2016, signalled that they’d moved on.īut the will-they-or-won’t-they rumours heard at Wee Waa persisted in the years to come, from every Coachella to the Weeknd’s Super Bowl performance this month. It was the kind of splashy performance that could never translate on the road. The duo’s next live appearance, at the 2014 Grammys, featured album collaborators Nile Rodgers and Pharrell alongside special guest Stevie Wonder. The all-new Daft Punk tour that some expected to kick off at Wee Waa never came. There was no hoped-for hologram and certainly no Daft Punk – just Random Access Memories played loud, from Give Life Back to Music to Contact, in the middle of nowhere. After a fireworks show by Father Anthony Koppman’s exquisitely named pyrotechnics company Holy Smoke, the party began. Between the sausage sizzle, horticulture competition and carnival rides, people searched for clues that Daft Punk might be coming.īefore the 8.30pm album launch, the showground was cleared to make way for a circular light-up dancefloor under a giant disco ball. The then-Narrabri shire mayor, Conrad Bolton, circulated, greeting the onlookers. Throughout the afternoon, robots rugged up to cheer on the dog high jump and pet show. ‘Wee Waa residents embraced the invasion with good humour.’ Photograph: Shanna Whan/AFP/Getty Imagesįriday at the Wee Waa showground was remarkably laidback for a global album launch. At the town pub, locals greeted the blow-ins with equal parts cheer and bemusement. Cardboard helmets in the style of the Random Access Memories cover image were everywhere. Daft Punk nuts, some who had flown from overseas to be there, paraded the main street in elaborate costumes. You could pick up “punk pies” at the bakery, then visit the butcher for “random access rissoles” and “daft pork sausages”. As a convoy of cars and trucks pulled into town, they were greeted by shop windows adorned with Daft Punk signs and robot cutouts. Wee Waa residents embraced the invasion with good humour. Naysayers relished in the schadenfreude (why drive seven hours to hear an album that’s already online?) but the true believers carried on anyway. We had been told that this was the first time anyone in the world would hear the album – but, three days before the launch, Random Access Memories appeared on iTunes. The duo’s Australian tour in 2007, featuring the revered pyramid stage show, was still seared in our memories. Despite Sony’s emphatic message that Daft Punk would not be there, many still dared to dream. The 4,000 tickets released on the Narrabri Crossing Theatre website sold out in a flash.
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