_{Daft Punk photo by Justin Renney}

Holy shit! How to even talk about Daft Punk’s show last night? Everything keeps coming back at me in fragments and moments, crescendos and choruses, words flashing on screen and multicolored neon patterns. It was honestly one of the best shows I think I’ve ever been to, and more importantly it was totally unlike any show I’ve ever been to. I mostly end up watching bands at smallish clubs, dive bars, the odd basement, and occasionally something larger, like the Paramount or some outdoor festival. Most of the shows I see don’t have much going for them in the way of spectacle, or if they do, it’s pretty lo-fi stuff—Tim Harrington’s gonzo performance art antics or Ratatat’s flat computer animations. But Daft Punk are a pretty fantastic spectacle of lights, lasers, video, leds, robot suits, a space-age pyramid, and of course, music. It was a nice change of pace to be at a show where I could get caught up in that kind of overwhelming audio/visual display, where the flashing of “HUMAN” and “TOGETHER” in 50 foot tall LED letters combined with the unrestrained enthusiasm of the crowd actually made me feel like I was part of something along with these other 7,000 people, just excited to be part of the masses.

Of course, there are downsides to the big arena rocking shows: The place is pretty heavily policed by security and staff, Budweiser costs $8.25, the lines for everything are insane, you cant bring water into the show room (WTF?!), and they brought the house lights all the way up during Kavinsky and Sebastian’s DJ sets (hey, no biggie; they’re not real performers, they’re just an intermission, right?). But even the surliest security or most overpriced beer couldn’t begin to make a dent in my enthusiasm for this show. The WaMu also has a few things going for it: the concrete floors are slick enough to do Michael Jackson spins on, and the sound was powerful and surprisingly good considering the place is basically a concrete bunker tarted up with a few curtains.

The crowd was also pretty awesome. There was lots of amazing/ridiculouos fashion on display—glittery pants, gold lycra jumpsuits (it was like a miniature Fnarf), light-up led shirts, a huge posse of Canadians in white jumpsuits. During Daft Punk’s set almost the whole crowd was moving (I don’t think I’ll ever understand the dudes who were at that show last night and not dancing to Daft Punk; what goes on inside their heads is a mystery to me). Kids held up cell phones, cameras, crutches(!), and, for the encore, lighters. The sound of 7,000 people chanting “Daft Punk” or the sight of them all clapping more or less (okay, less) to the beat is impressive.

The light show was phenomenal. Their weird, futurist Masonic Pyramid lit up with neon, video digital images, solid colors, and led lights. A grid of triangles flashed colors on either side of the pyramid. A giant led screen behind the band flashed key words or palyed dazzling patterns. They rocked the traditional robot helmets and leather jackets for the main set, and then switched to some lit-up, red-outlined numbers for the encore. At the end, they turned around on their platform to reveal the glowing Daft Punk logos on their leather jackets. According to wikipedia, Daft Punk decided to start making electronic music after going to a rave at the Disneyland just outside of Paris, and after seeing their live show, and thinking about their videos, I’m convinced that Disney has had a profound influence on them. Their whole aesthetic, the design of their robot characters, their imaginative positivity and populism, all smacks of Disney.

Their set was great. They mixed and layered and mashed up songs spanning the breadth and depth of their catalogue, even included the Daft Punk-in-everything-but-name Thomas Bangalter production “Music Sounds Better With You.” The sound was massive and satisfying, and the selection was great—all the obvious hits, but also some great old cuts from Homework like “Oh Yeah,” Rollin’ & Scrathin’,” and “Burnin’.” Even the cheesy, shuffling “Prime Time of Your Life” from Human After All became profound and anthemic as the climax of their set. I only wish they’d also played “Digital Love” and “Pheonix.”

I’m probably missing a couple bits of songs here and there, but here’s what I heard (feel free to help me fill in the blanks):

Robot Rock/Human After All
Oh Yeah
Technologic
Television Rules the Nation/Around the World
(Some Instrumental Track)
Around the World
Harder, Better, Stronger, Faster
Burnin’
Face To Face/Harder, Better, Stronger, Faster
Aerodynamic/One More Time
Aerodynamic
(Some Breaks)
The Brainwasher
Prime Time of Your Life/Rollin’ & Scratchin’
(Something Acid-y)
Oh Yeah
Prime Time of Your Life
Da Funk
Daftendirekt
Human After All/Rollin’ & Scratchin’

Encore:

Human After All
Music Sounds Better With You/One More Time