10. Daft PunkAlive
Since they split up, I’ve been playing Random Access Memories to death. But I think of Alive as the pinnacle of their power as artists. It was when everything came together for them. The first time I saw them live was 1997, after Homework came out. I’m sure I’d seen them DJing before, maybe with DJ Sneak at Loughborough Junction? Then obviously, everyone loved the record when it finally arrived. It was a phenomenon. So, I went to the show at the Astoria. It blew my mind because it was so scratchy and amateur and so loud. It was almost the house music version of My Bloody Valentine, the crowd leaving with no hearing left. They didn’t have a big show, it was just sonic, playing off decks, but the energy was absolutely off the scale. By 2007, you got all that, but accomplished. At that point, they’d stopped being two kids and you’re embedded in the mythology of the robots. You’d getting the whole thing, completely realised, the pyramid and all the craziness. I saw that show, too. I hope whatever they do next makes them happy. They had a really good innings. You get to a point and think, we’ve literally gone as far as we can go and that’s it. I respect that. For any artist, it’s about autonomy; you making the decision of when you want to start and when you want to stop. Also, we know enough artists who haven’t.
