Daft Punk's Thomas Bangalter has made a return to the decks for the first time in 16 years alongside Fred Again, Phantasy Sound label head Erol Alkan and Ed Banger Records founder Pedro Winter at a surprise B2B DJ set in Paris on Saturday 25 October.
Bangalter's set included a number of classic Daft Punk tracks – Digital Love, Contact and Rollin' & Scratchin' all made an appearance – alongside selections from The Chemical Brothers, Underworld and Plastikman. An unexpected inclusion was an excerpt from Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood's score for the recently released film One Battle After Another. (Check out a recording of the set below.)
In a statement shared on Instagram, Fred Again said: "Last night I got to play with with Thomas Bangalter, Erol Alkan, Busy P at the Pompidou Centre in Paris, the last night before it closes for 5 years.
"Thomas told me in this lift on the way down to the show that the first time he fell in love with electronic music was in this building in 1992," Fred continues. "He also told me hasn’t played a proper set without the mask on for 24 years. I didn’t know what to say to either of those things and I still don’t. All I said to him at the end is that I hope it isn’t 24 years til the next."
Taking place at Centre Pompidou, the event was a 20th anniversary party for French record label Because Music, home to acts such as Justice and Christine and the Queens. Billed as "the biggest celebration ever organized" at the venue, Because Beaubourg saw the label take over eight levels of the building for two days and nights of "immersive experiences, showcases, brand-new creative endeavours and encounters".
Bangalter's most recent live appearance was during the Weeknd's performance at the 2017 Grammy Awards, alongside Daft Punk's Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. The duo recently announced a 20th-anniversary vinyl reissue of Human After All Remixes, a collection of remixes of their chart-topping third album.
Fred Again is in the midst of the rollout for USB002, the sequel to his 2022 album USB. Embarking on a 10-date tour that's taking him across 10 cities in 10 weeks, Fred will be releasing a track from the album each week to coincide with each pop-up show. Over the weekend, Fred dropped two collaborations with Caribou and Floating Points: Facilita and Ambery.
