Daft Punk Announce 2014 World Tour

Daft Punk delighted fans worldwide this morning with the announcement of their 2014 world tour. The Random Access Memories tour which will take in a total of 26 dates across 19 countries and kicks off on July 19th in the duo’s hometown of Paris, finishing up on November 21st in Madison Square Gardens in New York City.

The announcement comes after many months of rumors and speculation about when Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter would finally take to the road with their 2013 smash hit album, Random Access Memories. After the act stole the show at the 56th Grammy Awards last month the rumor mill span into overdrive with speculation about whether or not live dates would be announced for the summer festival season, with many pundits guessing on Glastonbury or Coachella appearances, but with most throwing cold water on the idea of a full scale world tour, so today’s announcement comes as a welcome surprise for many.

An even bigger revelation from the pair this morning is that for 24 of the 26 dates it won’t actually be them inside the helmets. “We are old now, and Daft Punk has grown to be something more than us so we will be taking a back seat for this tour,” claimed Bangalter. “When we started, Daft Punk was all about us and our music. That was great, and it made us very rich so I’m not complaining. But it also changed us. Daft Punk has now evolved from a band into a brand.”

When questioned about why the act chose to only appear for 2 of their concerts, and if they felt they were letting down their fans, Thomas replied, “Look, we are doing the two gigs for old times sake. After all, we’re big Daft Punk fans too. When it comes to the other 24 gigs, just like the hype with our album last year, those concerts will be some of the best and most talked about concerts Mother Earth will have ever seen, but the simple fact is we don’t even need to show up. So why would we?”

“As for letting down the fans, most of them only discovered us via Random Access Memories, and real fans will know we had nothing to do with the making of that. I haven’t even listened to it… I heard it’s shite.”

Nobody knows which two concerts the duo will actually play, although it is assumed due to their newfound laziness they will be behind the helmets for the Paris concert and perhaps the Barcelona performance, as it is not too far to travel from France and is completely overrun with drugs and prostitution, which both men are very big fans of. As Guy-Manuel recently stated on the subject “Hey, we have to spend our money on something, right?”

Also billed to appear on the tour was Nile Rodgers, however sources close to the label claim to have witnessed Whoopi Goldberg reciting “Get Lucky” while singing into a bottle of water during recent contractual negotiations with record labels executives at the New York offices, so only time will tell.

Tickets go on sale March 8th at 8am EST priced at €399 each, with set times expected to last 20-30 minutes.

What are your thoughts about this innovative approach to touring? Are you for it, or against it? Comments below…