Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter has shed light on whether his former band will reunite for a series of live shows.
The French dance icons confirmed their split after 28 years in 2021. In recent years, both members have touched on the necessity of a breakup, with Bangalter admitting he was “relieved” over the way that the band ended.
Earlier this year, the duo marked five years since their split with a new video for their 2005 single ‘Human After All’.
Featuring footage from their 2006 sci-fi film Electroma, the clip saw them driving through the desert and eventually driving through a tranquil town. As they observe people socialising on a sunny day, they eventually spot that each one of them is wearing a helmet.
Speaking in a new interview with The Times, Bangalter has now explained that there are “other things to explore” beyond Daft Punk.
When asked whether he was tempted to reunite with Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo for any live shows, he ruled it out but said that he’s “really happy that throughout our long run we were able to not screw it up”.
He also spoke about his time as part of Daft Punk, and disconnecting the robots from reality. “It was almost performance art where you create these characters and blur the line between fiction and reality,” he explained.
“The history of music is made of fruitful partnerships and they usually last way shorter than the 28-year run that we had. It was great, but staying in character and not spoiling it became very difficult.”
Since Daft Punk broke up, Bangalter has composed the DAAAAAALÍ film soundtrack and has also worked on the soundtrack to ‘Chiroptera’, an opera made in collaboration with artist JR and choreographer Damien Jalet. The second act was performed to the public on November 12, 2022.
He also released the orchestral soundtrack to a ballet called ‘Mythologies‘ in 2023. The album focused on “the large-scale traditional force of a symphony and, as such, it embraces the history of orchestral ballet music”.
Bangalter released his new album ‘Mirage – Ballet For 16 Dancers’ last week.
According to a press release the record seeks to trace the “changing states” of a ballet for 16 dancers, choreographed by Damien Jalet and contemporary artist Kōhei Nawa.
Bangalter also recently played a B2B DJ set with Fred Again.. on his huge ‘USB002’ tour. The set is currently available to stream on Apple Music.
Before then, the two of them performed together in Paris towards the end of 2025, which marked Bangalter’s first DJ set in 16 years. Unlike that Paris show, the gig in London saw them break out multiple Daft Punk classics, including ‘Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger’, ‘Around The World’, ‘One More Time’, ‘Technologic’, and the electronic duo’s collab with The Weeknd, ‘Starboy’.
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