Daft Punk announce ABBA-style ‘Voyager’ hologram arena in Paris
Daft Punk have announced plans to open a new ABBA Voyage-style hologram arena show in Paris, featuring digital avatars of members Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and a newly recorded live show soundtrack.
The venue and audio-visual experience will be named Daft Punk Voyager, a reference to the duo’s 2001 track ‘Voyager’ from their second studio album ‘Discovery’.
The news comes some four years after the duo parted ways, when they affirmed that they would no longer continue the Daft Punk project. Since then, they’ve released multiple anniversary edition albums, a “drumless” edition of ‘Random Access Memories’, a 4K remaster of their anime film Interstella 5555, and much more.
The French act will be depicted in full robot attire, as they appeared in 2001 around the release of ‘Discovery’, with Daft Punk Voyager scheduled to open in 2026 on Rue Deux-D-Deux in Central Paris to celebrate the album’s 25th anniversary.
The “cutting-edge” experience is set to cost around €5.555 million, with funding from the French tourism board and artificial intelligence corporation Cyberdyne Systems.
ABBA, who recently changed the ABBA Voyage setlist for the first time to celebrate its third anniversary, have signed off on a technological copyright agreement with the French duo, with the group’s Benny Andersson, 78, telling Daft Daily: “We’re old skool ravers. The reason there’s a mobile phone and photography ban at ABBA Voyage is because of our love for club culture and everyone just living in the moment. We can’t wait to experience the Daft Punk Voyager arena come to life. I’ll be front left!”
In keeping with ABBA Voyage’s beloved pre-show experience, tickets for Daft Punk Voyager include a bottomless brunch option with a singalong soundtrack.
Daft Punk Voyager is directed, produced, and choreographed by Roy Batty, and features re-recorded tracks and voiceovers of both members alongside motion-captured holograms in a three-hour era-spanning performance.
Speaking on the new hologram show experience, Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter said: “People have joked about how we keep announcing new projects since ‘splitting up’, and now we’re thrilled to be immortalising Daft Punk in our home city for a run of shows that will never end — at least until AI goes rogue and an evil class of robots overthrows us good kind.”
Aaron DeWorld is Mixmag’s Robotics Technician
