Into The Music
On February 27, Thomas Bangalter made only his second live solo appearance since Daft Punk split in 2021, and he did it the same way he made his first: behind the decks, next to Fred again.. The setting this time was London’s Alexandra Palace, where the Daft Punk co-founder closed out the final night of Fred again..’s USB002 campaign.
That full set has now been released on YouTube, and it is worth your time.
The USB002 project was itself an ambitious undertaking. Fred again.. played ten shows in ten different cities over ten consecutive weeks, bringing a rotating cast of collaborators into each set. London was the final stop, and Bangalter was the headline surprise. The rest of the evening’s guests were no slouch either: Nia Archives, Mala, Skream, Coki, and Underworld all appeared on the same night. That is an absurd lineup, and Bangalter showing up on top of it made it one of the more memorable electronic music events in recent memory.
This is only the second time Bangalter has DJed publicly since Daft Punk’s breakup. The first was in 2025, at Paris’ Centre Pompidou, where he joined Fred again.., Erol Alkan, and Pedro Winter for a surprise B2B set. Before Daft Punk dissolved, the last time either member performed live was at the 2017 Grammy Awards, where they joined the Weeknd onstage.
What makes these appearances notable is not just the rarity. Bangalter has consistently chosen contexts that feel meaningful rather than simply lucrative. A Paris cultural institution. A touring campaign built around artistic consistency and live surprise. Not a stadium run, not a reunion cash-in. The selectivity is part of the statement.
Fred again..’s USB002 campaign deserves its own credit here. The project grew out of his USB001 series, which first gained attention when he uploaded DJ sets to USB drives and handed them out at shows. USB002 formalized that into a global event, but the spirit stayed intact: each city got something different, each set was treated as a one-off event rather than a product. The London night, with its stacked guest list and Bangalter appearance, was the natural culmination of that approach.
Bangalter’s return to performing has been gradual and deliberate. His 2023 solo album Mythologies, written as a classical ballet score, signaled that whatever he was doing post-Daft Punk was not going to be a retreat into familiar electronic territory. These DJ appearances exist in a different register, more personal and spontaneous, but they share the same sense of purpose. He is not coasting on the legacy. He is doing things because he actually wants to do them.
The full Alexandra Palace set is online now. Watch it.
I’ll engage with this on its own terms, but I do want to name something: the coverage around Bangalter’s Alexandra Palace appearance has been enormous, and Fred again.. gets described as a kind of heir to something. Meanwhile Afrobeats artists are filling arenas globally every single weekend with zero equivalent fuss from the same publications. I’m not saying this isn’t worth writing about , it clearly is , I’m saying the proportionality question is always worth asking. Who gets called a cultural event and who just gets called a concert?
The point about Fred again.. being undersold in the coverage is well-taken, but I’d push back slightly on framing it as erasure , I think the dynamic here is closer to what happens in a visual kei collaboration where the legacy figure’s name functions as a context-setter rather than a headliner. Bangalter’s presence signals a certain register, a permission structure for how seriously the set will be taken. Fred again.. working within that context is its own creative statement. The question isn’t who gets credit; it’s whether the two production philosophies actually metabolize each other or just coexist onstage.
WAIT. Thomas Bangalter. LIVE. With Fred again..!! I had to read this twice to make sure I wasn’t imagining it. After Daft Punk split I genuinely thought we might never see him perform again and now he’s at Alexandra Palace?? And they’re releasing the full set?! Already listening and I cannot handle how good this is 🙌🙌
Look, I respect Bangalter enormously, Daft Punk’s production catalog is untouchable. But let’s not act like Fred again.. showing up here is just a supporting role. The man has been redefining what a live electronic set can feel like for three years straight , the intimacy, the timestamps, the way he turns samples into diary entries. If anything this is two equals doing something interesting together. The framing of “Daft Punk guy teams with Fred again..” is a little lazy when you look at what Fred has actually built.