EXACTLY one year after French duo Daft Punk shocked fans by announcing an unceremonious split, they’ve returned to social media and are hosting a one-day-only livestream of a 1997 show on Twitch.

The era-defining dance-floor act began the livestream at 2.22am – and on 02-22-22 no less – sharing rare footage from their December 12, 1997 show in Los Angeles when they played the set without their iconic helmets.

Daft Punk also released a deluxe anniversary edition of their debut album Homework, which came out 25 years ago.

From Da Funk in 1995 to Get Lucky in 2013, Daft Punk became the torch-bearers for French house music across the globe, winning six Grammy awards and pioneering the monumental sound-and-light shows that came to characterise the electronic dance movement (EDM) of recent years. 

They did so while almost never revealing their faces: the ubiquitous helmets became another much-copied trope of EDM stars, but also afforded Thomas Bangalter, 47, and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, 48, freedom from the fame that quickly encircled them. 

Their fourth and last album, 2013’s Random Access Memories, was a phenomenal success, winning them four Grammys the following year, including best record for Get Lucky, the millions-selling lead single featuring Pharrell Williams and Nile Rodgers. – AFP, February 23, 2022.