Fred again.. DJs With Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter for Rare Set

Fred again.. and Thomas Bangalter joined Busy P and Erol Alkan for a surprise set on the Pompidou Centre’s final night before its five-year closure.

Fred again.. went b2b with Daft Punk co-founder Thomas Bangalter over the weekend during a surprise DJ set inside Paris’ Pompidou Centre, marking a rare live appearance from Bangalter sans helmet.

The appearance took place during Because Beaubourg, a two-day celebration of Because Music’s 20th anniversary held at the Pompidou before the building shuts down for five years of renovations. Fred joined Bangalter onstage alongside Busy P and Erol Alkan, closing out the weekend-long event with an unannounced set.

“Last night I got to play with Thomas Bangalter, Erol Alkan, Busy P at the Pompidou Centre in Paris, the last night before it closes for 5 years,” Fred wrote on Instagram. “Thomas told me in this lift on the way down to the show that the first time he fell in love with electronic music was in this building in 1992. He also told me hasn’t played a proper set without the mask on for 24 years. I didn’t know what to say to either of those things and I still don’t. All I said to him at the end is that I hope it isn’t 24 years til the next.”

Clips from the performance show the group mixing Daft Punk’s “Digital Love” with Fred’s “Billie (loving Arms),” dropping DJ Mehdi’s “Signatune (Thomas Bangalter Short Edit),” and playing “Contact,” the closing track from Random Access Memories. At one point, Fred took the mic and called it the “maddest two hours of my entire life.”

Bangalter retired the Daft Punk project in 2021, but his solo work has continued with projects like Mythologies, a full-length orchestral score released in 2023, and CHIROPTERA. Meanwhile, Fred has kicked off his USB002 series with the release of “you’re a star,” the first of 10 tracks he’s dropping alongside a series of 10 DJ sets in 10 cities.

You can watch footage from the rare performance below.