On the heels of their Grammy-grabbing smash-success Random Access Memories album, just about everyone is excited at the prospect of a Daft Punk tour, and reports that the French duo are gearing up to hit the road are rising a fever of anticipation. But the disco-funk robots undoubtedly want to make the run of live shows a special experience, and are running into some roadblocks as a result of their efforts to play at unusual locations.
Dat Punk’s application to perform on land next to The Devils Tower, America’s national monument in Crook County, Wyoming, was recently rejected. The duo applied for a 50,000 capacity show (according to Trib.com), but it was denied by the National Park Service in the name of conservation and respect to the Native American tribes who consider the land to be sacred.
“No event is going to be occurring in Devils Tower,” said Reed Robinson, the superindendant of Devils Tower National Park. “Anything that was proposed is a non-starter, is considered an adverse action according to the National Historic Preservation Act, and goes against the Park Service management approach. This being a night skies park and a natural park and a sacred site to 24 different tribes, that would be considered sacrilegious and gets into that ‘inappropriate use’,” he added. “And that meant maybe we would have to close portions of the main trail to facilitate this kind of stuff.”
Fans have been clamoring for live shows since Daft Punk last toured in 2007, and a performance at the 2014 Grammy Awards with Pharrell Williams and Stevie Wonder only increased the appetites of would-be concertgoers. With any luck, we’ll see some very unique touring plans in the coming months for the dynamic duo.
