We’re heading into the second weekend of Coachella, but one of the most popular bands from last round won’t even be there.
Remarkably, the second most talked-about act over the entire weekend was Daft Punk – an act gracing many fans’ dreams but no physical stages at Coachella. In case you’ve been living in a cone of silence, Daft Punk are readying a new album “Random Access Memories,” which their people are teasing, spoofing and drip-feeding until its release next month. The first chance fans will have to hear it will be in the remote Australian town of Wee Waa on May 17, the new album’s global release date.
Daft Punk’s total Coachella-related tweet volume for weekend 1 was 9,719, according to MusicMetric data reported to Billboard. That would place the EDM duo just behind headliners Phoenix (11,775 Tweets or 8.34% of total volume of artists who performed) and well-ahead of Blur (6,527 Tweets or 4.7% of total volume), the Britpop legends who were the second-most Tweeted act who actually played in the Desert.
The Twitter rush behind Daft Punk was given a big bump thanks to rumor that they’d team with their compatriots Phoenix. It turned out to well wide of the mark. Phoenix did, however, have a guest slot for R&B artist R. Kelly, who stopped by to mash up “Ignition (Remix)” with “1901.”
EMD acts were responsible for sizeable loads of tweets. Electronic act Major Lazer came in at No. 3 with 5,124 tweets (3.69% in volume), Dutch electro DJ Hardwell was at No. 6 with 4,041 tweets (2.91%) and Dutch house DJ Nicky Romero was at No. 9, with 3,327 tweets (2.4%)
British indie rock stalwarts the Stone Roses have “godlike” status in their own market, but they didn’t even appear in the top 25 list for most-mentioned Coachella acts on Twitter. Reports from the site would have it that the band pulled only a small crowd, and news leaked midweek that Coachella organizers had apparently demoted the “Madchester” band from their headline slot, with the band now switching times with Blur. If that’s the case, the decision-makers will feel vindicated after having seen the metrics. The Stone Roses’ people are saying the slot-swap was a plan hatched well before the show.