| Australia
2003 |
| Enmore
Theatre - Sydney - 23/01/2003 |
| Metro
Night Club - Melbourne - 27/01/2003 |
| Claremont
Showgrounds - Perth - 02/02/2003 |
|
| It
was over 20 years since Kraftwerk had performed in Sydney and it was interesting
to see what appeared to be many of the same audience waiting on enmore road
to file one by one into the theatre .... when the band last played I was
suprised that the security was so tight and nothing had changed ... for
this performance no bags were allowed into the theatre .. (just for the
record video cameras and tape recoders are so small now you don't need to
carry them in a bag). |
|
|
| The
theatre slowly filled and the show due to begin at 8:30 started half an
hour late with a robot voice announcing the show. The curtain opened to
reveal a very trimmed back stage compared to 20 years ago .... extremely
minimalist .... just the 4 members of the band dressed in black standing
behind 4 rostrums backed by a large cinema screen flashing bright green
numbers across the space 1 2 3 4... |
|
| It
was about now the security apes started patroling the audience for any sign
of cameras ... these fools with the IQ of drying mud seemed to have great
pleasure standing in the way of the stage to the point were audience members
had to scream "get out of the fucking way" .... this continued throughout
the show. |
|
| The
band worked their through the set ... with each song being matched by visuals
on the screen behind them ... at about halfway into the show the audience
seemed to be getting slightly bored the applause lacked excitment and people
were no longer engrossed in the performance ... until they heard the sound
of that car door slamming .. auotbahn had the crowd well and truely centred
again despite the minor technical hitch at the beginning of the songs. The
model also began with a glitch which caused looks between the band members
.... but this was nothing compared to the major problem with the stellafield
monologe to introduce radioactivity .... the words rolled on the screen
to absolute silence until suddenly a robot voice out of sync started ...
whoops! the robot stopped and started and stopped and was finally in sync
for the last line ... the visuals for this song while being quite simple
were blindingly impressive. Finally we were taken on a journey on trans
europe express to end with the crash and bang of metal on metal .... the
curtain closed and the audience sat in darkness clapping and yelling for
more ....after a minute or so the words boing boom tschak flashed onto the
curatin and away we went again. Music non stop .... then as they had done
20 years earlier one by one the members exited the stage leaving the audience
to enjoy truely synthetic electronic sounds free from human hands. The curtain
closed once more and the house lights went up ... even though the vast majority
of the audience had got up from their seat they did not want to leave just
incase the band decided to do one more appearance ... the crowd screamed
more .. they stamped their feet but after some minutes realised that the
show was infact over. |
|
| I
left the theatre with just one question .... we have all seen photos of
the new robots and the bands matching costumes ... my question is "where
were the robots"? |
| (Thanks to Peter Bouddi - Sydney - Australia) |
|
|
| It
only took them twenty years to do so but Kraftwerk finally managed to extricate
themselves from Düsseldorf long enough to visit Australia for a second
time. And they even played a venue a stone's throw from the site of their
initial concerts, the Princess Theatre. Anyway, Kraftwerk play electronic
music, or whatever is hip to refer to it as. Who knows how the electronic
music landscape would have developed if these Teutonic types had not marauded
the terrain like Panzer battalions through Poland. Certainly Cage, Riley,
Stockhausen and their ilk were developing a formulae but Kraftwerk made
the whole thing palatable. Their nursery rhyme lyrics, repetitive beats
and intricate melodies captivated many an aspiring musician and DJ over
their three decade long existence. |
| |
| So
it was that many, though not enough to qualify as a "full house" made the
trek to the Metro to see these pioneering types. Ranging from rave kids
to serious academic types, all were here to pay homage to Kraftwerk. It
must be said however that some punters obviously came expecting something
else as there was a steady exodus throughout the show. For the purists however
there was mush to enjoy. From the moment Kraftwerk commenced, precisely
half an hour after the advertised starting time, to the end, one and three
quater hours later, the converted were truly captivated by the performance.
Aside from the four black clad figures standing behind their computers,
the digital and visual images made this one of the most exemplary rock-graphic
extravagenza of recent memory. |
| |
| Traversing
virtually their entire catalogue, Kraftwerk played their expected hits as
well as several not so well known tracks. Autobahn and Radioactivity are
staples of their show as is Pocket Calculator. All were played with their
minimal gusto. A raise of the hand here, a turn of the head there was as
frantic as the stage dynamic got. Tour de France was a highlight as was
Trans Europe Express and both were augmented by film footage of bicycle
and train journies. Music Non-Stop was the first encore and did justice
to the best track from their last album, "Electric Cafe". A second encore
followed and them it was all over as each member invidually exited the stage.
A wave goodbye and an alledged 'goodbye' was the only audience recognition
and one got the feeling that this show could have been in Brussels, Bristol
or Baltimore for all it mattered. Nevertheless, this was one of the most
memorable shows of the last few years and justified the position Kraftwerk
holds in the lexicon of contemporary music. Even playing music composed
twenty five years ago they sound ahead of their time. |
| (Review
by Bronius Zumeris - Australia) |
| Source:
Beat Magazine - www.beat.com.au
|
| Thanks to Peter Brady - Melbourne - Australia |
|
|
| Flying
down to Australia, the Qantas in-flight magazine mentioned Kraftwerk (in
both January and February issues), is that a first? The Big Day Out comes
in the Australian summer, the Perth date immediately preceeding high school
students return. A free local music paper also described the day in advance
- "The biggest day on the rock calender rolls around this Sunday at Claremont
Showgrounds". So, how would Kraftwerk fit in? |
| |
| A
check of all the city's record shops showed one lone Autobahn Kraftwerk
CD, a situation reminiscant of Chicago and Detroit in 1998. None of the
shops knew of any special tour editions of cds. However, looking through
the secondhand bins, it was possible to see how such 'tour editions' have
been done in the past for other bands - putting an outer sleeve on a regular
release / printing a list of tour dates on the sleeve / commissioning a
special Australian photo. It surely would make sense to have 'tour editions'
in shops before the concerts? After the concert, I did finally find a shop
with a supply of Krafwterk cds - made in Europe. |
| |
| On
the Thursday the main local Perth newspaper ran a review of an earlier 2003
Big Day Out, probably culled from another paper, the Kraftwerk bit commented
that "one guy was probably doing all the work, while the others played 'Doom'"). |
| |
| Come
the Friday before the concert ,another local paper ran an article titled
"Keep it down, concert told". The gist was that the day was to have the
"tougest noise restrictins and environmental controls in its 10 years in
Western Australia". What was worrying was that the article also mentioned
that the Department of Environmental Protection had imposed a "50% reduction
in sound power and a 10pm finish for outdoor performances", the good news
was that it was also mentioned that "One stage, which is inside a pavilion
will continue to 11pm". This meant that the aim of having stages finish
at different stages (10 + 10.30pm) wouldn't happen. The result being that
after 10pm, the only place that the anticipated audience of +25,000 could
go would be to the Kraftwerk Boiler Room!. |
| |
| A
local free paper, also ran an article "Big Day, Big Changes" which added
that "all of the stages, speakers, gear and musicans are coming from Adelaide
on Saturday in 18 semi-trailers. Everything will be erected overnight and
safety checks will be done on Sunday morning. Final approval from the DEP,
Health Department and Clearmont council may not be given until minutes before
the show is due to start". |
| |
| So,
finally Sunday arrived. Getting to the merchandise stall, at the start of
the day, the hand-made 'Kraftwerk' banner was lying at the side on the ground
(the band collected it before they went on stage). Unlike Tokyo in Dec.
2002, there was no demand for Kraftwerk t-shirts (the supply had been brought
over from Germany - as with the Japan dates). Later reviews would say that
there 26,000 people present, and, in the entire day we saw only 1 t-shirt
being worn. At various time during the day we talked to a guy (who was working
on one of the stalls, talking into a megaphone) who told us at various times
during the day that he had brought Kraftwerk to Sydney on their Pocket Calculator
tour "in 1984" (yes, we know that's not quite correct). Given Kraftwerk's
wish for complete control - this being the band who brought their own petrol
generator on tour with them to the USA in 1998 rather than trusting the
local power supply - I was interested to know how they would interact with
the Big Day Out, to quote the organisers, "It smells like a circus and feels
like a circus...you can expect it to sound like a circus".. |
| |
| With
some of the preceding Big Day Outs the 'Boiler Room' had been a big top,
at Perth it was a hall. The various bands and DJs before Kraftwerk used
projection screens on either side of the stage which showed videos and live
camera of audiences. Chicks on Speed, using some 'Pocket Calculator-style
equipment were the most interesting band to watch. The last band on before
Kraftwerk were Resin Dogs, and, it was clear that there were PA and power
problems (at one stage the Kraftwerk projector/programme was turned on in
the middle of their set, a strange sight). At this stage there also started
to be various items (usually bottles and toilet rolls) being thrown at the
stage. This then continued into Luke Slater's DJ set (immediately prior
to Kraftwerk), with some security people very keen to continually douse
the front rows of the crowd with water. Luke Slater ended his set playing
'Jeruselem' slowly speeding the record up by hand, and, then it was straight
into the 'intro'..the 'radio station call sign'. The various dancers next
to us at the front thought that the evening was already over, and, were
surprised when the curtains opened. Compared to Tokyo, there was no mad
pushing. Also, it was clear that the acoustics weren't as good in Perth.
In Tokyo a large hall had been carefully baffled, while in Perth the physical
shape of the hall was influencing the sound quality. As someone else commeneted,
the band look rather like priests standing at their lecterns - which is
perhaps disturbing to some teenage rock fans. The 'old' pre-2002 opening
background music was 'random' synthesiser ( which isn'y totally random as
the rate and depth settings had to be determined). Previoulsy, when 'Numbers'
started, the band would come on stage and often attend to the large mixing
banks present behind the band. So, in a sense, the machine was playing,
interfacing with the humans. In contast, the opening background music is
now a 'call sign, a station ident.', which ties in with the idea of the
band as being their own radio station (an idea that came from the Autobahn
tour?) Before this 'computer monitor' tour, there was not the luxury of
such sceen visuals for the band- it would be nice to see what information
appears on these screens. Unlike Tokyo, Henning was now wearing spectacles,
Fritz had a much brighter monitor, and, Florian definitely keeps slightly
out of the spotlight trained on him (when the house lights came on briefly,
he must have been troubled)...he did use his drink bottle. The stage formation
was a slight 'v', with the monitors behind the band. In general the BPM
seemed to be running a little faster than Tokyo, but this might also have
been the different crowd dynamic. Rather than quiet applause before, here
the audience was at least noisy. Also,at least 5 items that hit the stage.
Because of the economy of the stage design, it makes little things more
noticible. In 1998, Ralf used a volume foot pedal (i.e. on 'Airwaves'),
Florian used a foot pedal for adding the echo on 'Radioactivity'. Now it's
Henning and Fritz who get to use the foot pedals! It's still not (intentionally?)
clear who does what - but it was amusing to see Fritz stand with his hands
behind his back as 'Autobahn' began..his work here doesn't start until the
percussion rhtym begins. After the other stages closed at 10pm, it seemed
that the Department of Environment Protection officers turned their attention
to the one remaining stage in the Boiler Room. Given that 11pm had been
given as the show's deadline, it's perhaps not surprising that the main
power was cut, during the last song. Florian had disappeared behind a curtain,
while Fritz remained at the side of the stage tapping out the beat. When
it came to Henning's solo, the volume suddenly dropped , and he tried to
compensate by turning up the level on his workstation, with little effect.
Once Henning had left the stage he could be seen explaining to Florian who
had now reappeared, as Ralf continued alone.Once Ralf had said goodbye to
Australia, and left the stage there was not the traditional loop continuing
to play. Going outside the hall we noticed that nobody was moving in the
direction of the backstage, so we simply walked past security and went up
to Ralf. He was relaxed and happy to talk. When asked when and where they'd
next play live he replied, "in the studio". I'd brought along the Expo 2000
sleeves , and, when asked for an autograph he was happy to sign. Having
signed the 'enhanced cd sleeve' he wasn't happy with his signature, deciding
to also sign the '3-d sleeve'. On seeing the 'remix ' sleeve he then offered
to sign that suggesting that he did it "on the computer screen". Comparing
the 3 signatures, it shows that Ralf is more man than machine (each differs)!
Ralf said that he'd really enjoyed the tour, and, was amused that people
might think he had taken up Tai Chi instead of cycling. We also then talked
to Henning, who commented that there is no prohibition on members of Karftwerk
smiling in photos. His feeling was that the Perth show was "good". Meanwhile,
Fritz had recognised Josephine from meeting us in Japan, he came over, put
down the all-important briefcase, and, shook hands. Fritz's commented that
show was "weird", and, also mentioned the power and light problems, and,
objects being thrown at the stage. He felt the Melbourne show was the best
and "one other". There wasn't that much Perth Big Day Out press in the following
days, but apparantly 232 people were treated for "minor complaints including
fractures, abdominal pains and breathing difficulty". The weather was cooler
than previous years, so this had contributed to fewer problems, the local
organiser was quoted as saying, "the decision to close the main stages half
an hour earlier had also caused problems because more people then tried
to enter the boiler room".r |
| |
| Nice
to have a lively Perth audience, and, the songs had changed since Tokyo.
Many thanks to Ralf, Fritz and Henning for being charming and friendly.
Let's hope that the risks and decisiveness they took in touring in such
a context will also be present in there being a new release! |
|
Thanks to Rhodri Kasperbauer - Hong Kong - China
|
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