| The set
list we all know by now. Here are a few comments fresh from tonight 's concert
which I hope will help you all enjoy your local shows. |
| The Antenna
signal lasts for about ten minutes. Behind the grey curtain are flashes
of light like lightning as one or two last minute adjustments are made.
Then the thrilling "Meine Damen und Herren..." announcement begins the show.
They have dropped "...aus Deutchland" after "Heute Abend". |
| The grey
translucent curtain shines red with the band silhouetted dramatically and
they are revealed in place behind their computers. The video screen stayed
blank till half way through the song letting us concentrate on the band.
Ralf (who I think looks different in every pic of him) is relaxed and enjoying
himself already. He plays the ascending line on his keyboard. "Planet
of Visions" ...my goodness it goes wrong(!) at the start... the drums
come in a bar too early and it stays out of synchronisation despite Fritz's
best efforts. Fritz and Henning leave the plinths frown and chat. But all
is sorted by the next song. |
| The "Tour
de France" suite is fine. The band are relaxed with it and they have
added a backbeat snare sound throughout which drives it along... it rocks!
The video... the graphic equaliser type columns for Etape1 and 3, super
footage of cyclists taking dangerous oblique curves in "Chrono".
The colours of the bars/the light under the screen/the light under the platform
change red/white/blue with each section of the song. "TDF 2" is
the promo video with the colour overlay extended to the edges of the screen. |
| "Vitamin"
has a fully-fledged video throughout... capsules falling down, the words
appearing as Ralf sings them... a soluble pill in a glass of water, pills
floating towards you, four glasses with dissolving tablets... a big vitamin
pill rotating and changing colour. Your will remember it every time you
play the song. |
| "Tour
de France"DF... the pic is the album cover picture with no trace of
W & K!! Ralf here again enjoying himself but oh dear...he can't sing the
melody. They have added an extra chord change/harmony which is very pleasing. |
| Then
on to the old favourites. Here at last is revealed when to watch Florian...
when he leans to the left it means he is concentrating on something. Here
the band on look at him in amusement in the vocoded barber-shop quartet
bit which has trills, echos, and extra harmonies. The video has changed
since I last saw them (1991) watch out for black and white slowly getting
colourful, and what looks like the scenery painted in a childrens illustration
book being panned. "The Model", we all know. Ralf is great voice
here and hits all the right notes. "Neon Lights" is lovely, the
video beautiful, not the scribbly neon signs in the Paris pics but smooth
slow pans of Mercedes Benz, etc... |
| "TEE"...
I had forgotten quite how good this is. The video screens in three parts...
two stay still and the third adds a new film... this time ? 1950s colour
film of the TEE. The "Metal on Metal" bit is almost frightening
in its intensity. Kraftwerk do have a darker side. Then the "Computer
World" suite... lots of fun in "Numbers" with extravagant
pitch changes, also in the percussion in "Computer World". Look
out for a sample of "It's More Fun to Compute" about 6 minutes into "Homecomputer".
Ralf is at his best in "Pocket Calculator", miming the operator
pressing the keys... but what is this? at the switch to a yellow coloured
screen for the playout Florian notices something wrong and leave his plinth
to chat to the man on the right of the stage behind the curtains ( is this
Peter Bollig doing the videos?), but what is the problem? it sounds fine
to the audience! |
| "The
Robots" live again..thank goodness. Tonight robots Ralf Henning and
Fritz seem to take their lead from robot Florian... they look across to
him as if to see what they should be doing! Then the last section, "Elektro
Kardiogramm", "Aerodynamik" and "Music Non Stop".
Great sound with lots of stereo panning on EKG, and the extra little melody
we have read about from the radio promo .it goes like the riff from TDF
83 backwards! |
| Ralf
is a little tense again for "Aerodynamik"... the band really cook
and all sorts of tricks get thrown into the mix... Ralf sings "Perfection
Mekanik" etc..., it is not left to the computers. They are improvising as
they go on it is just brilliant. "Music Non Stop" we all know...again
the video vaporises all traces of W & K! and the funny thing here is Ralf
solo is not very good. But he says Goodnight with his usual flair. In summary,
the real life experience is MUCH more powerful than seeing the pictures,
etc... on this wonderful website. Kraftwerk are simply better than anyone
else...fact. |
| Review
by Anthony Moffoot - England |
|
| The setlist
was the same. I was near the front, great view of what they were doing. |
| Kraftwerk
appeared with the consoles. Four laptops. At the right of the stage there
are two engineers with six laptops. The Ton-Art chaps are at the middle
of the venue. |
| The Man
Machine - The visuals were not working until the final verse. Ralf played
the harmonies, whilst Henning and Fritz did filtering and bass. Quite what
Florian was doing is beyond me. He was talking to the men with the six laptops,
looking bemused and appeared to be having a bit of a laugh. Ralf looked
at the audience a few times. However someone should sack his tailor. His
suit trousers are a bit too short at the bottom. |
| EXPO 2000
(Planet Of Visions) - Superb bass sounds. From what I could see Hutter was
using the trackball quite a bit. Perhaps he was muting/unmuting sounds and
did a little keyboard playing. Same sort of movements from the other members.
Henning walked over to Fritz to tell him something. I also noticed that
Ralf looks over to Florian a lot as if to get some sort of reaction. He
is clearly enjoying himself and moves a lot! |
| Tour De
France Etapes - Quite a bit going on here. All members are busy. Ralf is
clearly doing some keyboard work. However the shocker of the evening (and
Im 100% sure) he was miming during Tour De France Etape II. Florian keeps
looking at the men with the laptops. He is very very minimal in what he
does but hes doing things via the robovox and vocal samples and FX. It's
just superb, it's a trance like mantra. Ralf begins moving around in a sort
of static dance (If there is such a thing). |
| Vitamin
- Ralf is playing the melody here - Well sort of. What he does is play 'under'
the lead sound (it's pre-recorded as a wav). Lots of foot work with the
sustain/volume pedal. I like his technique! Florian is triggering the synthy
FX parts in between vocal verses. Some lovely basslines and visuals. |
| Tour
De France - Awesome. What was suprising to me is that Henning plays the
lead melody for this one. Ralf supplies the organ/electric piano part that
is with the strings. Fritz is working the rhythm and Florian seems to be
doing some sort of fader work during the glissando like echoes. The crowd
loved this. |
| Autobahn
- Brilliant! Ralf is playing the melodies, Henning is doing the bassline.
Fritz I think was controlling the melody. Florian was rather active during
the Robovox yodel. He is singing too! But the thing is, you can't hear him
at all! - It's pretty strange. |
| The Model
- Lovely filtered synth sequence above the bassline - Ralf is great singing
in tune and enjoying it too. The lead melody is not played live. |
| Neon Lights
- Beautiful. An absolute delight on the old ears! Ralf is playing under
the lead melodies. I'm sure that Florian is doing the FX like bass tone.
The guys with the laptops are relaxing. Not doing a thing! |
| Radioactivity
- Amazing. Henning plays the lead line. Ralf is doing the vocal choir sound
and playing with the trackball. Florian is active again with the Robovox.
Fritz is doing filtering and percussives. |
| Trans
Europe Express - Fantastic beat. I stopped dancing at this point just to
soak up the visuals! Ralf is playing along with the string melody, his foot
moving quite a lot on the pedal. Florian looks is like a showroom dummy
on this one while Henning and Fritz are pretty busy. Florian looks a lot
at the laptop crew. |
| Pause
- The crowd are great! Such a wide range of Glaswegians. Some even wearing
mullet hairstyles and a lot of people in their 30/40's. If anyone saw the
guy with the leather coat and the red shirt and black tie - that was me.
I was expecting more dressed like me but unfortunatly and embarrasingly
- I seemed to be the only one. |
| Numbers/Computer
World - Hütter is pretty mobile, his head and legs are going rapid.
Smiling, looking at the crowd and to Florian once again. Hes doing the mutes/unmutes
in Numbers. When the numbers line comes in Florian is looking bemused at
the laptop crew as if he is wondering WTF is playing lol. Computer World
is brilliant. The bassline from the album is deep and the melody is computer
controlled. I always thought Ralf played this but he doesn't, Henning is
doing the bassline. |
| Home Computer
- I can't express how good this was. We all loved it and for me it was the
sampled bassline from It's More Fun To Compute. Incredible, and Ralf Hütter
seems ready to start dancing. I never expected him to be so animated. Florian
is triggering the sequences in between the verses. |
| Pocket
Calculator - If you have a ticket to the concerts. You will go wild! |
| The Robots
- 1991 Version, robots look great! No Robotronik though! |
| Elektro
Kardiogramm - Ralf is playing the melodies and looking in great shape in
his wireframe outfit. Florian is once again frantic on his console during
the FX parts. |
| Aero Dynamik
- It's great, but not a patch on the MTV Awards version. One or two improvised
mistakes on this one near the end and Ralf is once again miming! |
| Music
Non Stop - Incredible. You know the drill. Hütter does his god like
playing at the end. However when he and Henning are left on stage both look
elated. Ralf plays his melody, looks ecstatic and says 'Good Night!' He
takes a thing from his console. To me it was a elongated device, like a
mobile phone. Could it be a Zip Drive of some sorts? |
| I dont
think I will ever see anything like that again what I witnessed. It was
quite an emotional night for me. I waited 10 years for them to play live
in Glasgow and they did not dissapoint. They are just above everyone else
in electronic music. Love them or loathe them, you will be surprised. |
|
Review
by Stephen Sherry - England
|
|
