MUSIC: Tour de Force
Kraftwerk, Paris Cite de la Musique, 26 September
A crisp vocoder opening (“Meine damen und herren ... aus Deutchsland ... Kraft ... Werk”), then a false start: some of the technology was misbehaving. The curtain dropped again, and the many-years’ wait for a Kraftwerk live appearance got a few minutes longer. After some muffled backstage fiddling and a restart, the show began; this time The Robots had all their constituent synth lines present and correct.
For London concert goers, used to the choice between atmospheric but beer-sticky former music halls and the sterility of the South Bank, the Cite de la Musique concert hall was a pleasant surprise – clean and crisp acoustics, ideally matched to the performance. Judging by appearances, the audience ranged from opera-goers to ravers, reflecting both Kraftwerk’s own classical influences and their own influence on today’s dance music.
Original Kraftwerk members Ralf Hutter and Florian Schneider were supported on stage, as in other recent concerts, by Fritz Hilpert and Henning Schmitz (one of whom bears a disturbing resemblance to Iain Duncan Smith). The stage set matched the crisp minimalism of their music: four identical black workstations, which appeared at first only to be supporting laptops but also with keyboards and other controllers, plus foot pedals. The band were backed by a large screen with three projectors of computer graphics and videos.
The graphics were wide ranging and superbly matched to the music: ZX Spectrum constructivist graphics for Man Machine, crisp wire frame fly-through accompanying Expo 2000, and nostalgic film footage and 1950s postcards perfectly echoing the moods of Trans Europe Express and Autobahn respectively. Far removed from their robotic production line image, a subtle and at times romantic humanity shone through Kraftwerk’s performance and visuals. The band’s attitude to technology has always been somewhat ambivalent. Radioactivity is now a stately and almost elegiac protest tune, whereas Pocket Calculator remained as playful as ever, with the benefit of some words in French for the Paris crowd. Without a pocket calculator to play, Ralf jabbed the air for emphasis. The band were all more animated than their robotic-teutonic image would suggest. Never straying from their workstations, small gestures and movements became significant.
Despite Kraftwerk’s glacially slow pace of work – since 1986’s Electric Cafe album, the Expo 2000 theme has been their only truly new piece – they have continued to refresh and polish their sound and its production, and their body of music is impressive in its scope. The set was esssentially a greatest hits collection, with newer material like Boing Boom Tschak / Music Non Stop (an appropriate end to the evening) mixed with classics such as The Model (sadly no Computer Love, although most of the rest of Computer World made an appearance in one form or another). The repetitive rhythms induced almost trance like concentration, and the range and diversity of one mesmerising track after another made the two hour set seem strangely but delightfully longer. They played another, essentially identical, set at midnight. This time, after a few beers and in the knowledge of what I was about to hear, it sped past and left me wishing for more. They last played in the UK in 1997 (Tribal Gathering), and in 1992 before that: perhaps another UK date or two is due soon.
Kevin Quince is ERO’s electronic music correspondent.
Kraftwerk will be playing in Japan in December 2002, and Australia and New Zealand early in 2003.
Kevin Quince, May 10, 2002 10:14 AM