(313) Kraftwerk LA concert review

From rbc3
Sent Wed, Jun 10th 1998, 01:33

This may spoil it for many of you planning on going, so if you're the
kind of person who doesn't want to know the end of the movie before
watching it, DO NOT READ ON!




I'll start with the facts, well sort of...

Set list:

Intro (bleeps 'n stuff before the lights went out)
Numbers/Computerworld
It's More Fun To Compute (Homecomputer)
Man Machine
Tour De France
Autobahn
The Model
Airwaves (mellow intro + new unreleased trance mix)
Radioactivity
Trans Europe Express/Abzug/Metal On Metal

Finale I:

Pocket Calculator (up front with the toys)
The Robots Pt. 1 (the computers)
The Robots Pt. 2 (the robots)

Finale II: (in glow wireframe costumes)

new unreleased trance track
Boing Boom Tschack/Musique Non Stop

The guys: (from the audience's left to right)

Ralph Hutter (lead lines, strings, and vocals)
Henning Shmitz (bass lines and things)
Fritz Hilpert (drum programming and rhythm effects)
Florian Shneider (pattern sequencing and samples)

My opinions...

Who and what did it:

Of course I should explain my thoughts on who played what (and who is
who).  The final track, Musique Non Stop, ended with a bit of a solo
by each member right before they left the stage.  They left the stage
from right to left.  I know for a fact that Ralph was on the left and
Florian was on the right (Florian is now bald due to a shaved head,
which I think suits his stern composure).  Florian played a bit of
pattern and sample weirdness before he left the stage.  The second guy
(I'm guessing it was Fritz as I read he handles drum programming)
played some drum patterns before leaving.  The third guy played some
heavy bass lines before leaving.  And Ralph played some chords and
synth strings before leaving the stage.

Due to this and other clues, I was led to believe the preceding
lineup. I was close enough to see Ralph playing lead lines and strings
during the whole show.  I also saw Henning play several bass lines
during the show.  Fritz was constantly fading in and out stuff which I
related to definite changes in rhythm patterns and accompanying
effects on them.  I could not exactly see what Florian was doing but
considering he kept thumbing through a ring binder, I assume he was
looking up patterns.

I am familiar with quite some of the equipment they had including Akai
samplers and Doepfer equipment and possibly even a Quasimidi rack.  I
know there was a Doepfer Maq sequencer behind Florian, but, of course
all the graphics were removed from their gear.

I don't know who or what controlled the visuals on the four screens
behind them, but it was definitely matched with a sync track of some
sort.  If it had not been, there was no way it could have been so well
synched with the vocals and beats.

How it went:

Well it was as an amazing show.  Both musically and in stage presence
it beat the pants off any other live modern techno performance I've
ever seen. (and yes I've seen most of them from the big names like the
Orb and Aphex Twin to to small underground events including
Vapourspace and Stacey Pullen)

Initially their stage presence was the known reserved and dry approach
they are known for.  Occasionally Ralph stabbed at the air in unison
to some part he must have liked.  They often looked back at the
visuals possibly to see that it was all going well.

For the first finale they all came to front stageto play Pocket
Calculator holding some small control devices, which may or may not
have actually worked.  Ralph tried to play off that they were for
real, but Florian often made out like his was out of his control. 
This bit was quite fun and made me laugh as they were acting like each
of them were playing their little part and then handing off control to
the next.  They seemed to be having fun and laughed and played even
touching the audiences hands a couple of times.

For The Robots, they left the stage completely and let the show run
itself.  But then for the second part of The Robots, the visual
screens came down to reveal animatronic robots of the four of them
(like on the cover of The Mix).  The robots played out some sort of
robotic ballet of sorts with their arms and torsos moving about.

Then for the second finale they came out in suits which glowed in the
dark to make them look like wireframe computer graphics models (like
on the inside of Electric Cafe and on the www.kraftwerk.com pages).

For the most part all the stuff they played were remakes from The Mix
album.  The stuff they played that wasn't on The Mix, apart from the
new trance track and the the new Airwaves trance track, could have
easily been on The Mix.  In other words, most of the show was
musically in the same vein as The Mix.

My girlfriend as well as most of the audience really dug the two
trance tracks.  I don't like trance really, so they didn't strike me
as all that great, esp. since I've heard trance that basically kicks
ass on the ones they played.  Plus I'm partial to the drum programming
of their old days.  They always had a talent for sequencing rhythm
tracks which brought the funk out of those cold electronic machines. 
A four-to-the-floor kick approach and simple trance drum patterns
doesn't suit them much.  Those two tracks really stood out even in the
context of the remade versions of their old tracks.

In other words, to me, they are publicly acknowledging influences of
modern music that don't even follow from the same style and feel that
their old music was used as an inspiration to create.  Do you ever
hear trance DJ's play Kraftwerk?  Does German trance even pay much
homage to Kraftwerk's influence on today's electronic music
(r)evolution?  My answer is, not really.  I feel like they have sort
of lowered their standards to appeal to today's youth and even, dare I
say, mass consumer.  At the same time they HAVE always touted the
pop-culture ideal.  They are, after all, techno-pop.  But within the
commercial industry they always packaged and released an alternative
identity.  They represented a purely synthetic and electronically
produced medium which nobody else even dared to attempt.

So what's my point?  I guess the new tracks were good.  Even though
they were written by the most widely respected electronic act, they
didn't cut it.  Trance is not their gig.  Why even attempt it when
others who created it and nurtured it know trance much better.  Maybe
I'm being too critical, but I think they should stick to the sound
that THEY created and built.  They DEFINITELY have the talent to
create new tracks with electro breaks, harmonic synth strings, weirded
out effects, and electronic vocals.  It was proven with the new
versions heard on The Mix and performed to amazement on the new tour.

So, I did love the show.  I plan on listening to it over and over. (he
he, to hell with those metal detectors!)  It was well worth the money
spent to hear them play all those tracks that dazzled and amazed me
with every new release as a kid.  They are the masters of electronic
music and continue to prove themselves as such.  I just hope the new
tracks aren't the sign of a new era of Kraftwerk, the trance stage. 
Ugh, that just plain FEELS wrong to state...

Anyway it was great.  I danced.  I laughed.  I stood in awe.

-rbc3