Kraftwerk

on thurs night i saw a 40s-ish guy in the toilets turn to someone else and say "i've nicked some of my mum's codeine, i'm flying, this is perfect," only to get a disgusted look and an "i don't know you mate" in return, lol.

A small amount of codeine sounds perfect. I had a tramadol that I'd been saving for Autobahn.

Recordings are beginning to filter out already, crazy.

I actually really liked the little solos they all did at the end of Music Non Stop, it's probably too much to hope for that they might ever go further down that route again.

John Harris's review in the Guardian came out with the old "are they really playing anything?" rockist nonsense, sigh...

Didn't he hear Ralf fucking up the chorus of Man Machine?

xpost Unfair on Harris, who loves them.

Also, I don't think it's unfair to ask - in passing - what they're actually doing. It's certainly not a rockist question. Am seeing the Mix on Weds, and saw them at RFH last time, and at RFH I spent a big chunk of the (brilliant) show wondering if they did anything on stage, aside from the occasional Ralf vocal. Doesn't make the show any less spectacular if they don't – and it's their presence (and the fact they obviously rerecord material for touring) that makes it a Kraftwerk show more than their actual participation.

OK maybe I was unfair, it's such a predictable thing to say though. Anyway from my vantage point at the front I could see there was plenty going on, although it's difficult to work out quite what they're specifically doing. They all have foot controllers that were getting heavy use, anyone know what they're for?

"Yes, considering how little happens on stage, there are passages that rather drag. Of course, it's not entirely clear if much is actually being played."

The statement does belie what I'm sure Harris knows, that the four-men-at-desks-engaged-in-ambiguous-activity is a deliberate subversion of the notion of "performance"

They are definitely playing something, Ralf is playing his Vocoder. There was a lot of filtering and triggering going on, and Henning Schmidt looked like he might have a Kaoss pad in his podium. I didn't detect much playing of the important melodies and like Matt says, there was a lot of foot-pedal/expression pedal action going on throughout. The only question mark for me is what the video guy Falk Grieffenhagen might be up to.

But he looks fucking fantastic doing it, like he could push a button any second and vaporize the audience.

It doesn't really matter to me whether or not they're doing anything - as I say, their presence is the performance. But it's not an unreasonable question, and them pushing some buttons doesn't mean there's any actual outcome from the button pushing (a la Chemical Brothers).

I agree that it doesn't matter but judging on the three separate performances, they are controlling the sound in some senses like a sound engineer or DJ would. Also certain sections are clearly played live as there have been small mistakes each night.

Haven't watched it in a while, and it's possible the set-up is different now, but I'm pretty sure you can see some of the stuff they're playing (or not) from certain angles on the minimum-Maximum DVD.

Compared to the first time I saw them, they look a lot more like they are playing something. Saw them in Brixton in 2004 and I think they were using laptops at the time (i thought they could have been IMing each other). At least this time round it seemed like they are playing synths or keyboards.

Chris & Cosey, Jim from Earl Brutus and Daniel Miller (I think) are here tonight.

say hello to jim from me mr doran ..

oh, and jim is from the pre new now ..
f&ck the past ..

Ok. Fair point.

Tell Jim he owes me money

Actually don't bother

when I saw them i got a decent look and can say that at least on Tour de France they do play the synth line live

I am going to The Mix. It was my first choice. I don't know anyone else for whom it is their favourite Kraftwerk album. Does that make me a bad person?

it does. you are a bad person!

also, you're not a true fan!

I was tempted to do 'the mix', because it had a range of tracks, I did not know they did other tracks too. Blame Sparks...

Going again tonight, Woo Hoo!

Two stage invasions!

Stage invasions at a Kraftwerk gig!?

Yea, right at the end, first the guy who was next to me all night, then a girl. Poor Fritz Hilpert was doing his solo spot and they totally bogarted his shit

Maybe they just wanted a look at his rig.

In those neoprene spiderman costumes you can see his 'rig' from the sound desk

Loved the stage invasion. The humans malfunctioned.

I was stood a few rows behind the Pet Shop Boys and, less excitingly, Mick Hucknall.

Tom Ellard dissents

http://tomellard.com/wp/2013/02/vivid-and-kraftwerk-deserve-each-other/

I'm surprised there hasn't been more dissent. Only one original member, miming, haven't really released anything new in 25 odd years. I wonder how they get away with it really.

I saw Kraftwerk play live in 1981.

Not everyone was around in 1981, gramps.

In 2003 I was asked if we would like to play a support spot for Kraftwerk’s return to Australia. That was great! I’d been working on some new videos and a set and it would be a perfect match, little and big. I said yes. Word came back from Germany – Nein – no videos allowed. That was a bit rough for a video band. The promoter tried a compromise. What if we used our own projector? Nein – no light touching the screens. And no instruments allowed. You will only play a tape. And you must be a specified number of metres away from the main stage.

Yes, I can't believe the headliners didn't cave into the demands of the support act. Fascist bastards.

As the set rolled along it was horrible to realise that they hadn’t advanced in over a decade. The symbol of musical progress, of futurism, were lazily stuck in the past.

Never heard of any group whose main success were in the years from 1974 to 1981 trading in on past glorious over twenty years ago.

Vivid itself being less about a festival of ideas and more about a source of tourist income every year.

To be fair, they're still trying to get over the year when the NSW tourism ministry was accused of wasting money on bring an some unknown bloke called Brian Eno to Vivid.

One look at the pictures and it seems that they might have got a few new Tron suits to wear. Whoever ‘they’ might be these days.

Well, that's why they wear the Tron suits!!

^^ reading that back, I'm being a bit harsh as I do have respect for Tom Ellard but come on, bashing Kraftwerk for being old farts is not exactly earth shattering opinions 4 u

FoI request shows that no tickets at all were sold online for the London run:

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/142165/response/351230/attach/2/tate%20response.pdf

Anyone who went to multiple shows in London or New York - is there much difference in the post-album set from night to night? If we managed to score in the ballot for two of the Sydney Opera House shows, is it worth going to both?

(nb: the albums are Techno Pop and Tour De France, or this question would be moot)

Not much variation ime. I managed to get to 1,2 & 5. Obviously the latter half is dictated by how many hits are included in the album that precedes it, Autobahn and Radioactivity only have one big song each, so the rest of the sets were fairly similar. For the Computer World night they also played all of Man Machine in sequence which was great. I think Neon Lights and Vitamin were the only tracks sequenced in and out of the second half. if it were me, I'd do 2 & 5.

For the Computer World night they also played all of Man Machine in sequence which was great.

oh damn

if it were me, I'd do 2 & 5.

loooool, re-read my post - it seems the first four were all allocated to ppl who live in other countries or states, not locals, so

Ha, I did read the caveat, that didn't stop me from being redundant tho' :)

this new Karl Bartos thing is pretty entertaining

Kraftwerk vs. the Chinese government

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2013/mar/29/kraftwerk-denied-festival-appearance-in-china

Heads up Los Angeles.

http://kraftwerk.laphil.com/

Anyone heard this?

http://www.discogs.com/Florian-Schneider-Esleben-Eberhard-Kranemann-The-Origins-Of-Kraftwerk-History-Of-Music-Soundcheck-19/release/2034569

http://www.discogs.com/Pissoff-Origins-Of-Kraftwerk-Neu-Fritz-Müller-Avantgarde-Music-History/release/2022573

with Joseph Beuys!

I think the way this LA phil thing works it's not first-come first-served.

I think.

I'm not sure why they neglected to ask for my last.fm username because obviously they're going to check listening history before awarding tickets, right?

There will be a date at the Fox Theater in Oakland, March 23. just a 3D concert, not the whole series.