> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Benjamin Ward <>
> To: Analogue Heaven <analogue(a)hyperreal.org>
> Sent: Monday, September 30, 2002 7:02 PM
> Subject: [AH] Current Kraftwerk tour report
>
>
> My friend Ian went to see the 'Werks in Paris at the weekend. This is
> his report:
>
> "You asked for reports, so here goes... Kraftwerk were, as you might
> expect, pretty amazing and bizarre. For aficionados, there were
> significant 'aesthetic' changes from previous presentations, however.
>
> How to describe? Well the new stage set removes all previous banks of
> keyboards, units, effects, etc. It is now down to literally the four of
> them each standing behind their own most fantastic minimal console - a
> totally flat board with a Sony Vaio computer protruding upwards from
> the rear. Er, and that's it! (Other than a foot-pedal each). Gawd knows
> what is in each console, but Ralf's seemed to contain a keyboard, and
> they all seemed to have some buttons to press and wheels to bend.
>
> The new visuals were *stunning* (We were right at the front, no
> surprises there, you might say). The new films and pictures for TEE,
> Autobahn, Pocket Calculator were all amazing, and very beautiful, on an
> enormous screen that was about 40 foot wide by maybe 12 foot tall, and
> which sometimes was one picture, but at other times divided up into
> three different shots. TEE was so amazing I almost felt giddy as I
> danced along to the pictures. But, even better, not only were we
> treated to a superb totally new dancey version of 'Expo 2000', but some
> pretty amazing visuals with it. We also were indulged with 'The Model'
> and my own personal poptatstic moment...... for the first time in 20
> years, 'Neon Lights' complete with utterly sublime, beautifully shot,
> film pieces. So the set list was fab.
>
> Other memorable moments included poor Florian having a cold, and having
> to sneeze a few times (this causing possibly the biggest human
> movements of the entire evening's proceedings!) and a rather fantastic
> machine breakdown of a false start when they attempted to kick off with
> 'The Robots' only to find said console systems making no noises other
> than the initial bleeps. Cue Teutonic puzzled looks, the dropping of
> the curtain and the potential for some misplaced boings. However, all
> was re-started and the action began!
>
> We danced and sang along; our French colleagues were (perhaps oddly)
> far more restrained than the English contingent. Thus, we got plenty of
> gently restrained quizzical looks from Ralf and Florian ("Ach, nein,
> Wir haben Nutterz in das Haus" ) who, nonetheless, clearly appreciated
> our enthusiasm The new song had progressed by at least few bars since
> 1998, so things are now obviously moving rapidly at Kling Klang studios.
>
> Quite amazing; a real treat, and great to see at *such* close quarters
> in such a personal and small setting. Here's hoping for a UK tour....
> (I did my best by shouting out 'Come back to England'!) Oh, and we got
> to say 'bon soir' to Jean Paul Gaultier as we went in - extremely
> strict security too so that the new visuals were not photographed.
>
> For those of you worried about details, I think the set list was
> something like: The Robots; Expo 2000 (remix) It's more fun to
> compute/Home Computer; Man Machine; Tour De France; The Model; Neon
> Lights; Airwaves/New Song; Pocket Calculator; Autobahn; Radioactivity;
> Trans Europe Express; Numbers; Computer World; Music Non Stop
>
> All rather groovy, and I am still recovering from that, and 3 days of
> biere in gay Paris ;o) "
>
>
> Thanks, Ian. From all accounts, it seems that he definitely wigged out
> to it all :-)
> Ben
