Hi, Greetings everyone, we're just back from Perth, so here are some observations. Flying down to Australia, the Qantas in-flight magazine mentioned Kraftwerk (in both January and February issues), is that a first? The Big Day Out comes in the Australian summer, the Perth date immediately preceeding high school students return. A free local music paper also described the day in advance - "The biggest day on the rock calender rolls around this Sunday at Claremont Showgrounds". So, how would Kraftwerk fit in? A check of all the city's record shops showed one lone Autobahn Kraftwerk CD, a situation reminiscant of Chicago and Detroit in 1998. None of the shops knew of any special tour editions of cds. However, looking through the secondhand bins, it was possible to see how such 'tour editions' have been done in the past for other bands - putting an outer sleeve on a regular release / printing a list of tour dates on the sleeve / commissioning a special Australian photo. It surely would make sense to have 'tour editions' in shops before the concerts? After the concert, I did finally find a shop with a supply of Krafwterk cds - made in Europe. On the Thursday the main local Perth newspaper ran a review of an earlier 2003 Big Day Out, probably culled from another paper, the Kraftwerk bit commented that "one guy was probably doing all the work, while the others played 'Doom'"). Come the Friday before the concert ,another local paper ran an article titled "Keep it down, concert told". The gist was that the day was to have the "tougest noise restrictins and environmental controls in its 10 years in Western Australia". What was worrying was that the article also mentioned that the Department of Environmental Protection had imposed a "50% reduction in sound power and a 10pm finish for outdoor performances", the good news was that it was also mentioned that "One stage, which is inside a pavilion will continue to 11pm". This meant that the aim of having stages finish at different stages (10 + 10.30pm) wouldn't happen. The result being that after 10pm, the only place that the anticipated audience of +25,000 could go would be to the Kraftwerk Boiler Room! A local free paper, also ran an article "Big Day, Big Changes" which added that "all of the stages, speakers, gear and musicans are coming from Adelaide on Saturday in 18 semi-trailers. Everything will be erected overnight and safety checks will be done on Sunday morning. Final approval from the DEP, Health Department and Clearmont council may not be given until minutes before the show is due to start". So, finally Sunday arrived. Getting to the merchandise stall, at the start of the day, the hand-made 'Kraftwerk' banner was lying at the side on the ground (the band collected it before they went on stage). Unlike Tokyo in Dec. 2002, there was no demand for Kraftwerk t-shirts (the supply had been brought over from Germany - as with the Japan dates). Later reviews would say that there 26,000 people present, and, in the entire day we saw only 1 t-shirt being worn. At various time during the day we talked to a guy (who was working on one of the stalls, talking into a megaphone) who told us at various times during the day that he had brought Kraftwerk to Sydney on their Pocket Calculator tour "in 1984"(yes, we know that's not quite correct). Given Kraftwerk's wish for complete control - this being the band who brought their own petrol generator on tour with them to the USA in 1998 rather than trusting the local power supply - I was interested to know how they would interact with the Big Day Out, to quote the organisers, "It smells like a circus and feels like a circus...you can expect it to sound like a circus". With some of the prceeding Big Day Outs the 'Boiler Room' had been a big top, at Perth it was a hall. The various bands and DJs before Kraftwerk used projection screens on either side of the stage which showed videos and live camera of audiences. Chicks on Speed, using some 'Pocket Calculator-style equipment were the most interesting band to watch. The last band on before Kraftwerk were Resin Dogs, and, it was clear that there were PA and power problems (at one stage the Kraftwerk projector/programme was turned on in the middle of their set, a strange sight). At this stage there also started to be various items (usually bottles and toilet rolls) being thrown at the stage. This then continued into Luke Slater's DJ set (immediately prior to Kraftwerk), with some security people very keen to continually douse the front rows of the crowd with water. Luke Slater ended his set playing 'Jeruselem' slowly speeding the record up by hand, and, then it was straight into the 'intro'..the 'radio station call sign'. The various dancers next to us at the front thought that the evening was already over, and, were surprised when the curtains opened. Compared to Tokyo, there was no mad pushing. Also, it was clear that the acoustics weren't as good in Perth. In Tokyo a large hall had been carefully baffled, while in Perth the physical shape of the hall was influencing the sound quality. As someone else commeneted, the band look rather like priests standing at their lecterns - which is perhaps disturbing to some teenage rock fans. The 'old' pre-2002 opening background music was 'random' synthesiser ( which isn'y totally random as the rate and depth settings had to be determined). Previoulsy, when 'Numbers' started, the band would come on stage and often attend to the large mixing banks present behind the band. So, in a sense, the machine was playing, interfacing with the humans. In contast, the opening background music is now a 'call sign, a station ident.', which ties in with the idea of the band as being their own radio station (an idea that came from the Autobahn tour?) Before this 'computer monitor' tour, there was not the luxury of such sceen visuals for the band- it would be nice to see what information appears on these screens. Unlike Tokyo, Henning was now wearing spectacles, Fritz had a much brighter monitor, and, Florian definitely keeps slightly out of the spotlight trained on him (when the house lights came on briefly, he must have been troubled)...he did use his drink bottle. The stage formation was a slight 'v', with the monitors behind the band. In general the BPM seemed to be running a little faster than Tokyo, but this might also have been the different crowd dynamic. Rather than quiet applause before, here the audience was at least noisy. Also,at least 5 items that hit the stage. Because of the economy of the stage design, it makes little things more noticible. In 1998, Ralf used a volume foot pedal (i.e. on 'Airwaves'), Florian used a foot pedal for adding the echo on 'Radioactivity'. Now it's Henning and Fritz who get to use the foot pedals! It's still not (intentionally?) clear who does what - but it was amusing to see Fritz stand with his hands behind his back as 'Autobahn' began..his work here doesn't start until the percussion rhtym begins. After the other stages closed at 10pm, it seemed that the Department of Environment Protection officers turned their attention to the one remaining stage in the Boiler Room. Given that 11pm had been given as the show's deadline, it's perhaps not surprising that the main power was cut, during the last song. Florian had disappeared behind a curtain, while Fritz remained at the side of the stage tapping out the beat. When it came to Henning's solo, the volume suddenly dropped , and he tried to compensate by turning up the level on his workstation, with little effect. Once Henning had left the stage he could be seen explaining to Florian who had now reappeared, as Ralf continued alone.Once Ralf had said goodbye to Australia, and left the stage there was not the traditional loop continuing to play. Going outside the hall we noticed that nobody was moving in the direction of the backstage, so we simply walked past security and went up to Ralf. He was relaxed and happy to talk. When asked when and where they'd next play live he replied, "in the studio". I'd brought along the Expo 2000 sleeves , and, when asked for an autograph he was happy to sign. Having signed the 'enhanced cd sleeve' he wasn't happy with his signature, deciding to also sign the '3-d sleeve'. On seeing the 'remix ' sleeve he then offered to sign that suggesting that he did it "on the computer screen". Comparing the 3 signatures, it shows that Ralf is more man than machine (each differs)! Ralf said that he'd really enjoyed the tour, and, was amused that people might think he had taken up Tai Chi instead of cycling. We also then talked to Henning, who commented that there is no prohibition on members of Karftwerk smiling in photos. His feeling was that the Perth show was "good". Meanwhile, Fritz had recognised Josephine from meeting us in Japan, he came over, put down the all-important briefcase, and, shook hands. Fritz's commented that show was "weird", and, also mentioned the power and light problems, and, objects being thrown at the stage. He felt the Melbourne show was the best and "one other". There wasn't that much Perth Big Day Out press in the following days, but apparantly 232 people were treated for "minor complaints including fractures, abdominal pains and breathing difficulty". The weather was cooler than previous years, so this had contributed to fewer problems, the local organiser was quoted as saying, "the decision to close the main stages half an hour earlier had also caused problems because more people then tried to enter the boiler room". Nice to have a lively Perth audience, and, the songs had changed since Tokyo. Many thanks to Ralf, Fritz and Henning for being charming and friendly. Let's hope that the risks and decisiveness they took in touring in such a context will also be present in there being a new release! __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com