Very brief would be: Fantastic! A bit more would be:
For those who saw the Minimum Maximum tour (or have subsequently seen the DVD) the set up and the set were similar. Some things were total like for like - start with Man Machine, end with Music Non-stop, I think the set might have been something like this The Man-Machine Home Computer Tour De France Autobahn Trans Europe Express Metal On Metal Neon Lights Show Room Dummies The Model The Robots Numbers Computer World Vitamin Radioactivity Aéro Dynamik Music Non Stop Might not be fully accurate, my memory's terrible, I did this by looking at the Minimum Maximum track list, knocking out what I don't remember them playing (not sure about Home Computer), rearranging into the 3 spits and adding Show Room Dummies which is the one thing I remember them doing not from Minimum Maximum - maybe other peepz can chip in and correct, it was great to meet list members Robin and Dan there, maybe (almost certainly) they recall better. I saw Minimum Maximum at The Apollo in Manchester, the sound there was tremendous, at this gig from where we were (right at the very front!) it was not as good but same ballpark. I believe from friends in seated areas further away / less central that it wasn't so good there, one bunch got cheap, last minute seats where they said it sounded terrible and they couldn't see the screen but were lucky that they moved to stand elsewhere and the stewards were very chilled and didn't move them on. Others were just an awful long way from the stage. I guess this is understandable as the Manchester Velodrome isn't meant as a gig venue. From where we were the show was great and the gig was definitely run well with no long queues etc. I'd be interested in whether Kraftwerk agreed to play the gig for Manchester International Festival before the gig got placed there or if that was a big part of them playing as you might expect. So apart from the odd song what was different to MM? Well first there was the replacement of Florian. Obviously this is something we've seen before but (apart from it being one of the founder / life of the band members) the difference was it was someone who looked way younger than the others! To me this lacked a bit of gravitas but my girlfriend liked it ;-) The videos used were also same as MM but with one big difference. At the entrance you were given 3D specs and all the stuff after Robots above had been redone in 3D. And I've got to say it was awesome. I live very close to an IMAX cinema and have seen plenty 3D stuff there but though the screen was smaller here it seemed better, at times the stuff that was on the screen behind them not only seemed to come out the screen but when placed in front of the band seemed to obscure them. How dey do dat? It was brilliant. Possibly the highlight of the night though came early on when, during Tour De France, members of the British national cycling team took to the Velodrome track. Us Brits are quite fond of our cyclists at the moment as they are about our most successful sporting team, dominating the Beijing Olympics etc. so they got a mega reception and everyone got the Kraftwerk significance (I think / hope!). But best of all for me I was stood near enough the stage to see that Ralf was totally buzzing - you'd expect that but he had a massive smile on his face as he called the names of the cyclists out and he grinned away and nearly danced throughout the track! Top night, maybe the one shame was that the Steve Reich piece that supported was pretty much lost in the size of the venue / people anticipating what was to follow.
