that looks like the line up in amsterdam. We walked in and they were playing manmachine, just four guys, standing stiff as hell, infront of a huge video projector.
When they droped trans-europe express I felt a shock go up my back, I knew I was watching a piece of history. Also, numbers was another personal favorite. Oh, and how classy is it to leave the stage to music non-stop. Like you are supposed to take it with you...non-stop. my brother and i hung out at the perfect spot. close to the stage, and a few steps from the bar. Never an empty cup :) He was even rolling joints in the dark, without a flat suface, and they were perfect. Kraftwerk reprsented, the crowd loved it. probably my favorite concert ever. -jason On Sunday, March 28, 2004, at 11:12AM, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >For those who don't have the patience to read this in its entirety, here >is the simple review: "holy motherf*ckn $hit, that was the best show >ever". > >Playlist - >Mensch-Machine (Man Machine) >Expo2000 (with pieces of UR remix) >Tour de France 2003 >Vitamin >Tour de France >Autobahn >Das Model (The Model) >Neon Lichten (Neon Lights) >Radioaktivitt (Radioactive) >Trans-Europa Express >---curtains--- >Nummern (Numbers) >Computerwelt (Computerworld) >It's more fun to compute >Taschenrechner (Pocket Calculator) >---curtains--- >Die Roboter (The Robots) >---curtains--- >Electrokardiogramm >Aero Dynamik >Boing Boom Tschak >Musik Non-stop > >----------------------------- >We arrived at the Palladium just before Kraftwerk were to appear (they >started at exactly 23.59, with no opening act, etc.), and found a very >genuine mix of fans from teens to past middle-aged, and having never been >to a general "concert" in Germany since 1994, didn't know what to expect. >We found a nice spot to wait, and exactly on time, the lights dropped out, >and the stage with curtains was illuminated from behind with the shadows >of the group against a red light. The opening bit from Die Mensch Machine >(Man Machine) started playing, and the crowd reacted like you'd expect >them to - cheering and clapping. European crowds (IMO, of course) are >generally more appreciative, but I find they are also a bit more reserved, >and this was about exactly as expected. The group made little gyrations >of the arms in beat, and then the curtains sprung open to reveal them in >black suits with red dress shirts and black ties (like on the cover of Man >Machine), all standing in front of individual steel tables on single posts >(very futuristic, and akin to something found in 1984 or Brazil) with a >laptop each. The gigantic screen behind them was alight with very >primitive looking graphic boxes in red and black - mirroring the cover of >the record, and as the song started to get to the lyrics, the lyrics >flashed in time with the music - like subtitles. The sound was not fully >integrated with the venue (only stacked on edges of the stage), but not >only did the music sound extremely full, I noticed right away that they >had updated the classic tune with some extremely well processed drum kits, >and thusly the sound was very strong, and this edge would carry throughout >the night. >The underside of the enormous video screen (probably around 20 ft x 60 ft >[7m x 20m]) was bathed in red light, and red lights shown from the >overhead tower, and bathed the group's faces in red. After a few minutes, >the lyrics were switched from all German, to partially english, and the >vocals were added over the top, live. >After the lights dimmed to signify the end of the song, a bright green >light encompassed them, and the background video screen showed the >expo2000 logo, in basic green (almost like it was being created by an >argon laser) with no other colors. The chords started up for expo2000, >but after a few minutes, the vocals were still not added in. The Stephen >Hawking-like voice came in and started speaking in German about "the 21st >century" (like in the kling klang mix) and after a couple minutes the >background was a really neat visual display of fast green shapes being >stretched from right to left with really spatial effect. The kicker for >this song, was about midway through, the beat dropped out, and some very >flashy strings came in (and I realized that they were changing it up from >the original), and after a moment a vocal came in and said "Detroit they >sold everything, Germany we sold everything", with the quirky synth line >from the UR remix (FYI the UR remix says "Germany they sold everything, >Detroit (we) sold everything). A really nice nod to Detroit, and people >were much looser at this point than I expected. It's hard to describe in >words, the relatively static presence of the guys on stage, and the >feeling that the very precise visuals added to the music, and to the >crowd. >The green light dimmed, and was replaced by a static 4/4 beat and the >image on the video screen looked like a really large graphical EQ meter >with bars representing the 22 frequency zones. They started red, and as >the song picked up and the crowd realized it was the Tour de France edits >of 2003 all mixed together, the Eq bars changed color and eventually gave >way to some old video clips of the Tour de France (think 1950s or 1960s >film). While the song progressed, the film started cutting up faster and >faster, and then we watched as the crisp lines of the tour de france logo >started cutting into the film in the red and soft blue colors of the album >color. Again, I'm struggling to properly portray the vivid nature with >which the symbolism from the album covers was displayed, even tho it would >appear subtle if you weren't that familiar with all of the album covers. >Highlights of that visual display were the flash animation-looking eiffel >tower with the circular bands of radio expanding around it. >They went straight into the next song and the video screen showed hundreds >of very slowly rotating CGI pills and vitamin tabs. They played the song >"vitamin", and had some really neat graphics of alka-seltzer-like pills >dropping into water and disappearing (those types of pills are quite >common in europe for all kinds of things, including vitamins). I can't >stress how insane the slowly rotating, yet stilll progressing down teh >screen (like rain) really looked in person. Near the end of the song, the >vitamins started coming towards the viewer, and the detail of the >rendering was really shown to be intense. As the song played, the vocals >were again played across the screen to beat, like subtitles. At the end >of the song, the word "vitamin" appeared in white, and started vanishing >like individual alka-seltzer tabs, and then the lights went out again. >After a slight delay, and darkness, some extremely familiar chords rumbled >through the hall, and the place immediately erupted as the original Tour >de France played along with some similar visuals, yet it didn't seem as >"new" as the graphical representation of the 2003 edition. Graphical maps >of the actual bike race were shown, and the colors of the original album >were applied to the black and white video. As the song waned its last >notes, the crowd gave a huge "thank you" with cheering and and yelling, >and Kraftwerk seemed to acknowledge this by offering a slight delay in >music while the crowd responded. After a moment, there was a noise of >ignition, and a few scant people in the crowd immediately realized what >was going on, and went absolutely crazy as the sound of an engine turning >over turned into the sound of a car running, and then traveling away, and >finally honking a very recognizable honk "beep beep". Still in absolutely >darkness, the hall was shook with everyone's pleasure as the words >"auuuuuuuuutooooooooobaahhhhhhhhhhn", >"auuuuuuuuuutoooooooooobaaahhhhhhhh", were accompanied by a huge blue >roadsign logo (the european international sign for "highway") flashing as >the words were spoken live. As the familiar chords of the 20 minute epic >rivaled the still spastic cheers of the crowd (at this point I was >completely taken by the energy of such a mixed crowd), the original album >art from autobahn appeared on the screen, and the entire visual sequence >throughout the 5-6 minute edit of the song was in the style of the >original album art that is hand-drawn and has a particular coloring and >style to it. At this point, my perma-grin was replaced by >Perma-holy-teeth-showing-grin, and I was jumping up and down in short >spurts involuntarily, as I felt the years of listening to this song >release themselves into this experience that I (not so coincidentally) >actually used the autobahn to get to. The cheers continued throughout the >entirety of the song, and I haven't been fair to Kraftwerk, as they really >updated the older song with nice new drumkits, and they didn't lose the >sound at all, but rather added to the technology at their disposal by >utilizing compression and newer effects to make these classics REALLY >shine in a live performance. After Autobahn, They played Das Model with >videos of 1950s or 1960s era video of women attending modeling school >(with the books on the head and all the favorite clichs). >The next song, Neon Lichten (neon lights), which has always been a >favorite of mine (save the contrast and uneffected singing voice over the >top), was played to some really neat scrolling neon sign images, all >photo-collaged on top of one another. When the vocals came in, they >sounded PERFECT, and it was instantly better than the recorded version >with the integration of the vocals as another instrument, rather than the >"added on" feeling in the recording. >The next song started with a scrolling message not very unlike Star Wars >intros, although it was not in the same style, and it said some very >familiar warnings about Stellafield and the amount of radioactive >materials that it would release. This classic tune >(Radioactivity/Radioaktivitt) sounded so much better than the original, >and you could hear the crowd singing along to all the words as they >flashed in time on the screen against radioactive symbols and pictures of >atoms combining and splitting in interesting manners. When the morse code >noise came in to the song, a radioactivity meter (looks like a tuning >fork) appeared and had little rings that moved in beat with the beeps... >The next song was Trans-Europa Express, and the album logo was displaye >dnumerously, along with some black and white video footage of the TEE from >the 70s, and then the lights went out and the curtains closed. > >After a few minutes of synchronized clapping from the crowd with cheers of >"kraftwerk", the curtains swiveled open, and the group returned to stage >with different suits and LED lights hanging from around their necks. As >the lights came up softly, the speakers whispered "eins zei drei vier funf >sechts sieben acht", and another cheering outbreak (akin to what had >started for Autobahn) grew to almost a riot, as Kraftwerk played "Nummern" >and the visuals showed (of course) very 1980s styled "futuristic" numerals >in green on black background, as the words were repeated in all kinds of >foreign languages. It was extra-special, as they completely changed up >the order and beat of alot of the numbers, and languages, and it made it >into a really neat and updated version of the classic original. Not >allowing for the crowd to react once the jumbled overlapped numbers at the >end of the song started, they proceeded directly into Computerwelt, and by >this time the crowd was so reactive, that Kraftwerk owned the whole of >them with every beat. The visuals were akin to earlier songs, with the >fast paced lyrics showing as they were spoken (in beat), and again, with >no rest, they proceeded directly into "It's more fun to compute", complete >with C64 graphics and visuals. For the third time in a row, they >proceeded directly into the next song, and the place just kept getting >more excited, as they played Taschenrechner with an image of a calculator >on the video screen, being used by a moving finger that reacted in time to >the song, and all of the beeps and bops output something different on the >screen of the calculator. At the end, the curtains closed once more, and >the crowd was not only slothering drunk at this point (remember, this show >started at midnight), but if Kraftwerk would have started playing German >drinking songs, I think the entirety of the crowd would have put their >arms around each other in comradery singing along. The crowd again >chanted and clapped a beat, that gained momentum every clap, and >eventually got so fast that it became chaotic, and everyone just screamed >as loud as they could. > >After a few moments, the cheering still very much alive, but beginning to >lose steam, shadows were cast on the curtain from behind, of different >angled strobe like flashes of the "robots", and it suddenly became hard to >hear the intro to "die roboter" as the curtains were thrown open, >revealing the robots standing at the podiums all pointing at the crowd. >As the song progressed, the angled strobe effect continued on the video >screen, and the robots moved to beat, and made gestures and gyrations to >the crowd until the curtains again closed, and the crowd responded as it >had just previously, until the curtains opened to Kraftwerk back on stage >in front of their solid laptop stands all dressed in the green-lined suits >that they appeared on the back of a few of their albums wearing. They >played "electrokardiogramm", then "aerodynamik", and the crowd hadn't lost >any steam in their enthusiasm. After they eneded aerodynamik, a dense >blue light shown from the rafters on the faces of the band, and the still >illuminated (probably from a black light) green-lined suits contrasted >them, and made them almost "blue-man-group" looking. All at once, BOING, >BOOM TSCHAK started up, but it was also severely updated, with new PONGs >and BINGs thrown into the mix into the classic electro sound of the >masters. The screen showed the vocals as batman-esque POW bubbles, and >the song quickly turned into Non-stop music. As it was playing whoever >was closest to the stage exit left his post at his laptop, closed the >laptop, and went to the stage stairs, bowed, and then walked off stage. >They continued until all members were gone, but "musik non-stop" was still >playing in a loop. The curtains closed, the lights came on, and I >realized that everyone in the place had the same giddy, childlike >permanent grin on their face, and I couldn't believe what I had just >experienced... > >Truly amazing would be another way to describe it, but none of the words >written can begin to describe the entire show through my eyes... > >
