I wasn’t meant to be there. I wanted to be but in this modern world of online ticketing I simply don’t have the required technical skills to be able to work it! I can’t get tickets to festivals like Glastonbury (good job they book me to DJ), or much else let alone any of these super hyped and amazingly enticing five Kraftwerk shows… I was thinking of waking up for the Box Office opening, I had heard the furore over the shows they had done in NYC at the MoMA,. It sounded great, an album a night by possibly one of the most pioneering bands ever and definitely a major figure in the background of my musical life but could I get up and get involved? No, I forgot and even if I had got up I wouldn’t have been quick enough on the draw to secure a ticket. I was resigned to the fact that it would be another gig that I would hear about (there aren’t many and I don’t like them). I was disappointed but faced up to the fact that that is the lottery of going to modern music gigs. The nerds have won!!

I then got a call from Trevor Jackson, who was DJing at the after party, inviting me to that. It was a minor victory and still a hassle even to get a plus one for that. I managed to get one and the girl I invited to that had a ticket for the show but still I couldn’t get one. So my night was set. I’d visit her after the gig and we’d go to the party together. Me missing out on Kraftwerk, in London? It just seemed wrong! These things shouldn’t happen! Some shows you have to be at.

I don’t know if there is a gig fairy that looks out for me but I got a call on the night from my friend saying that our mutual friend who works at Parlophone had a spare ticket and that if I could get therein half an hour before they started I would go to the Ball (or whatever German is for ball? you could see I was getting in the mood!)

I excused myself from the event that I was at and headed across town. Getting off at London Bridge and quick marching through the old streets of Borough and along the Thames to the imposing structure that is The Tate Modern. An old power station, now one of the most popular art galleries in the world, its silhouette against the night sky was full of industrial splendour, stark and imposing with St Pauls and the river behind me the scene was set. It was the perfect place to see these German, industrial, electronic legends in London.

I got my ticket, 3D glasses and excitedly walked towards the Turbine Hall. I could hear the dull thud of the gig booming through the building and as I entered the main hall I could hear the slightly muffled sounds twist into The Model booming out in super clear surround sound. The room was filled red with 3D visuals that reflected the artwork for the night that I had finally gotten a ticket for: Man Machine. It was a great night to go. That classic 1978 album full electro tracks from the band at their peak, and so the night had begun.

It was amazing. I got chills up my spine. It was a trip in time. Taking me back to my B Boy roots. It may seem an odd thing to say but what got me about this night was the fact that these guys, or Ralf Hutter to be specific (he being the only original member left), have basically written a large part of the DNA of today’s electronic music. Back in the electro days of Hip Hops youth. It was their records that were plundered, re written and rapped over. This album in particular was at the core of this. With a break out hit (the aforementioned Model) and coming out at a time when the Bronx (plus Detroit and LA) was looking for an alternate funk. It was here in Europe and emanating out of Dusseldorf from this band.

The four show room players were clad in skin tight, gridded out fits and acted as robotically as one would expect. Standing behind their electronic, and extended lecterns their lack of movement/expression juxtaposed their hyper kinetic funk and coupled with their 3D visuals and their surround sound system it made this a complete audio visual takeover. It was intense and amazing from the minute I stepped into the hall.

The one album feature soon drifted into a barrage of hits from their catalogue. They might not have stuck to the plan but the night was all the better for it; Trans Europe Express, Numbers, Pocket Calculator, Autobhan and several versions of Tour De France pounded out across the hall and over the odd looking (those 3D glasses en mass are a sight to see - very 50’s) but totally engrossed crowd. It was a celebration of both electro and one of the most pioneering acts that the world of pop has seen. I just kept thinking, when a snippet or sample from a techno or electronic record would remind me, just how ahead of their time and seminal they were. This music crafted, and shaped, what we hear today as standard but back then it wasn’t, they were pushing the barriers. In a way that is what they are doing with this show now both sonically and visually.

It was all over too quickly but I was there, I did see it and I was wowed. The show was great as were the tracks. All very clinical and set but what would you expect from this band ? It was as it was meant to be… And I had seen it.

-Ross Allen

Secure your tickets to see it all for yourself when Kraftwerk head down under in May as part of Sydney’s Vivid Festival - All the info and tickets can be found HERE

 

*Bonus Beats*

Click on the image above to hear a ridiculously good mixed bag of Kraftwerk Kovers (Vol. 8!!!) by the ever reliable DJ Food of Solid Steel/Ninja Tune fame.