Kraftwerk

The Catalogue 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Concert 3 of 8: Trans-Europe Express

Paradiso
Amsterdam
The Netherlands

18th January 2015 (2015-01-18)


RECORDING:

Type: Audience master, recorded 2 metres back from the front of the stage,
dead centre, between Henning Schmitz and Fritz Hilpert.

Source: Factory-matched pair of Schoeps CCM 41V microphones (DINa mounted) ->
Marantz PMD661 recorder with Oade Concert Mod
(-18 dB gain/44.1 kHz/24 bit WAV)

Lineage: Audacity 2.0.6
* Applied Bass and Treble Tool (-1 dB Bass, +6 dB Treble).
* Independently normalised channels to 0 dB.
* Amplified left channel by 2.8 dB.
* Amplified right channel by 2 dB.
* Applied Click Removal effect to attenuate applause (Threshold
200/Max Spike Width 40).
* Applied variable envelope amplification across recording for
consistent listening experience.
* Added fades.
* Split tracks.
* Converted to 16 bit.
-> FLAC (compression level 8) [libFLAC 1.3.1 20141125]

Taper: Ian Macdonald (ianmacd)


SET LIST:

01. [00:46] [intro]
02. [03:20] Trans-Europe Express
03. [00:46] Abzug
04. [03:23] Metal On Metal
05. [01:12] Franz Schubert
06. [05:57] Europe Endless
07. [05:29] The Hall Of Mirrors
08. [03:53] Showroom Dummies

09. [08:47] Autobahn
10. [06:32] Airwaves
11. [00:22] Intermission
12. [01:09] News
13. [00:31] Geiger Counter
14. [06:28] Radioactivity
15. [05:28] Spacelab
16. [03:52] Das Model
17. [05:17] The Man-Machine
18. [03:10] Numbers
19. [03:17] Computer World
20. [06:06] Home Computer
21. [06:06] Computer Love
22. [04:23] Tour De France 1983
23. [00:27] Prologue
24. [03:52] Tour De France Étape 1
25. [01:05] Chrono
26. [05:30] Tour De France Étape 2
27. [01:09] [encore break]
28. [07:47] The Robots¹
29. [01:35] [encore break]
30. [06:32] Aéro Dynamik
31. [02:32] Boing Boom Tschak
32. [02:46] Techno Pop
33. [07:52] Musique Non Stop

Total running time: 127:38

¹ Band off-stage, replaced by robots. Music pre-programmed.

NOTES:

Day three of Kraftwerk's full Catalogue residency at the Paradiso and it's the
turn of 1977's 'Trans-Europe Express' to receive the spotlight treatment.

For some reason, I always forget that this album preceded 'The Man-Machine'.
Perhaps my exposure to it came afterwards. In fact, it must have, because the
first Kraftwerk song I ever heard was 'The Robots'.

It's raining again outside the Paradiso when I arrive at 18:30. The queue to
get one's wristband and pair of specs seems to be longer at this time each
evening. People are coming earlier and earlier. Maybe the fact that it's the
weekend has something to do with it.

This is only my third day doing this, but it's already beginning to feel
routine: turn up two hours early, obtain wristband and glasses, suit up
downstairs, secure the sweet spot centre stage, and then devise ways to pass
the two hours before the band appear on stage.

I read the comments that people have placed on my torrent of the first night's
show and then decide to chat to a few of the fans around me. It soon becomes
evident that there are much bigger Kraftwerk fans in the world than me.

Some of these people attend any show that they can physically get to. I
suppose I shouldn't be surprised. I've also had phases of being that attached
to a band, but given the nature of a Kraftwerk performance, it seems as if it
would be a less than fulfilling pursuit in the case of this band.

Anyone who has followed an artist all over the country, the continent or the
world will be familiar with the question often posed by people on the outside
of your little world: "But isn't it the same every night?"

I usually respond by asking the person whether they own any CDs. The answer is
invariably positive, so then I retort: "Well, your CDs are identical every
time you play them, so why would you ever listen to them more then once?" The
live experience is merely a fleeting extension of the immutable listening
experience.

In truth, though, it actually does grow dull to watch the same show night
after night. Whilst there do exist artists who are inspired and rehearsed
enough to vary the set-list from night to night, they're few and far between
these days. That's why I got sick and tired of following Dead Can Dance around
a couple of years ago.

At that point, it boils down to very slight variations in the performance,
such as a vocal sung a little differently, an embellished guitar solo or a
particularly spirited rendition of a song.

Failing that, there's usually the recourse of different banter from night to
night; perhaps a new joke or something. But once you're at the level of
distinguishing one concert from another on the basis of the banter spoken,
rather than anything to do with the music or the atmosphere of being in a
different venue in a different country, then it's worth asking yourself every
once in a while whether travelling substantial distances from show to show is
still worth all of the time and expense that it takes.

In the case of Kraftwerk, there isn't even banter. Once you've seen the eight
Catalogue shows, you've pretty much heard everything in its modern form. OK,
some of residencies are performed in German-speaking countries, so you could
go to a further eight Katalog shows and hear many of the lyrics sung in
German. And some of the shows feature a 3D sound-system, so you could add
further permutations of 3D sound vs. pure stereo, but haven't you then pretty
much squeezed the last drop of detail from the experience?

Kraftwerk's hardcore fans don't seem to think so. For them, it's gone beyond
the level of what even I consider to be 'of fan interest only' and comes down
to scrutinising facial expressions and other body language.

Even a technical hitch is gratefully savoured as a morsel of rare spontaneity.
I, myself, can remember feeling so bored on the second leg of Dead Can Dance's
'Anastasis' tour that I, too, felt my spirits rise when I heard a bum note or
spotted some other glitch in an otherwise 100% scripted performance.

Anyway, I love Kraftwerk and consider myself a pretty big fan. I would have
happily travelled internationally during the last three years to attend a full
eight night residency, but ticket policies, demand and the commitment involved
made it next to impossible. Thanks to the Paradiso series of shows, I now no
longer need to contemplate this.

And that's the thing. As much as I love the band and have done since I bought
my first record by them in 1978, I can't imagine following them on tour. The
performances of the individual songs are simply too similar.

Don't get me wrong. I'm having a blast at this series of shows and in no way
regret my decision to attend all eight. I just don't see much point in
repeating the experience in a different European city a few weeks or months
from now. It's the very nature of a Kraftwerk performance that makes the idea
seem rather redundant.

But to each his own. I have the utmost respect for the band's fans -- or any
band's fans, for that matter -- who are prepared to go to the effort and
expense involved in following the object of their desire.

The show starts promptly again at 20:30 and 'Trans-Europe Express' is
performed in full. Well, I say "in full", but a little qualification is needed
here.

'Endless Endless' isn't played, but since it's just a 55 second reprise of
'Europe Endless', I doubt anyone in the audience cares.

On the other hand, whilst the 'Trans-Europe Express' album clocks in at nearly
43 minutes, this evening's rendition of it is a mere 24. 'Europe Endless' is
nearly 4 minutes shorter than on record, 'The Hall Of Mirrors' is 2½ minutes
shorter, 'Showroom Dummies' 2 minutes shorter and 'Franz Schubert' reduced to
a third of its album length. Even the title track is significantly shorter
than its studio counterpart.

If you'd come specifically to hear this album, you might be left feeling a
little short-changed by this abridgement.

I'm merely pointing it out, though. I can't say that I'm too bothered by the
abbreviation, although I note that the same fate befell 'Autobahn' on the
first night.

At some point, playing a series of shorter versions crosses the line into
medley territory. We're not in danger of that here, but if you're advertising
that each show features an entire album from the band's catalogue, then the
performance of it should arguably amount to more than 55% of the album's
length. Otherwise, one could argue that only extracts are being played.

The playing order of the album is also jumbled tonight. The band hoist the
title track to the top and naturally follow with 'Abzug' and 'Metal On Metal',
but everything after that is out of order, too. They must have their reasons
for doing this, but I'm not privy to them.

Another notable detail this evening is that 'The Model' morphs into 'Das
Model', even though it's officially a Catalogue series of shows. Perhaps Ralf
forgot where he was and, once he'd started the song in German, had to
continue.

There's also a tiny glitch at about 2'20" into 'Home Computer', which throws a
split-second pause into the song. It sounds as if there's a minuscule gap in
the recording, but it actually occurred during the performance.

Finally, 'Planet Of Visions' is ditched from the second encore in favour of
'Aéro Dynamik'.

Other than that, it's business as usual tonight in Kraftwerk land.

For the sake of consistency, I've once again applied the same EQ to this
recording as to the previous two.

I recorded the show from the same position as last night's, using almost
identical settings. I've got my game together now and will hopefully be able
to record the remaining five shows in the same way, too.

Mastering the shows more or less identically afterwards, my goal here is to
produce a coherent live audio counterpart to the official studio catalogue.

Here, for your delectation then, is another excellent recording from
Kraftwerk's ongoing residency at the Paradiso. As always, samples are included
to allow you to try before you buy.

Scans of the ticket and both sides of the glasses envelope are also included.

Images for all shows as well as full size images for this show.

Images for this show: