Kraftwerk - 3D Tour
The Sage
Gateshead
UK
2017-06-14

Not my usual fayre...when this show was announced I had a real "do I, don't I" moment, ultimately reconciled by taking the view that they're "on the doorstep", so I'd might as well as the likelihood is I'd never have as convenient an opportunity to see these frontiersmen again. Convenient it may have been, easy it wasn't. Tickets sold out in minutes.
I hadn't appreciated just how strong a following this lot still had, and when I got to the venue it was clear this was going to be "an event". Lots of Kraftwerk "lookalikes" (red shirts, black ties & trousers...), people of a certain age having made some effort.
I like an air of expectancy before a concert, and this one had it in sack loads...with the added twist of everyone wearing 3D glasses to fully appreciate the 3D imagery that animated the show.
And so, on with the show - and it is a SHOW. Four virtually static performers at their illuminated podiums, in front of a giant screen from which eminated retro-techno imagery. And boy, does it take you back...to a time when even I felt technology was almost understandable yet wonderous at the same time. So, so stylish...a bit kitsch one might argue, but comforting nevertheless. A perfect accompanyment to the regimented electronica which was surprisingly familiar to even a sceptic like me. My curiosity was well founded, and like everyone else I was soon immersed in the experience, almost disappearing into the pools of lo-fi digital landscapes hypnotised by the heavy, metronomic pulse of the "pioneers at the podium". This is more than a concert, it's an experience...an art installation perhaps. It ain't rock 'n' roll, but it's infectiously entertaining nevertheless.
The show seemed to last less time than it took for the tickets to sell out, the truth being that we'd been engaged for a little over two hours. Whilst there was much enthusiastic cheering between pieces, the audience was absorbed into virtual silence during the numbers.
I can't provide the visuals, but here's my take of the audio:

01 Intro
02 Numbers
03 Computer World
04 It's More Fun to Compute/Home Computer
05 Computer Love
06 The Man-Machine
07 Spacelab
08 The Model
09 Neon Lights
10 Autobahn (short version)
11 Airwaves
12 Intermission/News
13 Geiger Counter/Radioactivity
14 Electric Cafe
15 Tour De France/Prologue/Etape 1/Chrono/Etape 2
16 Trans Europe Express/Metal on Metal/Abzug
17 Encore Break Eins
18 The Robots
19 Encore Break Zwei
20 Aerodynamik
21 Planet Of Visions (short version)
22 Boing Boom Tschak/Techno Pop/Music Non Stop

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