I picked up Kraftwerk’s Minimum - Maximum at Media Play. I’d never seen them live, so I figured the price was right (about $14 for a 2-DVD set). I knew some of the songs (The Man-Machine, Autobahn, The Model, Neon Lights, Trans Europe Express, & The Robots).
The staging is extremely sparse - just the four guys in the group standing in front of their own single synthesizer with a laptop computer on each. In the background are 3 large video screens on which various images are played.
Yes, at Tribal Gathering at Luton Hoo (a half-hour or so north of London) in 1997. That performance was the group’s first live appearance in 15 years, according to the link, although I’m not sure whether I was aware at the time.
Anyway, it was a terrific experience, all the more fun for taking place in a tent at a dance music event with appropriate refreshments. My mate and I were there in time to get a spot near the front of the stage on the right side; IIRC, the organizers eventually rolled up the sides of the tent because so many people were trying to get in. Kraftwerk was without a doubt the highlight of a superb 36-odd hours for me.
Yes. Yes I have. And it was pretty much like that (except for the bit at the end were they had robots come out and play the synthesizer for them ). But it was a lot of fun nonetheless. I dunno, I don’t know if it would come off quite as well on a DVD…just the way some movies are better on the big screeen.
I was at Kraftwerk’s first American concert. Back in the 1970s sometime: I don’t remember the exact year.
The staging was similar, just the four of them at their synthesizers. No video screens of course. Each had a box in front that displayed their names in some glowing format. Rolf. Florian. etc.
Some teenage girls sat behind us, girls who obviously went to every concert that came to town with no regard for the group whatsoever. They had no idea who Kraftwerk were, but thought the German names to be the most hilarious things they had ever seen.
Watching the band’s video for “Pocket Calculator” was amusing. They stood in a line, holding what looked like oversized Palm Pilots, and awkwardly tried to rock out.
I saw them at a really big club show here about 18 months ago. It was awesome and much as the OP describes the live DVD. Thing is, with no discernible variation between the album versions and the live sound of the songs, one wonders whether the members of the group are actually doing anything on stage, as opposed to appearing to do things while a recording of their songs plays at high volume in front of some admittedly very entertaining graphics. One local reviewer suggested they might have been doing their internet banking during the show for all we knew.
I saw them back in 1991 and the setup was basically the same as others have mentioned. Several screens where they projected movies and effects in the background and then the four guys standing behind their synth (except for The Robots when the Robots played and they stepped of the stage). It was a great show.
They had a tour last year but I couldn’t get tickets.
I saw them in 2004 on their last tour. I absolutely loved the concert although it was basically just four guys standing on the stage. The videos behind them were great plus I got goose pimples when the intro to Radioactivity began. The only downside to the performance was IMO the lack of German lyrics. They did some of the songs in German, but for my taste they should’ve done all of them. Das Model is just superior to Model.
I’ve seen clips of them performing live, but haven’t been to a concert. Is anyone in this thread old enough to have seen them perform “Autobahn” on Midnight Special back when the song was on the charts? I thought it was really fascinating. They were playing Mini-Moogs and other synthesizers, which were all out of tune with themselves and each other by the time the song was over. I do have an animated video for that song, that was shown one time on a cable station in Toronto in the 1980s. I don’t know if it was the orignal video (or even if there was one), or whether an animation artist made one specifically for the song. I’ve never seen it again, anywhere.
I had a chance to see them at a music festival in September last year but they were on at the same time as the Flaming Lips, who I’d been wanting to see for ages. That was fantastic and they even played a short snatch of Radioactivity which almost made up for it, but I hear Kraftwerk put on an amazing show and I wish I’d been able to see both.
Mr. Blue…Who played the horn solo on LOVE’S, “Alone Again Or” ? I have never seen him/her credited. All research points to a member of the Baja Marimba Band. They had several horn players.
This seems like a reasonable thread to bump…on-topic, and the number of posts isn’t absurdly long.
Kraftwerk is on tour right now, and I caught it last night in Boston. It was great fun…there is something to be said for electronic music being played so loudly that you can feel the bass shake your body, and between that and the non-stop 3D videography, you don’t even get much distracted by the fact that it’s four guys standing behind podiums.
They ran 2 hours and essentially played all the hits, to the extent they could be said to have hits, and it featured a lovely, long version of Autobahn. Ralf Hütter got some long applause at the end.
). But it was a lot of fun nonetheless. I dunno, I don’t know if it would come off quite as well on a DVD…just the way some movies are better on the big screeen.