holy shit kraftwerk!

Originally posted by beetsnotbeats:
Yup, $40 per, not too outrageous.

Plus $9.25 in additional charges…thank you, tickets.com….

Originally posted by Derek:
which show do you think will be better to go to, monday or tuesday? i can only make one as i'm 120 miles away.

Originally posted by myuman:
The 40 bucks aside, why are these shows still able to be had?

Originally posted by Bags:

Originally posted by myuman:
The 40 bucks aside, why are these shows still able to be had?

You can say the same for the still not sold out Gang of Four show….

Originally posted by SPARX:
I'm hoping it's different than last years Toronto show but I'm not holding my breath.

Originally posted by Jonas Grumby:

How was that Toronto show [/QB]

Ricoh Coliseum
Toronto, ON
April 23, 2004
By Joel McConvey


Much like their recorded output, a Kraftwerk show takes a little while to gestate, particularly if itâ??s been preceded by almost five months of anticipation â?? not to mention a 12-year hiatus, during which the German techno pioneers have ascended to the status of messiahs in the realm of electronic music. Haste is obviously not an issue for der lads and besides, their show at Torontoâ??s Ricoh Coliseum (formerly the CNEâ??s Horse Palace) offered plenty to mull over.

For one, the obvious question: why now? While the obvious answer is the quartetâ??s new record, Tour de France Soundtracks (a vague revisitiation of 1983â??s Tour De France EP, which marked the beginning of the bandâ??s obsession with cycling), the larger question still begs â?? what prompted Kraftwerk to emerge from their famed Dusseldorf studio, KlingKlang, at this juncture, particularly since the e-music communityâ??s been programming the bandâ??s praises for years?

As it turns out, the factors are myriad, but the short answer is this: Kraftwerk finally sound contemporary. And though itâ??s taken a few tweaks and revisions, itâ??s mostly just because the rest of the world has finally caught up with their squiggly synth-pop masterworks.

Thatâ??s not to say theyâ??ve won the hearts of the youth. The large Ricoh crowd was overwhelmingly male, balding, bespectacled and, well, nerdy, and this 25-year-old writer was probably the youngest person in attendance, save a few tots whoâ??d been dragged along by their parents. Two of the nightâ??s more frustrating elements â?? a lack of motion on the large, general admission Ricoh floor and a generally surly attitude among audience members â?? can be blamed on the fact that itâ??s likely been decades since most of the bandâ??s fans attended an arena show.


But once the lights went down, human quibbles took a back seat to the machines and their enigmatic keepers. Appearing first in silhouette against a red-lit backdrop, the four members of Kraftwerk (Originals Rolf Hutter and Florian Schneider and utility players Henning Schmitz and Fritz Hilpert) announced themselves for what, in 2004, they are above all: icons who revel in their own iconography. Standing straight and proper in front of new digital consoles, dressed in trademark black suits and red shirts, they presented themselves as legends â?? a move that wouldâ??ve backfired for most rock bands, but worked incredibly well for musicians whoâ??ve often used mannequins and other quasi-idols to stand in for their human forms.

Even better was that the rest of the show was spent alternately playfully reinforcing and artfully deconstructing that initial suggestion. The set, as close to a hit parade as Kraftwerk comes, often hinted at nostalgia: the rudimentary, text-heavy visuals accompanying "Man-Machine" and "Vitamin" suggested a kind of consummately European retro-futurism that faded into kitsh some time in the late-â??80s â?? they dared you to read Kraftwerk as a cultural artifact and nothing more. But for all that, the music sounded as fresh as ever. Updated versions of "Trans Europe Express" and "Radioactivity" flirted with industrial-techno and contemporary IDM, proving that Kraftwerk are still as musically forward-thinking as they were 20 years ago. With the possible exceptions of pop-esque tunes like "The Model," "Tour De France" and "Autobahn" (which, combined, constitute the sum total of what Air owes their entire existence to), the bandâ??s set wouldâ??ve sounded right at home on huge club speakers at some sweaty electro warehouse-party circa 2002 â?? or maybe even 2006.

The interplay between past and present came to a head during the bandâ??s stunning encores: a version of "The Robots" â??playedâ?? by Kraftwerkâ??s android avatars, and a visually captivating mini-set in which the band re-emerged as gllowing green cyborgs, churning out precise, minimalist versions of "Elektro Kardiogramm," new tune "Aerodynamik" and classic "Musique Non-Stop." The last two tunes in particular were wry statements from a band so clearly aware of their own mythmaking, yet so gloriously focused on innovation that they come off as almost oblivious to the real implications of their music. The songs were, in fact, downright playful â?? a quality of the band that its legion of turtle-necked disciples would do well to remember next time theyâ??re standing on a dance floor, thinking so intently about the concept of motion that theyâ??re unable to move. Even the man-machine needs to get loose sometimes and Kraftwerk proved, if anything, that they deserve the recognition they get for spearheading the modern dance music movement â?? and that really, a 12-year holiday isnâ??t so outlandish when youâ??ve created the template for an entire universe of sound.

Originally posted by twangirl:
Although I am bespectacled, I am not male and balding and I was a the Toronto show.
There were more people under 35 than I had expected to see, and I didn't get the aggro vibe from the audience that the reviewer got at all. I left my seat and was dancing in one of the large portal areas, where I met a bunch of interesting folks from all over. Some from the Toronto area, one from Montreal, one from England originally but now living in NYC, and a couple from Chicago. Everyone was just dancing around and it was a good time.
His show review is pretty accurate though…the films and lighting were stunning, the sound quality was excellent [especially for an arena show], and their outfits were cool. I was glad they brought the robots. It was a career retrospective set list and I heard most everything I was hoping for. It was definitely worth the trip up there to see them and I'm psyched to see them again here, even if they do the exact same show as they did in Toronto.
OK, so the friend that I went with is male, balding, over 40 and bespectacled.

bearman wrote:
KRAFTWERK…pretty please???

Julian, wrote:

bearman wrote:
KRAFTWERK…pretty please???

Seconded.

Seth wrote:
ok

Vas wrote:
Kraftwerk
4.4.14
930 club

(this is real)

grateful wrote:
Kraftwerk ticket info:
On sale 1/23
$55

Frank wrote:
Back in the seventies, Kraftwerk were good. But in 2005!!!!  :eek:  Come one, they had a very limited shelf life!! Especially after Mike Myers on Saturday night live and his "sprocket" (or whatever it was) skit. How could you ever take them serious again after that?