Der Mensch Maschine

Warning! If you are not an obsessive Kraftwerk fan, stop reading now.

Kraftwerk performed an awesome concert this evening at Namba Hatch. A fantastic set with their 3-D display. They opened with The Robots. Interesting. Probably no robots to appear later then. (Correct.) Next, Metropolis, followed by Numbers. The visuals here were great with numbers leaping off the screen. Computer World was next, followed by The Man Machine. The beautiful painting on the album sleeve really came to animated life during this song. Next came Spacelab. Incredible. A friend of mine whom I ate with after the concert said she saw the Tokyo concert a few days earlier and where, during tonight's show, the spacelab flew over Tokyo, this evening it flew over Lake Biwa. Spacelab was followed by The Model and then Neon Lights. Next came Autobahn with bright, clean, Utopian graphics, followed (appropriately) by Tour De France. A great commentary on how the idealised vision of the automobile was sullied and replaced by the eco' friendly bicycle. Following that was Vitamin. Again, the 3-D came into its own here with vitamin tablets flying around and bubbles flying off the screen as they flew out of the glasses containing dissolving vitamin tablets. One of the highlights of the show came next; Radioactivity, with its new lyric - Fukushima occasionally replacing Hiroshima. That got a huge cheer. Trans Europe Express came next, followed by Aero-Dynamik. That's where today's blipfoto is from. This was followed by the finale, as always, Boing Boom Tschack and Musique Non Stop. What, no Dentaku? Of course, they couldn't leave that off the set so there was the encore - Pocket Calculator followed by Dentaku. Then, as if that wasn't enough, two versions of Expo 2000.

For me, that show proved once and for all that not only are Kraftwerk great musicians and composers, they are also incredible graphic artists. Each song in the concert had a distinct look. The lighting on the synths changed to compliment the background display and, through use of clever lighting effects, so did the piping on the bands clothes. No doubt about it, Kraftwerk are the greatest multi-media artists ever.

Here is my Kraftwerk 3D blipfolio folder.