History tells us that this was only the third time the German techno-poppers had played in Brighton, and the first time since 1981. Apparenly they first played the Dome in '75 (oh, to have witnessed that). Rumour also has it that their planned appearance at the Dome, in support of The Man Machine album, was cancelled, due to lack of interest! Hard to believe especially when you find out the album made it to number nine.

Still, music is a fickle old game, isn't it? Like many successful bands of yesteryear, Kraftwerk are hearing the sounds of the cash register go into overdrive as we humans display a perhaps unhealthy appetite for nostalgia and familiarity, at the expense of the new and adventurous. Tonight's gig, like that of their UK tour as a whole, sold out very quickly indeed.

But there's also a sense of curiosity, too. Why else shell out in excess of £50 for a ticket? Many here tonight will not have seen these titanic influencers on modern music; from synth-pop to technno via electro. They may have only made one proper studio album since 1986, and their creative juices have largely evaporated, but this is Kraftwerk, man! It may not ever happen again. And crucially, this was part of their 3-D tour, on the back of the re-release of their back catalogue.

So, tonight's show was a ‘greatest hits' type affair, spanning their career from the game-changing Autobahn (1974) to their last offering Tour de France (2003), but in no particular chronological order. From 'Numbers' to 'Computer Love', from 'The Model' to 'Trans-Europe Express' and from 'The Robots' to 'Musique Non Stop', the four Tron-lookalikes stood there in front of their little machines on top of their podium desks, enabling this stream of now familiar sounds. What once would have been otherworldly, is now uniquitous, thanks to the synth, electro and dance revolutions that have subsequently taken place in their lifetimes.

What's changed though is that the earlier analogue warmth and mellowness of their classic '74-'82 period has largely been replaced by a decidely modern sensibility. The beat is a bit bigger, the pace is a bit faster, and the infinite spaces that the old Kraftwerk music would have had are a little busier. There's a distinct tranciness here and there, and ocassionally the building reverberates rather unkindly with the beat. And yet, someone continually shouts 'louder!' at the men on stage.

Times move on, and the last thing you want to do is sound 'old fashioned'. But listening to the original vinyl recording of the ‘Trans Europe Express' track after the gig I was struck by the hypnotic minimalism of the groove, that tries to replicate the sound of 'metal on metal', along with the sparseness of the other elements. It really did sound out of this world (as did Detroit techno, heavily influenced by Kraftwerk, and which employed similar aesthetics in its early days). Considered by many to be the greatest album, they didn't perform 'Showroom Dummies', nor attempted the beautifully paced disco-trance inflected groove of 'Europe Endless', perhaps missing a trick with this enthusiastic Europe-centric audience, almost certainly heavily biased towards Remain. Moreover, 'Europe Endless' stands up extraordinarily well today, even in the lyrical department, not Kraftwerks' greatest asset. Although their uber pop simplicity has a childlike charm all its own.

This being the 3-D tour, special Kraftwerk glasses were dispensed to one and all, and we were treated to a carefully conceived visual film that had some a-woopin' and a-hollerin' in appreciation. Mixing old vintage black and white film (eg, 'The Model') with cutting edge CGI, the backdrop acting as a stunning visual delight, the overall effect like being in a cinema (everyone was seated here), what Kraftwerk call 'gesamtkunstwerk', a total work of art.

Now that we are firmly rooted in the future of robotics, AI, and the like, Kraftwerk are not so much the future as the here and now. Their time continues to come.
Jeff Hemmings

Read our Kraftwerk Spotlight piece: https://brightonsfinest.com/html/index.php/spotlight/2489-kraftwerk-spotlight-2017

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