4 December 2023 – Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre – words by Joe Harbour – pictures by Bec Harbour
My Monday will be a great start to the week as I remember I have a gig to attend, and the gig is one I’m kinda a bit indifferent towards at first. Not because I dislike the band I’m just feeling a bit flat, I figure…I’ve been sick in the time leading up to this.
But as the day approaches I recall songs and things I like about the band and the I realise the scope of influence this particular band has.
When it comes to electronic music nearly everyone, it seems, will give this band credit, with some critics calling them the Beatles of electronic music.
I’m talking about none other than Kraftwerk.
The thing to keep in mind about Kraftwerk and the influence they have is that they started almost 50 years ago, using synthetic noise to create some of the most timeless music you’re ever going to listen to.
Don’t believe me? Listen to some songs and see what you start to compare them to, then remember that the song is likely from the mid 70’s and that the song could come out today.or any other time period. And if they sound like nothing you’ve heard, even better!
Genres like EDM, Techno, Punk/Industrial music, Club music, Hip Hop anything that has beats, owes something to this group.Think of groups like Joy Division/New Order, Depeche Mode, Solsonic Force, Big Black, daft punk, The Prodigy, honestly the list is huge so get on Google if you’re so inclined. I think Apple Music and Spotify have lists dedicated to who they have influenced.
Anyway I hope you catch my drift.
The Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre is the locale for this show, I’m told it’s almost sold out so there’s roughly 2500 people showing up. The crowd tonight is another eclectic mix of ravers, tweakers, old people, young people, punks, goths and who knows what else. It’s cool though, my vibe honestly!
After being seated we are treated to an intro with us simply looking at a pixelated image of 4 guys at their keyboards and a little blip track to accompany this.
Then darkness.
Kraftwerk – BCEC – photos by Bec Harbour
The 4 keyboards onstage were lit up so we could see the outlines and the first of many songs was underway!
The band brought this giant TV back drop where they could show images that were particular to the song being played. This was really cool in a retro nostalgic way as the imagery was quite simple and of the times I suppose but worked well with what our ears were being treated to.
‘Numbers/Computer World’ were the first cab off the rank and the back drop did its thing with the big display of green numbers floating, mixing, and just being random in the background. The outfits worn by the band members also had lights attached in a way that showed their outline and would change colour from time to time.This went well with the outline of the keyboards and overall neon aesthetic.
Up next was odes to the computer with ‘Its more fun to compute’ and ‘Home Computer’. As you guessed it a computer image was lurking in the background looking slightly out of date but who cares? It was again, a mark of the times and looks better than a smartphone or desk top from today if I’m honest.
Kraftwerk – BCEC – photos by Bec Harbour
After this we got ‘Spacelab’, ‘Airwaves’ and ‘Tango’ and some really cool imagery of earth from outer space.
Next up was ‘The Man Machine’, ‘Electric Cafe’ then it was on to ‘autobahn’ a classic about those highways in Germany. Next we got another classic in ‘Computer Love’ I quite like this song so was happy to see it included in the set, as if it wasn’t going to be though…
After this we had probably one of Kraftwerk’s best known songs in ‘The Model’. I have to say this is another favourite and I’d say the same of most of the crowd as they roared approval when they had finished playing it!
Then in theme with everything we got the song ‘Neon nights’ and that was followed by ‘Geiger Counter/Radioactivity’. During these songs I noticed names of places where there had been nuclear disasters, so you may understand the topics or subtexts to these songs.
The following songs were a medley of ‘Tour de France 1983 / Prologue / Tour de France Étape 1 / Chrono / Tour de France Étape 2 with footage from over the years of the race in France…
‘Vitamin’ was next, I have to say I like these quirky kind of tracks because it’s more like art than a normal style of song.
Then the back drop went dark and a white shape that first I thought was a golf club head start to get bigger as it made its way closer which turned out to be the graphic for ‘Trans Europe Express’ (which is a train) and so we got to watch computerised imagery of a train during this song.
Then another favourite I get in my head from time to time ‘The Robots’. It’s catchy. It could be about us.
‘Planet of visions’ was next and then lastly another medley of songs in the form of ‘Boing Boom Tschak / Techno Pop / Music Non-Stop’. They each then left the stage one by one, giving us a bow, leaving whoever was left to fill out their piece of the song.
And then they were done.
Wow, a massive set to be sure, my knee was aching from sitting a bit hunched up but man I am glad I endured it to witness this epic show of electronic music history.
As you may or may not know this is their last tour so if you missed out that sucks as the show was a blast and so many classic songs were played I left feeling like they were my favourite band.
