Detroit Show : Play List/Equipment List

[chim...@erinet.com]

My friend and I sludged through the cold pouring rain and dodged
several automobile wrecks on route to the Kraftwerk concert in
Detroit. After four long hours on the road, we arrived in front of
The State Theatre and were immediately awestruck by the bold
and solitary letters K R A F T W E R K up on the marque. After
standing in a line that practically incompassed the entire huge
music hall, we finally found ourselves about four rows from the stage.
With both of us armed with binoculars and anxiousness we were
determined to make the most of this rare event! Ralf Huetter, Henning
Schmitz, Fritz Hilpert, and Florian Schneider took the stage at a
little past 8:30 clad in black jumpsuits that zipped up the front and
played the following set:

Intro
Numbers
Computer World
Home Computer
The Man Machine (great version!)
Tour de France
Autobaun
The Model (funkier version)
Airwaves (very slow, rhythmless version)
Tribal (at least that is what the computer monitor said)
Radioactivity
T.E.E.
Encore 1: Pocket Calculator
Encore 2: The Robots (the Fritz Robot malfunctioned)
Encore 3: Instrumental/Musique Non Stop

For encore #3 the band came out wearing black body suits
covered with florescent yellow ribbing and florescent yellow
sun glasses. Very cool effect!

Equipment list:

2 Doepfer MAQ 16/3 MIDI/Analogue Sequencers
1 Ensoniq DP/4 effects module ?
1 Studio Electronics SE1 rack-mount MiniMoog
1 Nord Rack 2
1 Waldorf Microwave
3 Computers
2 Sony video decks
1 SMPTE clock
1 Doepfer RegelWerk MIDI fader/Trigger Sequencer
1 Korg single rack space unit with about 10 knobs
1 Yamaha rack mount synth. Maybe a TG77?
1 double rack space synth that had a lit up 'smiley face' on it
1 DigiTech effects unit
A bunch of mixers

[Erik J. Eid]

chim...@erinet.com wrote:

>The State Theatre and were immediately awestruck by the bold
>and solitary letters K R A F T W E R K up on the marque. After
>standing in a line that practically incompassed the entire huge
>music hall

When my friend and I arrived the line was around one corner and almost
back to the next street. It truly amazed me because there was less of
a line at Duran Duran's concert a few months back, and DD has (or so I
thought) a more recognized name. It was good to see.

I've often felt alone in my appreciation for Kraftwerk. Only a few
people in my collection of friends like electronic music, none care
for Kraftwerk (until now - I corrupted my friend with the concert
*grin*), and I've met only one other person who even knew who
Kraftwerk was before I met her. I was definitely glad to see such a
large turnout.

>Ralf Huetter, Henning Schmitz, Fritz Hilpert, and Florian Schneider
>took the stage at a little past 8:30 clad in black jumpsuits that
>zipped up the front and played the following set:

Was it me, or did Henning Schmitz look an awful lot like Nicolas Cage?

Chad Schaefer <csch...@logiconnect.com> wrote (in "Chicago Review"):

>I'm not going into too many details, but the set was the same as has
>been listed for the other shows.. a beautiful sight to behold, I must
>say. My only regret is that it was SRO. The show was worthy of a theater
>with seats... A beautiful high tech symphony, if you will.

Actually, given that nearly all of the versions of the songs were the
more recent "dancier" versions and the bass was really accentuated at
the Detroit show, I was disappointed there wasn't more room to dance.
I certainly felt the need, particularly during the two new songs.
Then again, if I could have danced, I might have missed more of the
performance and video!

>The video was sharp and crisp, the band looked like they were thoroughly
>enjoying themselves, and that made for a great time.

Florian smiled, which doesn't fit the image I inferred from earlier
messages. Henning and Fritz were more expressive than Ralf and
Florian, perhaps because they haven't spent years being assimilated
into the Kraftwerk mystique.

I think the only thing I really didn't like about the concert was that
the bass was so heavy that the few times Ralf actually sang, it was
extremely hard to hear him clearly.

The videos were very enjoyable, particularly the more abstract,
computer-generated ones that went along with "Numbers", "Home
Computer", and "Man Machine". It's too bad there isn't an enhanced
CD-ROM collection with video to go along with the music...

>The mixed crowd of oldsters, ravers, 20somethings and.... hippies?
>Seemed to meld well and had the enthusiasm of a mob of twelve year old
>girls in the heyday of the New Kids on the Block.

This was very nice to see. Even though I'd read how wide the range of
Kraftwerk fans is, it wasn't until I saw it in person that I
appreciated it.

Back to chim...@erinet.com...:

>Tribal (at least that is what the computer monitor said)

>Encore 3: Instrumental/Musique Non Stop

I really liked the two new songs. It's nice to see Kraftwerk delving
a bit into trance and some faster dance; even "The Mix" seems kind of
slow sometimes in these days of 160+ BPM dance tracks. But only
sometimes... :)

The songs did have the trademark Kraftwerk sounds. It sounded like
the voice-generator was getting a phoneme workout and the many layers
of bass lines were quite similar to "instruments" from other tunes.
It's almost as if they took all of their individual sounds, put them
into a blender, and mixed them all together. (Forgive the pun.)

I wouldn't mind seeing Kraftwerk do their take on the music genres
they directly or indirectly spawned. (Can you imagine Ralf and
Florian getting down with some drum 'n bass?) In fact, I would very
much like it.

Now my appetite for Kraftwerk is whetted again, and we are cruelly
teased, because who knows when we'll have more material or another
concert here? *sigh*

If anyone from Kraftwerk is reading this message - it was an
absolutely fantastic show. Danke.

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