Kraftwerk at the Manchester Velodrome - the shape of things to come?
I was going to write an in-depth gig review of the Kraftwerk/Steve Reich gig at the Manchester Velodrome, but decided against. For a start, there are numerous review already in the mix (including some that might have been written by people who didn't actually go). And of course, as we couldn't get press passes (and had to pay our way in), why should be spend our time lauding it up? Saying that, there are some things we couldn't resist commenting on.
In terms of the music, this was Kraftwerk by numbers, essentially the same set as they brought to Manchester a few years back (and not far from the first time I saw them in the early 90s). The Model, The Robots, Radioactivity, Home Computer, Showroom Dummies, Autobahn, you know the score. Even the robots seemed old hat, there was even a Florian Schneider one and he's long gone. Surely the band can stretch to a few new heads?
But what really set this gig apart was the 3D. Yes, donning the dodgy specs, we saw a gig like no other - images of pills and power stations thrust into our faces, words hovering in front of our vision, effects taking hold of our heads. It was weird, it was bizarre - it could be the future. Of course, only certain bands can pull it off - the kind of bands whose audience sits and watches a gig rather than throwing themselves head first into a mosh pit. Bands like Kraftwerk for example. Or Jean-Michel Jarre. or anyone else whose actual consists of standing statuesque-like in front of an old keyboard. If that's you, get some 3D into your act.
Oh yes - and there were the Olympic cyclists too, doing a few circuits round the Velodrome as Kraftwerk knocked out Tour de France. Nice touch, if not the life-changing event some have suggested it was. Great gig, great sound, nice robots, coolTron suits, amazing 3D and celebrity cyclists too. Steve Reich as well, if your tastes are more avante garde than my own. Shame about the bar running dry, the metal box venue (on the hottest day of the year) and the queue for food, so taking all that into account, we'll give it a 9 out of 10.
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