It's nearly 40 years since Kraftwerk released Autobahn, the first entry in their commercially successful catalogue of 8 albums that pioneered electronic music. This year, the band, fronted by sole-surviving member Ralf Hutter have toured the world, playing the full catalogue in 8-night residencies at iconic venues and art galleries. Starting in January in Dusseldorf at the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, each concert was supported by 3-D visuals. The tour continued to the Tate Modern in London, the Akasaka Blitz in Tokyo and the Opera house in Sydney.
The clamour for tickets at the London shows was such that the Tate's website crashed. With only 1,000 tickets available each night, it's unsurprising that most were disappointed. For those that did miss out, Kraftwerk duly announced a handful of festival dates across Europe, including a main-stage Saturday night headline slot at Latitude, in Henham Park, Suffolk.
Latitude is where I found myself on Saturday July 20th, for Kraftwerk's headline spot. Latitude is a small and laid-back festival, where all of the main stages are within a few minutes walk of each other. This makes overlapping slots less of a disaster and reduces the need for cross site hikes to catch must-see bands. Southwold seemed to have missed the memo that a heatwave was on across the rest of the country. A cool, overcast and drizzly day was very welcome after the following few days had seen blazing sun and temperatures reaching 30 degrees. It's perhaps thanks to this that the crowd in the impressive Obelisk Arena (Latitude's main stage) were able to greet the band with such energy and enthusiasm.
During the rest of the day, Everything Everything, Jagwar Ma, Efterklang, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Hot Chip had impressed appreciative crowds, but discussion of the upcoming performance of Kraftwerk wasn't far from most conversations. Audiences at each stage were increasingly swelled by fans wearing Kraftwerk t-shirts, most with a pair of 3D glasses carefully stored in their pockets. Indeed, Hot Chip front-man Alexis Taylor led their hour-long supporting set wearing a blue Autobahn t-shirt and teased that there was some impressive kit waiting back stage to be set up for the headline act.
As set up for Kraftwerk began, excitement increased around the arena, with their iconic platforms laid out in front of the unveiled 3D screen. If anyone had any doubts that 3D could work in front of a crowd of 30,000 outside in a field, these were put to rest as test images popped and glowed across the arena.
Kraftwerk appeared promptly at 9.30 to a roar from the crowd. Their set began with a powerful, driving rendition of The Robots from The Man Machine. On the 3D screen, four images of the band as robotic androids reached out to greet the crowd and welcome them to the show. A beautiful performance of The Man Machine followed a few tracks later and was the highlight for many as the lyrics cleverly and poetically played themselves out on the screen behind the band.
This was a crowd pleasing set of their most popular and enduring songs. A much appreciated 15-minute version of Autobahn signaled the mid-point of the show and preceded my favourite part of the concert, Tour de France, which saw as much dancing as any other song played. Visuals showed classic footage of the Tour, amidst liberal use of red, white and blue and cycling graphics that took the audience on a journey from the first to the final stage of the Tour, the glamour, the pain, sweat and the glory of victory.
What stuck with me following the show is that there were moments of real beauty, sometimes in surprising places that demonstrated the beauty of the relationship between man, machine, the natural and technological worlds.
Radioactivity and Trans-Europe Express followed in the 2nd half of the show, before finishing with Musique Non-Stop, in which each member of the band left their platform in turn, taking a bow under spotlight and receiving the appreciation of the crowd. Having provided vocals for the performance, Hutter was last to leave, saying simply to the crowd, 'Good night and auf weidersehen'.
Kraftwerk continue a busy touring schedule this year, but Hutter has teased that a 9th entry in to the catalogue may materialise. Kraftwerk are a band that may outlive all of its original members. Whether they do, whether a further album comes and whether their tour continues, I'm pleased at least to have been at Henham Park to see them at this stage of their career.
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