Kraftwerk stopped at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, CA Tuesday night (7/5) with their 3-D tour. Electronic pioneers Kraftwerk were formed in Dusseldorf, Germany back in 1969 with Ralf Hutter and Florian Schneider. The group released their debut album in 1970. Kraftwerk broke up in 1983 until reuniting again just three years later. Schneider left in 2008. In 2014 Kraftwerk received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, then in 2018 won a Grammy for Best Dance/ Electronic album. Schneider passed away in 2020, just a year before the group would be inducted into the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame. To name a few groups influenced by Kraftwerk: Depeche Mode, OMD, The Human League, Soft Cell, and Gary Numan. The group is not one, not two, but four keyboard players. With Hutter is Fritz Hilpert, Henning Schmitz, and Falk Grieffenhagen. This is certainly the ultimate visual tour of the summer. It could simply be described as an immersive experience. Each audience remember receives an exclusive pair of Kraftwerk 3-D glasses. It was easy to see how enthusiastic the audience was over certain songs.
This two+ hour show was certainly a travel through time, not just the songs but also the accompanying videos. The group’s outfits looked like motion capture suits. It was also an instant dance party. This is certainly a show that's fun for all ages, whether you’ve been a fan for 50 years or just discovered their music. The stage is set up simply, with the four members and 1 keyboard each on a long riser with a video screen behind. The set opened with “Numbers” and some of the imagery was very Matrix style. The next few songs were all about computers with “Computer World,” “Computer World..2,” “It’s More Fun to Compute,” and “Home Computer.” A few fan favorites before the encore were “Autobahn,” which had a very retro-style animated driving video to go along with it looking like a video game from the '80s,” “Tour De France,” “The Model,” “Radioactivity,” and “Trans Europe-Express." This one-of-a-kind show is a must see. Kraftwerk’s music could be described as a combination of math technology and science.
The encore began with a song that any level of Kraftwerk fan would know: “The Robots.” The group had stayed off the stage as the video showed and by magic appeared the robots themselves in physical form doing their dance moves in the iconic red dress shirts, black ties, and gray trousers. Another fan favorite came during the encore with “Pocket Calculator.” The show came to an end with “Music Non Stop.” The North American tour runs through July 10th, ending in Vancouver, Canada.
