ICC AWARE Super Theatre, Sydney
Wednesday 6 December 2023
Photographer + Reviewer : Kevin Bull
Over the past week and a bit, Sydney has had the opportunity to open the musical history book and witness a couple of bands who sit very close to the origin of particular genres. Last week, Devo performed next door at the ICC Convention Centre (review), now 10 days later we get electronic pioneers, Kraftwerk at the Aware Super Theatre. These were two bucket list artists that I now feel very privileged to have see live, and if you wish to included Sir Paul McCartney (review) back in October, then 2023 has been a very good year to me.
The full history and evolution of electronic music is quite a fascinating story, and extends a lot further back than the modern discos and nightclubs that quickly jump to mind. You can go way back to the first electronic musical instruments being introduced to compositions during the 1920’s and ’30s (ie. theremin), and to the early 1950’s when music produced solely from electronic generators was first produced. With the expansion of computers and synthesisers in the 1960’s, electronic music became more accessible to musicians, and very quickly we begin to hear electronic instruments such as the mellotron, Moog synthesizer and theremin within popular music. Listening to The Beatles ‘Tomorrow Never Knows‘ (1966) and it sounds like a Brave New World is opening up. Putting this new technology in the hands of forward thinking musicians, we move into Progressive rock (Pink Floyd, Yes, Genesis), and ‘Krautrock’ (Neu!, Can, Kraftwerk).
And this is why thousand of people are here tonight seated within a modern theatre, to hear music that is decades old by four motionless musos, standing behind podiums, in front of a big-arse video screen. Does that sound tempting…. to be honest I wasn’t quite sure and had to watch a few recent live Youtube clips to get me over the line. I should not have been concerned.
Having formed in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider, and with the 2020 passing of Florian, it is Ralf who is keeping the Kraftwerk legacy alive. The setlist tonight covers their seven post breakthrough albums, essentially from Autobahn (1974) through to Tour de France (2003), and the placement of songs are quite unique, with cuts from the same album being played together. Kind of makes sense if you wish to keep the album’s time and feel all-as-one. For example, we open the night with four tracks from 1981’s Computerworld, a big chunk of Tour de France (2003) midway through the night followed by three cuts from Trans-Europe Express (1977), and closing the night with three from Techno Pop (1986). It worked a treat.
Songs were also mashed together, which leads me to my first highlight, the ‘Home Computer’ / ‘It’s More Fun To Compute‘ slice-and-dice. Visually, it was nuts, with the rear screen pulsing psychotically, and each band member’s light suit doing the same but independent of each other. ‘Home Computer”s trance inducing, ascending beats meld lovely with ‘It’s More Fun To Compute”s darker beats. The live sound hits harder and deeper than I recall on the studio recording.
Also, I had a + 1 with me who would lean over and name drop artists and songs who are indebted to the song being played, and the bridge melody of ‘Home Computer’ is a near match to the opening synth line of NKOTB’s ‘You Got It (The Right Stuff)’. I cannot unhear this now.
‘Spacelab’ delivers Georgio Moroder beats and stunning astro visuals unique to this show, with a space ship circling the globe to descend over Sydney, landing in front of the Aware Super Theatre. Beautiful touch.
Next highlight for myself was an unreleased cut that has been given the title ‘Tango‘, which we slide into following ‘Airwaves’. This is dark and menacing, with a Faithless ‘Insomnia’ feel, and has made a pleasant return to their live set after a 20 year break.
We follow a cream coloured VW Beetle on its journey along the German freeway as backdrop to ‘Autobahn‘, its circular hypnotic beats take you on that trip keeping you in motion. ‘Computer Love‘ could sit alongside The Human League in tone, the androgenous coldness of ‘The Model‘ is performed in front of black and white fashion videos has the feel of Ultravox’s ‘Vienna’, and ‘Neon Lights‘ evokes the city nightlife with its subdued beats and synth washes.
‘Geiger Counter’ introduces us to ‘Radioactivity‘, beginning slowly, dream-like, pulsating, building in tempo until it becomes a minimalist nightclub banger. A more subdued ‘Higher State of Consciousness’ (Wink) as my + 1 puts forward.
Midway through the set, we are presented with half of the Tour de France album, with the exhausted breathing being used as its introduction. ‘Etape 1‘ congers up The Chemical Brothers’ ‘Out Of Control’, and with ‘Etape 2‘ I’m feeling Massive Attack Blue Lines. It’s a minimalist soundscapes that would not be out of place in a chemical enhanced, darkened club.
‘Trans-Europe Express‘ with its rhythmic pulse, that circular beat of metal wheel on train track, it’s a hypnotic feel which is often within Kraftwerk’s music.
My entry point to Kraftwerk and major highlight of the night, ‘The Robots‘ deliver in its primary black, red and white visuals. Beats are solid and harder than on the studio cut, and confirms to me exactly my this band is so important to myself and the thousands who are here with me tonight.
Closing out the night were the opening three tracks from 1986’s Techno Pop, filling the Aware Super Theatre with dense beats that could easily be found in a modern night club. As we sing “Music Non Stop“, the four band member individually take their bow, with Ralf Hütter the final to stand under the spotlight. It was a fitting final touch, and a special night that has since sent me into a deep dive into the Kraftwerk catalog.
