Kraftwerk was here 6th of February, and there was an article in the Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat, here's the translation/summary, I didn't translate all and not very well either.
Because I'm lazy. Ok, so here goes:
"The Old Ice Hall was filled with people from almost all agegroups, anywhere from the 20-year old techno and pop fans to middle-aged proge fans. It seems that everyone wanted to see the rarely touring band. Kraftwerk still has a strange charisma, even though the older founding member, Ralf H?tter, will be 58 this year.
"The founding members of Kraftwerk are physically the same age group as the most living 60's rocklegends, but the road Kraftwerk chose has taken them far from for example The Rolling Stones' geriatric-erotic nostalgy rock.
"Of course Kraftwerk are able to be nostalgic in their own right. At the two-hour concert on Friday most of the songs performed were recorded over 20 years ago.
[...]
"Kraftwerk can be listened to not only as "the pioneers of techno" but also as just a pop-band. The group's melodies and song structures have always been very simple. Exotics and futuristic pathos are made with tones of melodies, monotonic repetition and with visual special effects especially visible in the gigs: showy pictures projected in the background and the bandmembers themselves are hardly moving.
"This time the novelty were the suits that glow in the dark, already seen in the Music Television Awards-gala, and which the band put on only for the last songs.
There is also something quite comical in extreme reducement and technological advancement. One of the most light-hearted numbers in the show was Vitamin , during which gigantic pills were floating on the backgroung canvas. H?tter's laconic lyrics "Kalium, Kalzium, Eisen, Magnesium, Mineral, Biotin... A-B-C-D Vitamin" distantly brought to mind a beloved Finnish chidlren's song
Popsi popsi porkkanaa (eat eat carrots). :wink:
Closet to the middle-of-the-road pop Kraftwerk got with their hits from the 70's. First they played their only true list hit, Autobahn, and after that the melancholic songs from The Man-Machine album, Model and Neonlights.
After the new, grand and fresh songs heard in the beginning of the concert, Expo2000 and Tour de France 2003, the old 70's electronic classics sounded sympathetically rough and unpolished.
"Kraftwerk has apparently stored at least a part of the original sound to their portable PCs and they play them in the most authentic form possible. Technically it isn't much of a procedure, but it does emphasize Kraftwerk's musical history value.
To balance that, the arrangements of the most rhytmic songs had been updated once more. Now the The Robots and Pocket Calculator had a more flexible, accented groove.
"Imperfection does not suit Kraftwerk's image, but one cannot consider the opening gig of the tour hundred percent success.
Too many songs were streched due to their rigid structure and became over-long, and many people left the place before the last numbers, right after the fantastic robot-show in The Robots.
The soundtechnique did not work without problems either; now and then H?tter's microphone cut the sound like in a cheap karaoke. (And apparently there were some long queues outside the venue right until the gig started.)"
Well I'd say damn those people who left in the middle of the show, if they didn't want to see the band, they could've given the tickets to me. There is also a picture of the performance in this article: they only have sort of tables with laptops on them, and they're all wearing Mench-Machineish suits, black coats and trousers, red shirts and black ties. And they just stand there, of course. 8)
Edit: Pictures
HERE
