Kraftwerk in Coventry and Birmingham

 Kraftwerk in Coventry and Birmingham.

by Pete Clemons

A few years ago I noticed that German rock band, Kraftwerk, were appearing at Symphony Hall Birmingham. Having never seen them play live since 1976 I really fancied it until, that was, when I enquired about tickets. Not only did I discover that the event had sold out, I also found out that the ticket prices had been an extortionate price. Which all kind of surprised me as I hadn't realised that they were so popular. And yes, I admit, the fact I hadn't really taken much notice of them for over 40 years meant I was completely out of touch.

But when I did think it through maybe I should not have been surprised by their popularity. After all back in the early 1980s Kraftwerk had been a major influence on the new romantic scene that burst out of London clubs such as Billy's and Blitz.

Technologically, I am certain that Kraftwerk would have moved on from when I had last paid any real notice of them. After all, they were never the kind of band to sit on one idea for too long.

Even during the mid 1970s, apart from a keyboard, Kraftwerk had removed the last recognisable instrument from when they began several years earlier. That instrument had been a violin and they replaced it with synthetic drums.

Each drum disc gave a different sound, such as bongo's and snares, by completing the contact with the spring steel batons they held. The hope then was to get rid of keyboards and create jackets with lapels that could be played by touch.

When Kraftwerk released their forth album, Autobahn, during late 1974 the band themselves called it 'Machine Music'. The sounds were created in a studio in Dusseldorf, programmed then recreated on stage with the minimum of fuss. Autobahn was based on the rhythm of cars, trucks and bridges all heard while driving through Germany.

Autobahn's title track took up one side of an LP and lasted for just over 22 minutes. A 3 minute 5 second edited version was released as a single in the UK during 1975 and proved to be an unexpected hit for the band. Just failing to crack the top 10.

And during 1975 Kraftwerk completed a UK tour appearing at the nearby Birmingham Town Hall. For that tour the band introduced new recruit Karl Bartos. Until then, and up till the recording of the Autobahn album, the band had been Ralf Hutter, Florian Schneider, Wolfgang Flur and violinist Klaus Roeder who was with Kraftwerk during 1974. long enough though to work on the Autobahn album but had left before its release. In fact, for the bands earlier releases, Kraftwerk were, ostensibly, just Ralf and Florian.

For that Birmingham concert the bands first three albums were represented by way of performing Kling Klang, Ruckzuck and Tanzmusik. But of course their latest release was being promoted and music such as Kometenmelodie 1 and 2 and of course Autobahn featured heavily.

And it was the quartet of Hutter, Schneider, Flur and Bartos that went on to record the follow up album Radio-Activity as well as returning to the UK during 1976 to tour the album. It was the Radio-Activity album released during 1975 which apparently influenced David Bowie for his Station to Station album.

This time Coventry was a part of the tour and the band visited the 'Lanch' during October 1976. Kometenmelodie and Autobahn remained in the set but new music such as Radioactivity, Airwaves, The Voice of Energy and Ohm Sweet Ohm were also on offer.

After Autobahn, Kraftwerk never really bothered the UK charts again. Until, that was, around the time of new millennium. But that never seemed to stop their popularity and cult rising it seems.

The Model

Radioactivity

Robots

Autobahn