Kraftwerk, The Mix: The Catalogue 7@Tate Modern (13/02/2013)

Just one day before St Valentine’s day and actually one day before Kraftwerk was about to conclude their
8-in-a-row performances at Tate Modern, in London, the CrazyFriday-Magazine.com London´s branch members enjoyed The Mix (1991).
Since the announcement of this event last year, loads of people were expecting the day the tickets were going to be on sale. We could get ours the 12th of December, not without rushing from the Tate Modern located in Bankside, which had a 3 hours queue time, to the one 10 min away from Westminster. Tate´s Modern website and phone operators were completely collapsed: everyone was afraid to see the sold out sign hanging over the gig. Next day, no tickets were available.
No big queues the day of the gig. That was quite a bit shocking. We came by 20:00 (doors were opening at 19:00), concert was scheduled at 21:00. One would expect lot of people in such and event and hanging around.
Once in, Tate modern had everything sorted out: Drinks (few people already quite drunk!) food and even the members of Tate´s museum were offering us some seat pillows to wait very comfortably! The overall place and ambient was very very cosy.
Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall was the place to wait for Kraftwerk to appear on stage. In front of us, a big screen, where the 3D visuals were about to show us a complete unique experience with the music.
Finally, Kraftwerks members came into action. Four men in black lycra suits with red stripes on stage. Stunning sound, amazing visuals and people completly receptive for this event. Since the first minute till the end, music and visuals were a non-Stop. In fact, the last song was a claim of that, the music and lights ended with the amazing “Music Non Stop” at 23:00, 2 hours after it started. Precisely. During the show, although the Turbine Hall was packed, you could find some spots to dance with the music.
Even though tickets were a bit expensive (£60) organization didn’t wanted to fully packed the place so everyone could have a good experience. Which songs we enjoyed most? from CrazyFriday´s point of view, those songs you would expect to listen were all played that night. Songs such as Autobahn, Radio activity, Trans Europe Express, Man Machine, Computer World, Techno Pop, Das Model and obviously the Tour de France, were played. A complete history of the band passing in front of our eyes. What about the visuals? People were provided with 3D glasses. At the beginning, visuals really got you. Robot’s arms almost in from of you, retro style, etc. However, after the first 20 minutes you are used to it, and apart from the train coming out of the screen in Tran Europe Express or the amazing telecommunication satellite at Spacelab, and other few other stunning images, you end thinking that something is missing. What happened? well, from our perspective, Kraftwerk’s show were 4 men barely moving head down and up. Music wasn’t to go crazy either and although you could dance, the atmosphere was more contemplative. Having said that, one would expect really surprising visuals. All the time. Honestly, it’s hard to achieve that but anyway, it’s a unique experience one music lover should at least try in a lifetime

Related Posts