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Chicago, IL, USA - Riviera Theatre - 10.06.1998 
photo by Jeff Grote Date: Thu, 11 Jun 1998 03:26:33 -0600 From: Peter Liethen <pliethen@execpc.com> Subject: (kw) Chicago Report (Spoiler) Ok, I'm writing this at 3 in the morining after 3 hours in the car, so alot of this may not make too much sense. Short review: We Came, We Saw, It Kicked Ass! Long Review: The show started just about on time, 10 minutes after 8pm. here is the playlist: - Opening/Number/Computerworld - Homecomputer - The Man Machine - Tour De France - Autobahn - The Model - Airwaves/Newsong - Radioactivity - Trans Europe Express (curtan) - Pocket Calculator (curtain) - The Robots (curtain) - The New lutton hoo Song - Musique Non Stop The Riviera Theatare was a dump. Some song there was enough bass to knock the plaster off the walls, they could have found a much better place to hold the concert. the Place was full, but not packed (I opted to stay in the balcony, my leg was not in the best of shape, so I had to sit) The Acustic of the building we Ok, It was hard to hear everything going on in a song, but it was better that some other concerts I have gone to. Kraftwerk have gone back to the "L" shape for the studio, much cooler than setting it up straight in a line. No technical problems, the curtans closed, the Robots did their dance, calculators beeped and blooped, computer didn't crash, just one burnt out blue strip light right behind Ralf (not a big problem) The base was intense, the whole place was rumbling! Ralf didn't say the goodnight when he left (I think). The worst thing that happend was the 4 hour deay getting into Chicago. We got there at 7:15pm, only 45 minutes before the show. I got a seat about 10 rows from the back of the balcony (blah!) still there was a good view (execpet everyone was smoking continually) Well I'll be in #kraftwerk on dalNet tomorrow afternoon to chat, until then, I'm going to bed. ZZZZzzzzz.
Date: Thu, 11 Jun 1998 08:16:32 -0500 Date: Thu, 11 Jun 1998 10:32:01 -0500 From: Bob VonMoss <bvonmoss@Mcs.Net> Subject: Re: (kw) Chicago Report (Spoiler) Someone mentioned that they stumbled on the TEE lyrics. I don't remember hearing "leave Paris in the morning on TEE...", "in Duesseldorf city, meet Iggy Pop and David Bowie". I think they slightly remixed it taking out the references to specific places in Europe, though I could be wrong. The videos of TEE were pretty awesome, especially during Metal on Metal. The bumping bumpers was very cool, as well as the straight shot down the tracks and going through the bridge. The train looks cool, because it doesn't seem to be going very fast, like when trains went real slow or something like that--added to the Retro feeling. Also Pocket Calculator was not like the mix transitioning into Dentaku, but Pocket Calculator led into Tacschrenner (sp?). Since you guys posted the set list I knew what was coming down the pipe, so I spoiled it for this guy behind me, telling him what was coming up next. He said he was only listening to Kraftwerk (Non-Stop?) for the whole last month. I told him about this list, so he may find this list. Date:
Thu, 11 Jun 1998 13:10:14 -0500 Date: Thu, 11 Jun 1998 15:14:40 -0500 (CDT) From: Kyong Lee - ICQ# 8613578 <klee@xochi.tezcat.com> Subject: Re: (kw) Re: after chicago show What a fabulous show! Everything they played sounded fresh and up to date. It's really remarkable how they managed to keep the integrity of their music yet update it for the 90s. On the other hand, the music really never went out of style in the first place... The first time Ralf smiled, someone left of me shouted out "look, he's smiling!" And yes, both Ralf and Florian smiled - several times as a matter of fact. I was directly in front of Ralf, right behind the front railing. Amazing. It was really great to see Florian goofing around during Pocket Calculator. The "robots" were brilliant. At first, I was a bit disappointed when the curtains reopened and ... no robots. BUT, as those who've seen the show can attest, they do indeed show up. And it was amazing.. The acoustics for the Chicago show was great - especially in the main floor area. You can really feel the bass creep up your legs. I heard from the security guy that they sold about 2000 tickets to the show. It was pretty packed - but then again, since I was up front, it was kind of hard to see behind me. A great show. Definitely worth seeing. If tickets are still available, I'd run to get them! P.S. There was a guy taping the show right in front of me. I discovered it almost near the end of the show, so I couldn't really ask him. If he's on the mailing list, write me! I'd love to get a copy of the show - and I can even burn a copy of it onto a CD. Kyong Lee Date: Fri, 12 Jun 1998 08:54:55 -0400 Date: Sat, 13 Jun 1998 16:06:45 -0500 (EST) From: j <jwgrote@indiana.edu> Subject: (kw) a chicago / detroit report (part one) i live in the midwest of the united states (southern indiana), and i went to the kraftwerk shows in chicago and detroit on june 10 and 11. as i have been a rabid fan since 1982, i dedicated all my time and energy to immersing myself into this kraftwerk experience - no sightseeing around chicago or detroit, no lounging around in the hotel, just kraftwerk. thus, the report that follows may seem a bit obsessive and trainspotterish, but i tried to collect as much information as i could - i hope that some of you fellow obsessives find it useful. i also took pictures of the band, venues, and equipment, and they are posted at: http://php.indiana.edu/~jwgrote/one.html i'll refer to these fotos throughout this report. i arrived in chicago the day before the show, on june 9th, so i could get an early start on the set-up for the show the next day. on the way to the venue (the riviera theatre) on june 10th, i stopped at one of the major dj music stores in chicago - - gramaphone records. i wanted to find out if there was an afterparty for kraftwerk and what the situation was regarding vip's and the general buzz about kraftwerk in the chicago dance scene. there were four or five dj's in the store at the time, and they were all frustrated about the show. they said that no one in the city had gotten on the guest list or had received passes, because there was no guest list nor passes given away. in fact, they said that even the caroline records representative in chicago couldn't get passes (caroline being affiliated with hypnotic records, the label that put out those nasty kraftwerk reissues and compilations). they said that most of the dj's that they knew were going to the show, and everyone was paying. i continued up the street and arrived at the venue at about noon. i parked directly across from the theatre and walked around the side of the building to check out possible entrances for equipment and personnel. as i did so, the truck carrying klingklang pulled alongside the curb. a few guys wearing black (every single person affiliated with kraftwerk wore all-black) jumped out, put down a ramp, opened the theatre loading doors, and started carrying out all these big black flightcases with 'KRAFTWERK' emblazoned on them. thinking that this might be my only behind the-scenes opportunity, i started snapping pictures of the cases and crew, shocked and excited by seeing klingklang in front of me. the cases had two pieces of information on them: first, they appear to have been shipped from deutschland to tokyo via lufthansa, then from tokyo to san francisco via united airlines' cargo service. the truck driver said that they had just arrived as regular air freight from los angeles that morning. the second piece of information was the address painted on them. they list a concert agency called MCT, with phone numbers, fax numbers, snail addresses, and an email address, all in deutschland. i took a picture of this, but the focus is bad, and it is hardly legible. one of the computer consultants with whom i later stood in line (ralph wallace) had an alphanumeric 2-way skytel pager, so he did a WHOIS on the domain name while we stood there in line. (computerwelt, indeed). the domain came up empty, as it was related to aol.com. almost as soon as i started taking pictures, one of the deutsch krew (seen in picture 12 on my webpage) shouted "no pictures!", and i backed off a bit. however, i soon saw my opportunity to sneak into the theatre when everyone was distracted (there was no security there yet), so i quickly walked in the door and down a side aisle into the back of the theatre. i didn't want to jeopardize my opportunity to watch klingklang come to life and possibly see the sound check, so i decided to go to the balcony and hide in the shadows. i went upstairs (there was no one else in the theatre at this time besides the krew on the stage) and hid in the shadowy part of the first row, hunkering down by the railings. i watched for about 15 minutes as they arranged the flightcases and connected the curtain, and then i saw a dapper man dressed in black walking around on the main floor. it was RALF! i watched him for about 3 minutes as he walked around, apparently inspecting things in the theatre. he seemed to be very interested in the details of the theatre, looking at the ceiling, looking at the stage from various views on the floor, and generally supervising the early set-up. he then got engrossed in an animated and friendly deutsch conversation with the live sound engineer, a spindly, unhealthy-looking, friendly genius-type who is a part of the deutsch krew. while he spoke with the engineer, i quickly decided that it was worth jeopardizing my spot inside the theatre in exchange for meeting ralf, so i left the balcony and went downstairs. i hid behind the bar until they were done conversing, then walked over to ralf, saying 'mr hutter?' he nodded at me, and i extended my hand, telling him how pleased i was that they had come to the united states, that they were a huge influence on me, that i thought 'computerwelt' was the greatest electronic music album ever recorded, and thanks for all the joy over the years. i also offered him my copy of the deutsch 'computerwelt' cd that i had in my camera bag, and he autographed it on the back of the jacket. saying 'tschuss', i walked away and went back to the balcony. i sat in the balcony for another 10 minutes or so, not believing my good fortune, when i decided to take a picture of the stage as it was being erected. just as i raised my camera to my eye, a voice came from right behind me: "No pictures!" startled, i whirled around - BUSTED BY RALF!!! he was obviously inspecting the balcony and caught me in flagrante delicto. very embarrassed and sheepish, i apologized and said that i knew i shouldn't be there. he asked me, "do you work here?". i answered no, that i was just a big fan, and that i was now leaving. he nodded and i went downstairs and walked out of the theatre. asked to leave a kraftwerk venue by ralf hutter!!! the shame, the shame... i spent the rest of the afternoon outside, in front of the theatre, waiting and watching for about six hours. around 2:30 in the afternoon, as i was getting something from my car across the street, i saw a taxi arrive in front of the theatre. i had a feeling that it couldn't be a fan that early, so i grabbed my camera again and started running towards the theatre. out popped a bald head - - FLORIAN!! i started saying "mr. schneider, herr schneider" over and over again as i caught up with him (he was walking fast as hell towards the side of the building), and it seemed that he couldn't hear me. i reached into my bag and pulled out my cd and a pen, continued saying "herr schneider" in a questioning tone, and got alongside him. i was literally no more than two feet from him, no one else around, completely in his view on the right side, and he totally ignored me. *he pretended that i wasn't there.* at this point, we had reached the stage entrance, and he turned sharply to the left, entering the stage. one of the krew nodded to him, and he was gone. my outstretched pen and cd fell to my sides, and my mouth dropped open in disbelief. several of the security and krew people looked puzzled by the spectacle as well, and i got my first taste of herr schneider's prickly personality. about an hour later, while one other person and i were in line, florian went walking down the street in front of us very quickly, again ignoring us. we said 'herr schneider' and 'florian', but he just purposefully strode by in his pinstriped jacket and black shades. he walked very quickly down broadway, a semi-dangerous street, and disappeared into the distant signs for vietnamese restaurants and mexican food. i snapped two pictures of this, one of which is posted on the website. i was the first person in line, and i was joined between 2:30 and 4:00 by about 10 of the most die-hard, enthusiastic kraftwerk fans that i have ever met. everyone was 30-something years old, was involved in the computer industry (except for an expatriate brit who came down from toronto and had seen kraftwerk 3 times), was a lurker on the kraftwerk mailing list (hi guys!), and was male. in just that handful of people, we had guys who had traveled to this show from indiana, michigan, wisconsin, illinois, florida, texas, tennesee, and canada. everyone had stories to tell about living in the kraftwerk desert for 17 or more years, and it made the 4+ hours go quickly (that, and the various intoxicants being imbibed there in line). around 6:00 pm the semi-fascist riviera security people started their bellowing and haranguing: "two lines - - one for guys, one for girls" - - unfortunately they couldn't find enough females in the line to form a substantial female line!! in fact, i would say the ratio between males and females at this show was something like 10 to 1. as we waited, most of the house security and vendors from inside came out to the front entrance. i asked a security guy what was going on, and he said "they're fucking goofy in there tonight. the band won't let anyone in the building while they do their soundcheck." the security and vendors seemed angry and disgusted by this taste of the kraftwerk secrecy. (i later talked to a bartender about this. she said that she didn't know who kraftwerk was, but that she did see a little bit of the stage during the soundcheck. "it looked like one of them spaceships on tv".) one friendly security guy gave me two interesting pieces of information about the show. first, he showed me / us a laminated piece of card paper about the size of a legal pad. it was a key to all the different passes that kraftwerk issues. there were about twenty different passes on it, each differing slightly in terms of color and design. there was little legend below each one, explaining what that particular pass was for and what access it allowed. what a souvenir that would have been! (the guard told me that a month's pay was predicated on him returning that laminated card.) if memory serves me correctly, all the passes were based on the mouse arrow design shown on my webpage, except for two passes: there was a round, orange-day glo pass that i think was for fotograffers, and there was the ominous, brooding, omnipotent, all-black pass that was for all-access krew members only. (the all-black pass is seen in a grainy foto on my website as well). the second piece of interesting info that he gave us was regarding cameras. he said that these were the band's instructions: "all instamatic and disposable cameras that you intercept must have the film removed and then the cameras must be thrown away. all higher-quality cameras must have the film removed and then the camera may be returned to the owner. in all cases, the confiscated film must be brought to the band." i later talked to a professional fotograffer from the chicago sun-times, one of the two main newspapers in chicago. (the other, the chicago tribune, had a fotograffer there as well...) he was one of the two foto passes issued for the chicago show. he said that these were the band's instructions regarding the fotos: "you have the first three songs to take pictures. you may not use long lenses, no close-ups please. if you use a long lens, then it must be taken from the balcony." we were thoroughly frisked and body-searched, and those of us who did get recorders/cameras/materials into the venue did it in two ways: high in the crotch, and on the front of the shin, inside of the sock. i went to the very center of the first row, held on to the security barrier, and waited. no spoilers! i don't have much to say about the show itself because it's all been said before. everyone knows the playlist, the costumes and props, and all the other live minutiae. i do have the following comments, however... 1. imho, kraftwerk are not best viewed from the front row. i think that there is too little activity on the stage for the people down front to be looking up ralf and florian's noses, and that much of their presentation (aside from their de-emphasis on personality and stage histrionics) has to do with the overall sculptural presentation of the curtain space, the symmetry of the video screens and their consoles, and the general gestalt of the thing. i found myself the next evening (detroit) sitting in a prime spot on the main floor, above the floor crowd, and about 50 feet back. the sound was much better, and the whole presentation was much more cohesive, dramatic, and engaging. i might suggest that kraftwerk construct a fence that forces the audience back. it would add to their haughty mystique, too... 2. the stereo field mix is really excellent. there is obvious movement and panning in the mix, and it was like wearing enormous headphones. however, the volume in the front row is too low. they need some center monitors for the diehards down there. 3. whatever you do, don't miss the video and audio presentation of 'trans europe express'. the clanging machine imagery and the huge banging sounds in 'metal on metal' are perfectly synced and absolutely transcendant. i have never seen such a powerful sight and sound presentation - - it is truly a world-class, state of the art segment, and i stopped breathing when it happened. 4. none of the band seemed to me to be having a very good time onstage in chicago. i saw fritz sigh deeply and make a bored look, and florian seemed especially non-plussed. also, the chicago crowd seemed a bit subdued and disengaged. 5. for you trainspotters i offer the following: the mensch-maschine does not wear matching shoes! that is, each member wore different styles of low-cut black leather shoes. furthermore, unbelievably, incomprehensibly, *the mensch maschine has an earring and facial hair*!!! henning schmitz has a diamondy ear clip thing in his right ear, and he also has a thin, vertical goatee. times are changing, even in klingklang... After the show i was able to talk to one of the deutsch krew members (KM). i don't want to identify him for fear of jeopardizing his job with kraftwerk, but those of you who want to know can email me personally. KM was very nice and gave me a lot of his time when everyone else was busy packing for detroit. i asked him several questions, and they are as follows. Q. how do american audiences compare to the japanese audiences that you just had in tokyo? A. in tokyo the audiences are much more involved - - they sing/scream every word. in the states, people are more, like (he folded his arms and leaned back), cool. sort of like, 'ok, let's see what you can do'. Q. how did tonight's (chicago) audience/reception compare to the other american dates? A. this show was just like san francisco. Q. (of course) what about new material? A. they played some, didn't you hear it? there is new music done, but no one knows when it will be released. the band has to reach a consensus. Q. well, isn't kraftwerk mostly just ralf hutter? doesn't he make most of the decisions and write most of the music? A. not nowadays. kraftwerk is an entity of all four members, not just ralf and florian. they are functioning as a unit. Q. what is your interface with the band? do you werk in klingklang, do you speak with them often in dusseldorf? A. no. kraftwerk works completely alone in klingklang, just the four of them. they do all their own sound engineering and conceptual design. no one goes to klingklang, they contact us when they need something. Q. what is live, and what is recorded? how are they doing their stage show? A. there is a midi clock generated from a prerecorded source (probably the bass and drums). this midi clock performs certain patch changes and sequence cues for them, and they play everything else live. the midi clock is also synced with the smpte clock from the video outputs (apparently the videos are on laser disc). absolutely all the sound is generated onstage from klingklang - - there is no tape plugged in at the house mixing console. Q. i have been nearing rumors of a bigger 1999 tour. is it true? A. (gives a big smile) we'll just have to wait and see! at this point, we bid farewell, and we agreed to talk more the next night in detroit. on the way out of the venue, a few people were handing out black and purple postcards advertising the new york show. it was the only piece of promotional material that i ever saw - - there were no posters, no handbills, no photos, nothing else. i have scanned my copy and put it on the website. after hearing from KM that the band was flying immediately to detroit after the show, i decided to skip the afterparty at the metro. i had had enough fans and kraftwerk pandemonium for one day, and i crashed at my hotel. memory banks full, batteries low, there's only so much a robot can process... detroit, the robot foto session, florian's comments, and more KM talk in the next section. jeff grote, indiana Date:
Fri, 12 Jun 1998 18:41:41 +0200
From: surrealismo@juno.com (Andrew Smith) Subject: Chicago Review Date: Fri, 3 Jul 1998 16:50:45 -0700 (PDT) From: rhodri kasperbauer <kasperbauer@yahoo.com> I'm finally going to put some comments down, will try and ensure that they don't repeat what's already been said. Having seen the band in 1981 (Bristol,England) where the concert had been initially postponed, having seen two London concerts in 1991, but also having the disappointment of the Toronto concert (cancelled) in 1991, I was a sceptic as to whether these dates would happen. Getting Detroit and Chicago tickets initially seemed tenuous, as the 48 hour delivery became weeks. Ironically, I found that a New York ticket could be printed out here in Toronto. Arriving in Chicago, I went to the local tourist information office, found a paper article and considered whether to take it. Decided to ask - was told that this weekend edition could not be removed. Staff member said she'd copy it, she did one hour later. What I felt was significant in the paper article was that Ralf had given an interview, given that for Tribal Gathering there had been zero press interviews. I wondered if this was due to ticket sales, or, the band feeling more relaxed away from home. My first thoughts upon arrival in the Riviera area was that the building was like the old small one-screen cinemas from England. Having a look round the area, it struck me as run-down, but had a community vibrancy. I went to have a look at the equipment, round the back of the theatre - took a picture of the flight cases in street and was promptly turned away. Strange sight, masses of cases inn the theatre's back alley. At this time there were some 10 fans at theatre front, later a scalper came by with no success. The security was very tight - I had a pen taken away - the (band)rule being cheap cameras thrown away, others band wanted film (presumably not trusting security, or, wanting for their own collections?). After we were frisked in our separate male/female lines it was time to be let in. If you were very lucky you could get to the bar, ask for a drink and the staff would presume it was for the band and therefore free. A very orderly collection of fans gathered at stage front, then to have the bizarre experience (to me at least) of having a waitress come and take our drinks orders. The pa stacks were on the (low)stage, with only a bar separating us from the band. Sound was brilliant, louder than London in 1991, clear and concise. Regarding the sound and the various debates re.live. It was far more live than 1991, this becoming clearer as the dates progressed. You just have to look carefully - for example, Ralf uses the swell pedasl alot when he is playing to accent performance. For example, the far-right pedal of Florian is used to add echo to vocoder tracks (ie- at end of lines in Radioactivity song). As for the other two boys, take a look at the Doepfer web pages for the Regelwerk, this gives some indication as to the parameters they are playing with. Airwaves really surprised me. At Detroint I had the feeling that it was Ralf's personal stand for live and individual performance- the others turned their backs, Ralf sings and plays, he strains for notes and the vocoder is fighting with him, it goes on and on. THis was also the first time that Ralf looked at the audience directly, when not checking on his playing. With subsequent concerts, I saw more of what the other band members were doing. Florian had a drink at this point (in Detroit), it's also the point at which Fritz changes video disks. There was some debate as to whether the 'song-that-follows Airwaves''s video accompaniment was disk or live. I thought here disk, but subsequent shows did not have the laser disk players running. Perhaps sound sent through an oscillascope...harkens back to first UK release cover! Earlier, Fritz at one stage must have made a major error - he looked really worried and looked at the other band members. Back to P.C., at times they knew that by pressing a switch it would trigger a certain sequence, at other times they did not. So, it was the melding of planned sequences and chance meetings. All in all a great concert. A sign of the times, that someone was recording the concert by mobile phone, computer welt indeed. The strangest sight of all was that Florian, one of our men in black, wears orange socks. Now on to Detroit, where I got to talk to Ralf and Florian
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