Date: Mon, 08 Jun 1998 08:09:35 +1000
From: Adam Read <adamr@world.net>
Subject: (kw) Tokyo ReportTokyo Concert Reports.
I got back yesterday from the 3 Kraftwerk shows in Tokyo. Tokyo is an amazing
city and was an interesting setting for a Kraftwerk concert series.I met with list member Hiroshi Murata and his friend Kouru on the day before
the 1st show for a 1st look around Tokyo on 1/6 and within a few hours we had
already bumped into Florian Schneider outside a subway station. He and four of
the crew members were trying to find the Blue Note Jazz club. He was in a very
good mood and posed with my friends for some very funny photos. He also
immediately recognised me from when we met in Linz last year. Mind you, an Australianwearing a Robots t-shirt tends to stand out on the Tokyo streets....
Later that evening, my japanese hosts took me on a tour of 'bootleg paradise',
an area around Shinjuku with probably the highest concentration of bootleg CD
shops on earth. Some of the shops were amazing, thousands of illegal videos and
cd's. Within a few hours I had lost a large chunk of my yen for 6 Kraftwerk CD's
including a new one released for the tour called 'Dentaku World' of the 7/9/81 show.Another shop had several Kraftwerk videos and one amazingly small record shop had
just about every Kraftwerk vinyl rarity I could think of, including a Tour De France
from Peru! I picked up some very nice original japanese 7" and two different old
Kometenmelodie 2 singles.We met up with JBV and friend and over the next few days had a series of wonderful
japanese dinners. This mailing list is really a great thing where 5 people from
different corners of the planet can get together and swap stories.Akasaka Blitz is a very modern looking building and the venue inside is very good
although quite small, only 1900 people. The acoustics inside were excellent and
the view was great.The www.kraftwerk.com shop was open and selling 4 types of t-shirt. Throughout the
1st evening there was long queue of fans buying arms full of shirts and the shop
was sold out by the 2nd night. Inside the venue a stall was selling the new
re-released japanese CD's, exactly the same as the originals I am afraid.At exactly 7pm the familiar Opening music started and the lights dimmed a few minutes
later the Kraftwerk voice announced 'mein dammen...'. The curtains opened for Numbers
and revealed the Kling Klang stage. They have returned to the V shaped stage set from
1991. The stage set also has a much improved light show from last years shows, with
coloured lights illuminating the whole backdrop. The stage looks really very good.Briefly, the set is not too different from last year. One of the new songs has gone
and 'The Model' makes a reappearance. 'Radioactivity' sounds particularly good
and 'Trans Europe Express' really has to be heard live. A very big sound. 'Airwaves'
has been changed quite a bit with Ralf singing solo at the start and the last new
song has been remixed and sounds quite different.The audience cheered when 'Ich Ni San Chi' intoned and went completely nuts when
'Pocket Calculator' became 'Dentaku'. Between the songs the audience would clap and
then a total silence would fall, so you could hear the band whispering to each other
on stage.The 1st night did involve (has I had hoped) some interesting mistakes. The intro to
'Radioactivity' got stuck an stuttered for a minute before Hilpert fixed it. The
funniest mistake was in 'Pocket Calculator' when it seemed a sample had been loaded
incorrectly and in the middle of the song a loud saxophone sound blurted out!. The
band looked at each other and started laughing. Hilpert then used the sound over
again at the end of the song.The 2nd night started as usual, but suddenly 'Numbers' stopped after a couple of
minutes. Then silence for 3 minutes and the lights went out. After a long break,
the voice of Kraftwerk started again and the show began again from the top.The Kling Klang set up has been changed since the '97 shows, there are a few new
Doepher devices and I think Ralf is now playing a Roland JP8000. There are a lot
more parts played live, as I could often hear small mistakes. The sounds in each
song changed slightly each night.After the 2nd show JBV and myself again met Florian. He was walking back to his
hotel by himself. He asked if we were going to the show again tomorrow and said,
smiling, that 'that is not good for the ears'The 3rd and final show went much better with no major mistakes and the sound mix
had improved from the previous nights. The audience again goes wild during
'Dentaku' and particularly love 'The Robots'.After the show I went up and asked the sound mixer what was the name of the song
before 'Music Non Stop', he said is was a new song called 'Tribal'. There you go.
He was also putting away the DAT recording of the nights show.Within 15 minutes all of the audience had left and there was only me standing there,
so I wandered to the backstage door in time to see the 4 Robots being put into
their cases. Fritz Hilpert wandered past and came over to talk to me. I asked him
about the 1st nights saxophone mistake. He said that the sample is from the voice
processor and the midi channel was crossed. He said that Kraftwerk will be going
to Australia next year. He also said that he was looking forward to the U.S. leg
- - 'It should be interesting'He signed my CD cover and got the rest of the group to do the same. Ralf Hutter
then spoke with me for a few minutes. I asked in about the new record and he said
that 'maybe we release it after the tour'. He also confirmed that Kraftwerk will
play Australia and asked me 'Do you think Australia is a good place for us to play?'
I definitely got the impression that he is very unsure of audience reaction and
seemed genuinely surprised by the japanese audience approval.The next day I gave the last of my Yen to a couple bootleg shops and hopped a plane
home.Overall, the shows are much better than the '97 shows, and a good small venue makes
a big difference. The sound is very good and the small parts of extra live playing
makes it a little more interesting, but 3 shows in a row was about as much as I couldtake. I thought that some of the background videos were slightly different, but JBV
disagreed, he is probably correct.Photos from the show and a small real audio sample can be found at:
I will be updating it with some new material at the end of the week with some more
sound and the magazines I picked up in Tokyo.Adam Read
Date: Sun, 07 Jun 1998 14:39:42 +1000
From: Adam Read <adamr@world.net>
Subject: (kw) Kraftwerk at Akasaka - 1st Web SiteAll,
Just got back from Tokyo and I have put the 1st material up.
It is some photos from the shows and a pretty good Real Audio of the 'renewed'
song in the set.I will be assembling al full web site of the Tokyo shows with all photos, ads and
gossip in the next few days.AT
Adam Read
Date: Sun, 07 Jun 1998 16:27:24 +1000
From: Adam Read <adamr@world.net>
Subject: (kw) Official New Song TitleAll,
After the last show in Tokyo, I asked the sound mixer guy 'what was the last song
before Music Non Stop called?" which we all know as the Luton Hoo New Song- - he said it was called "Tribal" - "it's new"
Someone in SF or LA go and ask him after the show to confirm that the other new
song is Airwaves remix or a new track title. He is skinny with a huge moustache
and quite friendly and talkative.There were some VIP guests at Tokyo who were handed a fax sheet of all the song
titles. The very 1st piece is called "Opening" before "Numbers" kicks in.Check out the backstage passes worn by the crew and the VIP passes, they are new
Kraftwerk logos and designs that I have not seen before. One is a mouse arrow and
the other is a speaker with a lightning bolt. Cooool.Kraftwerk soundcheck at about 5pm so be early. We heard Radioactivity, Home
Computer and new song at the 1st Tokyo show.Adam
Date: Thu, 04 Jun 1998 23:11:25 PDT
From: "michel leraille" <jbv_fr@hotmail.com>
Subject: (kw) Tokyo concertsHi there,
Some of you will think I'm the king of
spoilers, but anyway, here are a few details
regarding the Tokyo gigs.I've only seen the gigs of june 3 & 4, but it's
was quite disapointing : everything is EXACTLY
the same as in Linz and ZKM and as the day
before (same track list, same videos, same
old people pushing buttons now and then) - only
the Robots has got a new light show (which
is not too bad).In other words, the only differences between
gigs is when something goes wrong or when
some piece of gear doesn't work the way it should (which happens quite a
few times, believe me).Only the new version of Distant Voices and the new song seem to have
different versions every night, and only during those songs they
actually give the impression of doing something.As for PC, IMHO, the reaon why they don't
allow the audience to press any key is that
they only use their little boxes to send MIDI
note-ons and note-offs to trigger samples
and/or entire sequences, and because of that
the audience could f*ck up the whole song
(but at least, something unexpected could
happen...)Well, those old people seem to be caught in
an endless loop... Someone has to kick their
butt to make them move forward.The only REALLY interesting thing about
these 2 Tokyo gigs was that the hall was full
of wondeful japanese girls !Jeeez... 2 more KW concerts to come...
jbv (in Tokyo)
Date: Thu, 4 Jun 1998 08:32:50 +0900
From: kojis@venus.dti.ne.jp (SUGAWARA Koji)
Subject: Re: (kw) Tokio concertAt 10:16 PM 98.06.03, Luca Dassi wrote:
> Does anybody know the track list for Tokio Concert?
> C'mon, TAKAGI, Shigeto - tell us a little more!98.06.03 Tokio Concert Track List
01. Numbers
02. Computer World
03. Home Computer
04. The Man Machine
05. Tour De France
06. Autobahn
07. The Model
08. Air Waves (intro) - New Song 1
09. Radioactivity
10. Trans Europe Express
11. Pocket Caluculator - DENTAKU
12. The Robots
13. New Song 2
14. Music Non Stop
Date: Fri, 05 Jun 1998 03:31:20 +0900
From: jackie lee <jackielee@softhome.net>
Subject: Re: (kw) Tokio concerthello. i'm jackie, new to this mailing list.
i also went see kraftwerk in tokyo on the day first (2nd june).
as TAKAGI mentions, the set list of the 1st day was exactly the same
as the 2nd day.
TAKAGI, Shigeto wrote:
> I suppose track list on 6/2 is as same as follows.
> open:18:00,start:19:00 but I arrived at 19:10.
> So I don't know "Is there any an opening act by another group ?".
>there was NO opening acts. well-mannered audiences were just waiting
quietly for the curtains up.
i picked up the info on at the ticket master on the web that dj's going to open
for the new york show though.
> > 98.06.03 Tokio Concert Track List
> >
> > 01. Numbers
> > 02. Computer World
> > 03. Home Computer
> > 04. The Man Machine
> > 05. Tour De France
> > 06. Autobahn
> > 07. The Model
> > 08. Air Waves (intro) - New Song 1
>
> some trouble.i'm not aware of how they play their song on the stage, i mean if they
use DAT or hard disk recorder or MIDI syncronizing, but i guess it was
disc/sync trouble or something. the first sound shot of the next song
jumped and looped like "di di di di ", like a digital jumping as you play
the bad cd on your cd player.
also the video on the screen was freezed. there were sentences on
the screen "(something) kg of the plutonium is produced every year in
(something)"
appeared (obviously freezed) while fixing.
it took 30 to 40 seconds to fix it right. the 2 guys in the center (sorry
i don't know of them. guys but ralph and florian) did something at
the center console around the 2 computers.
my friend who went to the 2nd day said that there was same kind of
trouble on the day 2nd at the very beginning of the show. he said it took
about 5 minutes to set it up straight.
> > 09. Radioactivity
> > 10. Trans Europe Express
>
> curtain closed.
>
> > 11. Pocket Caluculator - DENTAKU
>
> curtain closed.
> curtain opend but there are nobody.
>
> > 12. The Robots
>this was the most craziest and coolest moment on the show that
nobody was on the stage on The Robots and there was lighting
blinking on the console.
nobody but kraftwerk does like this at an encore, don't you think?
nobody on the stage and just the computer plays the music.
sooooooo cool.
> curtain closed.
> they changed the costume for New Song 2.
>the same outfit as showed on the kraftwerk.com a while ago.
luminous stitch over their bodies looked like emitted over the black light.
> > 13. New Song 2
> > 14. Music Non Stopthe computer voice "music, non stop" was repeated over and over
after the curtains down. it was just brilliant and almost like religious
moment to me.the show was so great that i told all my friend to go to the show
even if they have to pay double or tripple of the ticket fee for the
reselled ticket. (all the shows were sold out.)
one of my friend tried to get a ticket from the ticket resellers (some kind
of mafia/yakuza hang about around the venue) but he gave it up
because he was acquired $300 to $740. (the original price was $60.)
he saw the young business man paid $300 for the ticket.. mmmm.
Date: Thu, 11 Jun 1998 09:29:49 +0900
From: hiroshi@pobox.com (Hiroshi MURATA)
Subject: Re: (kw) Tokyo Report (& a little bit of SPOILER)At 08 Jun 1998 08:09:35 +1000, Adam Read wrote:
>Tokyo Concert Reports.Thanks Adam! 8-)
Honestly I feel guilty for being unable to read/write e-mails.
I was drown into over 1200 unread e-mails which came to me
last week.Adam's is a very detailed report, and I can only add very few.
>I met with list member Hiroshi Murata and his friend Kouru on the day before
>the 1st show for a 1st look around Tokyo on 1/6 and within a few hours we had
>already bumped into Florian Schneider outside a subway station. He and four of
>the crew members were trying to find the Blue Note Jazz club. He was in a very
>good mood and posed with my friends for some very funny photos. He also
>immediately recognised me from when we met in Linz last year. Mind you, an
>Australian
>wearing a Robots t-shirt tends to stand out on the Tokyo streets....Yeah, it was just a heppening. We didn't mean but we wanted to
have a look at the venue. As soon as we went upstairs from
Akasaka Mitsuke subway station, a well-known round-headed german
gentleman was in front of us.
I can only hold my breath, and was frozen... ;-)
He was really frank and friendly. His smile was so nice as that
of Juni/1997 issue of german Musikexpress magazine, which four
members of KW smiles.BTW it was the four of the crew, not including Florian, who
wanted to go to Blue Note. They didn't even know where the place
was located, and we told them the place and closest subway station.That week at Blue Note Tokyo... so they went to watch Chris Minh Doky
and Randy Brecker? :-)
>The www.kraftwerk.com shop was open and selling 4 types of t-shirt. Throughout
>the
>1st evening there was long queue of fans buying arms full of shirts and the
>shop
>was sold out by the 2nd night. Inside the venue a stall was selling the new
>re-released japanese CD's, exactly the same as the originals I am afraid.The shop WAS open on 2nd & 3rd night, but all of them has got sold
out very quickly. When I got mine (the same as konzert.html) on the
3rd night, only three t-shirts of that picture were there. *phew!*
>The audience cheered when 'Ich Ni San Chi' intoned and went completely nuts
>when
>'Pocket Calculator' became 'Dentaku'.Ralf sang it wrong - and we kept on singing (shouting?) the lyrics.
>The 2nd night started as usual, but suddenly 'Numbers' stopped after a
>couple of
>minutes. Then silence for 3 minutes and the lights went out. After a
>long break,
>the voice of Kraftwerk started again and the show began again from the top.It was me who kept on shouting "we need more!" - was it rude? ;-)))
>There are a lot
>more parts played live, as I could often hear small mistakes. The sounds
>in each song changed slightly each night.I liked the beginning of "Tribal" best. Very spacey and ambient... :-)
>After the 2nd show JBV and myself again met Florian. He was walking back to his
>hotel by himself. He asked if we were going to the show again tomorrow and
>said,
>smiling, that 'that is not good for the ears'Actually I was there too, but I can only talk to him "So you're
going back to your hotel?" and he said "Yes."
He was walking alone - he looked like a businessman after his work. ;-)
>The 3rd and final show went much better with no major mistakes and the
>sound mix
>had improved from the previous nights. The audience again goes wild during
>'Dentaku' and particularly love 'The Robots'.Our friends told me later, that many fans of modern techno
were in the hall.
Very natural reaction for them. (and I like it) :-)As far as we've been told, some musicians came to watch the stage,
which includes Yukihiro Takahashi(2/6), Ryuichi Sakamoto(3/6) and
Ken Ishii(4/6).
>I definitely got the impression that he is very unsure of audience reaction and
>seemed genuinely surprised by the japanese audience approval.Quite natural, but Japanese fans have waited for 17 years... :-)
I'll never forget everything which we've watched last week.Regards,
Hiroshi.