Greg Scranton Photos
Kraftwerk at work Wednesday night at College Street Music Hall.
Another lonely night… stare at the TV screen…I don’t know what to do… I need a rendezvous.
Over a bass line you could feel in your chest, embellished with an array of colorful synths, the seminal techno German music group Kraftwerk played their 1970-track “Computer Love” to an audience at College Street Music Hall Wednesday, filled with fans who may have related more strongly to the lyrics than half a century ago when the song was first released.
The lyrics evoked an experience all too familiar: an unrelenting sense of alienation, that is unsolved by modern technologies, especially those that promise to connect us.
Eager concert-goers began lining up for the 8 p.m. show at 6:30, many in band T‑shirts: Sigur Ros, Metallica, Dead & Company, Helmet, The Ramones, to name a few. Fans met one another and compared notes on which Kraftwerk shows they’d attended, in which city, and which decade. A few geeked out about Wednesday night’s show being their first time to see the group — “It’s been on my bucket list for a very long time,” said one man in line.
Audience members received a pair of 3‑D glasses to best view the projection display, which corresponded to the music of the two-hour long set. Sound waves, outer-space animations, video-game-like shots of highways, lyrics, and abstract shapes pulsed along with the beat.
Kraftwerk, a German band, was founded in 1969, and was the first to popularize the modern pop electronic sound. And they’re still at it. The crowd Wednesday reflected a diverse range of age groups, from 20-somethings in mullets to 70-somethings in drag, and a less-than-10-year-old wearing sound protective headphones.
The lyrical landscape and visual accompaniment recalled an era of technological skepticism and fear that resonate anew today. In “Computer World,” the band warns of global governments’ spying on citizens through computer data.
And their song “Radio-Activity,” which condemned the use of nuclear weaponry in 1976, was updated in 2011 to include a mention of the Fukishima Daiichi nuclear disaster.
The main takeaway: the technological paranoia Kraftwerk describes in their music is incredibly relatable and relevant for a new generation of listeners.
Really Awesome show!
I even learned about Sellafield, an English Nuclear disaster dating from 1957!
Also, I have never been to one of these 'modern' 3-D movies, but WOW, large objects continually came flying right out you! They even landed a UFO in front of College Street Music Hall!!!!