Having seen 2 of the Paris shows (1st and last) I thought I'd stick my oar in and add a few further observations that no-one else seems to have picked up on, along with a couple of personal thoughts... APRES SHOW No beer, just wine, mineral water or champage at the bar... very civilised! INTRO MUSIC The familaiar warm-up music from previous tours (that low level computer "data" noise) has been replaced with a constantly-evolving pattern using the same sound as the "Antenna" home-page from www.kraftwerk.com. About 10 mins before KW came on, I saw the front-of-house guy set a DAT (or possibly minidisc) going, solo the signal on the desk to check the level in headphones, and then slowly fade up the track. Gotta say I quite like this... it could be the basis of a great new track. EXPO2000 Not just based on the Underground Resistance main mix, but also contains elements of the DJ Rolando mix (the opening arpeggaited riff), along with bits of KW's original (the "stab" riff, and the lead "string" melody, but sped-up to the new tempo). Topically, I don't think the phrases "Expo" or "2000" were used at all, though all the others were, particuarly "Planet Of Visions" which surely would be a more appropriate title now. There was also that "Germany/Detroit/so electric" stuff from the UR mixes. Curious how this is the most open KW have been in collaborative terms... recycling material from other peoples' remixes. They obviously like the whole Detroit/UR vibe a lot. NEON LIGHTS As reported, quite like the 1981 live version, i.e. faster than the original album take. It basically splits into 2 neat sections, the first with vox from Ralf (one verse in English, the next in German), then, after a small breakdown, the syncopated bass riff starts and the lead line meanders nicely above it. Great to hear them do this track, seemingly one of most fans' favourites, but to be honest I reckon they could have done a bit more with it. The rhythm is very rigid, and surely would lend itself to a nice shuffle-groove if you were to update it more completely. Just a thought... POCKET CALCULATOR Must be the funkiest song of the show. Taking off further from "The Mix" version, the rhythm is not always straight house-style, but often morphs into a great breakbeat-style groove, which together with the choppy stab-like synth, rocks like mad. After a verse in English, Ralf sings the rest in French. Must say that I didn't mourn the loss of the hand-held devices at all; I think the music and graphics more than make up for that, and also allow KW to kind of grow-old gracefully, not having to attempt to boogie down at the front any more. Did kind of miss Florian's occasional mad calculator soloing though! MUSIC NON STOP/CONSOLES On the final midnight show, I got a good opportunity to look at what they were actually doing onstage, as I was watching from the second balcony, and moved right down the side of as far as you could go. Besides the laptops, all of the consoles are the same size, but have subtle differences. Henning and Fritz's seem identical; a small musical keyboard to the right, and rows of switches and faders to the left, with Fritz making particular use of these, creating reverb and delay FX on the drums. They also appear to have some kind of jogwheel on the top left. Ralf's console has a more full-length keyboard across the whole of the front, while Florian's has the shorter keyboard but replaces the fader panel with some kind of green-lit LED-covered device showing text; I'm guessing that this is something to do with the famous "Robovox" unit spotted on previous tours. I really do believe that they are doing most of the mixing on-stage; the front-of-house guy only had a dozen faders pushed up, seemingly in stereo pairs, and I'm guessing that 8 of these are the straight stereo feeds from the 4 KWers onstage. When it was time to make their exit, an illuminated "pathway" on the floor at Florian's side lights up, guiding the guys away. On the first show, Florian and Fritz gave shy little waves, otherwise I didn't notice any of them acknowledge the audience in any way at all. Robots to the end! AND FINALLY... Afterwards, I was chatting to a couple of fans who I'd seen before at previous shows. One told me that he's spoken to Gunther(?) from KW's crew, who told him that they were taking the show to Japan and then to Australia in Dec and Jan. Must say that this makes sense, given that they were going to play Australia at the end of the last tour. When pressed about when they would be touring more fully, Gunther said "they have to finish the album first"! Whether this is a joke or not, I've no idea, but don't hold your breath. Cheers, Staggboy.