I've wanted to ramble for a while now and now that I've just downed a pint of lager I find that I am able to *smiles*... I think it'll be a bit long... sorry for that..... you can always fast forward.... *he he* In the 70's Kraftwerk appear on the scene and perform "weird" electronic music.. they go on tours to promote new songs and tunes. People think who are these guys, but many get hooked. In the 80's Kraftwerk release a new material. This time when they tour they bring their studio with them. They play funny looking instruments but doesn't it sound good! People are blown over once more. In the 90's things have changed only a little. Kraftwerk tour again... the stage looks basically the same as it did 10 years earlier... the sound / style of the songs and tunes has changed though (but it is still KRAFTWERK).. but hardly any new material. Now in the 00's (naughty's?) Kraftwerk perform again....no new material to mention... just re-werkings of old material.. using newer technology... but as always the performances sound like any other Kraftwerk concert - GREAT!! But... take a step back for a second or two... what have they actually done? Sampled their own music and put it on to a PC then have those play our well loved favorites. I would have been far more impressed if Kraftwerk had done this with new material. All that I have been thinking over the last couple of days is surely anyone can do what they are now doing? Any artist can put their music on to PC with software like Cubase and twiddle a couple of numbers to produce some "live" effects.... but dare I say it in here.... isn't that boring? Please don't get me wrong.. if I knew there was to be a Kraftwerk concert over here in the UK I'd be there... The sound quality alone would do it for me, and to hear the songs I love being blasted out with a bass that makes your stomach move is wonderful *sighs*... but I think there is something missing... the "artist" has gone.... maybe it's been gone for a while (as Wolfgang mentions in his book)... but this series of concerts has brought it home to me more than it has before. Up until the 1980's Kraftwerk were innovative in their writing and in the technology they used. From that point on new material has been virtually non existant but Kraftwerk have kept abreast with technology.. the result can be seen and heard over the past week. It appears to me that the people who saw Kraftwerk for the first time at these recent concerts thought they were terrific. People who went to these concerts but had seen them before think the same.. but they think that the concerts they have seen before were "better"... now why could this be? Yes.. the first time is always the best ;o) but also weren't the "performances" better.... more human? Have Kraftwerk turned from being artists to just technicians? 70's-80's Man Machine 90's Machine Man 00's Machine I think, as someone in here mentioned - was it Oh Jay? - that these concerts may be used to produce a live CD and/or DVD. If there was something new in the pipeline... would you not use these concerts to promote it? We didn't see anything new... I doubt that we will. The end of my thoughts..... for now (hic)... but in the mean time.... Keep Werking John www.keepwerking.co.uk