Watch Me

Artist: Kraftwerk
DVD: Minimum-Maximum

I saw Kraftwerk live at the Riviera in Chicago this past June. Awesome. Their live show is basically just the four of them at podiums (see image below), doing whatever it is they do with keyboards, knobs, etc. I really have no idea if they're actually doing anything. Although, the DVD does show some buttons being pushed and what not. The best and most important thing about the Kraftwerk live show, however, is the giant video display behind them. Many of the still images and videos look like they've been using them since the early 80s, and that's part of the joy. The images match the music perfectly, and despite being of a certain period, they somehow make the show feel timeless. This is a band that doesn't really age. Their show might not be much different than it was 20 years ago. And because all of their current shows being more or less the same, this DVD might as well be from the show I went to, even though it's from the 2004 world tour. It's really more of a theatrical experience than a concert.

If you saw Coldplay perform at Live 8, you'd notice that their drummer was wearing a Kraftwerk shirt. That was the right thing to do, considering one of their new songs ("Talk") borrows/steals/whatever the melody from Kraftwerk's "Computer Love", which you can download here.