POSTCARDS FROM THE HEDGE: Kraftwerk: The Man(chester) Machine

So have you ever been to the Manchester Velodrome? And if the answer is yes, did you go to see a rock concert? Chances are the answer is nay. Last night though, we went and we did see a gig. Not just any gig though.

This was Kraftwerk.

And this was a one off gig as part of the opening night of the Manchester International Festival, appropriately for this band held at the National Cycling Centre.

With the Velodrome being situated in the wrong part of Manchester, Celia & I weren't too familiar with it's location. We knew it was near the Council House (Man City's rented accommodation) which we'd been to in 2005 to see U2, but that was on mostly on foot, not by car. Fortunately the website for the Velodrome gave great directions, and basically we had to follow the signs for "Sportcity" (though when have City ever been associated with sport?).

After being guided by volunteers towards the nearby free car parking, we parked up and wandered over in the glorious early evening sunshine towards the venue. All around people were were hanging around, chilling out - none of this bustling pushing queueing nonsense here. It was all so civilised. Lovely. We took a few photos at the front of the venue before going round the back (ooh err) to the "blue door" entrance as specified on the ticket.

Whilst in the short line of peeps calmly entering the building, we were asked by a camera crew filming for the Festival a couple of questions... "Why have we come here to see Kraftwerk?" to which I could only answer "Well... it's Kraftwerk isn't it? Legends." Which is deep. Celia gave a more detailed interesting answer stating that Kraftwerk invented Techno music but was totally overshadowed by a bloke waving his hands in electro style behind her shouting "We are the Robots". Quite.

When asked what was so special about Kraftwerk, I calmly dismissed the entire post war musical output up to 1970 by stating that "there was no good music before Kraftwerk". Great soundbite there Darren. Let's just dismiss the entire career of The Beatles in one fell swoop.

We're given some 3D specs at the entrance. Ooh, the rumours are true then. "9:30" it states ominously on the sleeve. Now the velodrome itself is a bit awesome, and as we had standing tickets we got to stand in the centre of the arena with the track around us, where the general public don't usually get a chance to stand. We wandered up casually to the front and sat on the floor awaiting the opening act...

No support band as such. Instead we got the premiere of composer Steve Reich's "2x5", a piece specially written for the festival, performed by a group of musicians called Bang On A

Can. I didn't know a great deal about Reich's work - his "Electric Counterpoint" was sampled on the Orb's "Little Fluffy Clouds" but that's about it, Celia knew more about him than I did. This new piece was an interesting piece of music, if repetetive but not really for me. To be honest some of it sounded like incidental music from "Mary Mungo & Midge". Not that it's a bad thing... just not my bag.

Celia's old mate Paul from down saaaaaf in Coventry turned up during this song and provided welcome distraction from the noodling on stage. The two of them hadn't clapped eyes on each other in about 10 years and it was if it had only been 10 days. The whole place was getting quite busy by now but it wasn't crushed, with plenty of room for movement.

The band departed to a warm round of applause, and I'm informed that the composer was there at the back of the arena but we couldn't see him from where we were stood. However I'm sure that nobody bought a ticket for Mr Reich, god bless. The 4 German guys were the main attraction and what we were all here for. And so the curtains were drawn whilst stage hands set up. 15 minutes later, the lights dimmed, and the robotic opening tones of "The Man Machine" blared across the auditorium...

"Meine Dammen und Herren...Ladies and gentlemen...heute abend...Die Mensch Maschine...Kraft...werk!"

...the curtains opened to reveal the familiar sight of the fab four stood individually behind their laptops and electronic gubbins. Each wore a black shiny cycling style zip top. There was a "new" member at the end, Stefan Pfaffe (replacing founder member Florian Schneider) who stood out from the rest because he was (a) taller than them and (b) looked about twenty. He's a bit like the work experience kid. Whatever happened between Florian and the remaining founder member Ralf Hutter to cause the split we'll probably never know - Kraftwerk are not known for discussing... well anything really.

It's funny really - I usually hate groups that try to go on with only one remaining original member. It's like Oasis - the Gallaghers and some hired hands, or Fleetwood Mac during the 90's. But Kraftwerk transcend this bias of mine, I don't know how. Maybe it's because they've always been pretty faceless, truly embracing the idea of the music being everything - they truly are the Mensch Maschine.

I don't know what to say really about the performance... apart from harking back to whatI said to the reporter earlier... it's Kraftwerk isn't it? You don't really go to see them for an energetic performance, yet what they do is mesmerising. The combination of their minimalism, the accompanying visuals on the huge video screens behind them and the crystal clear electronic sound was just awesome.

Appropriately, the original version of "Tour De France" was played - well, we're in a bloody Velodrome and that's the only reason cycling nutter Ralf agreed to the gig - but during the song I could see a curtain twitching down a ramp in front of us - something was gonna happen. And as the first bars of the "Etape" version from the "Tour De France Soundtracks" rang out... four cyclists emerge from behind the curtain and ride onto the track. Ralf introduces them as the Great Britain Cycling Team - Ed Clancy, Jason Kenny, Jamie Staff and Geraint Thomas, all Gold medallists in Beijing - and the crowd go mad as they ride round the arena in formation. He also gives a bit shout out to their trainer who is German - like the music, sport can sometimes transcend Nationality for the greater good. This celebration of the true man machine has turned an already special night into something extraordinary. So where can it go from here?

Well, after the Olympic medal winning cyclists leave the arena to an amazing reaction from the audience, and Ralf promises to bring his bike next time, Kraftwerk go on to plough through some of their amazing back catalogue. They play the song Coldplay nicked wholesale for "Talk", "Computer Love" but give a little nod back to Chris Martin by incorporating the little musical touches he added. "Autobahn" is awesome as ever, "Showroom Dummies" is a pleasant surprise as it wasn't played on the last visit to Manchester in 2004, the UK number one "The Model" is a crowd fave, and "Neon Lights" just gets more beautiful everytime you hear it. The first half of the show ends with the magnificently epic "Trans Europe Express", a record which invented Depeche Mode post-Vince Clarke. Honest.

The curtains close (well eventually - the stage hands had a bit of bother, which the Mancunian crowd predictably ripped the piss out of) and we wonder what's next... well I think we know. The curtains open again to reveal that the band have been replaced by... yes, the robotic doppelgangers for "The Robots". Of course all this is to give them time backstage to change into their "Tron" cycling suits. At least they've changed Florian's head for Stefan's.

The automated versions are removed and it's time (well a bit later than 9:30 actually) to don the 3D glasses. Just when you think that the show can't get any better, the visuals behind the group come atcha in glorious 3D. You can almost reach out and touch the numbers in front of you during the tune of the same name, and during "Vitamin" the computer graphic pills are so real you nearly duck out of the way. It must be a bizarre sight for the band to see a few thousand people staring at them in cardboard glasses.