Kraftwerk Returns To Place des Arts to Celebrate 50 years of Autobahn

    In June of 2022, Kraftwerk made an appearance at Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier for a grandiose multimedia concert. My friend and I considered going, he being a much bigger fan of the early Kraftwerk stuff than I. Ultimately, we decided that a band 55 years into their career, with only one original member remaining, would deliver a lackluster performance that could not possibly warrant the extremely high ticket price. His uncle ended up going in as our surrogate while we did whatever else instead. Upon returning, this uncle, whose scathing critiques of concerts have long been a point of interest for me and this friend, claimed that it was possibly the greatest show he’d ever seen in his entire life. This left us scattered and remorseful, as we were quick to assume that 2022 must be the final tour of such an old group, and our chance to ever see the pioneers of synth-pop live had passed us by due to our neglect.

    Upon seeing an advertisement for Kraftwerk’s 50th anniversary of Autobahn tour, and a brand-new date listed at the same venue, this time, we declared we would not miss our chance.

    This would mark my first ever concert at Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier. The extravagant interior, coupled with the equally extravagant age of the crowd, turned the show into much more of an event than a typical concert. There was no opener to speak of, which would guarantee Ralf Hütter and his associates free reign over their whopping 2-hour setlist.

    The band’s introduction on stage set the scene for what was to come with nearly four entire minutes of a robot voice rising and falling over flashing lights. As the whole room cut to black, the band stepped outside and onto their four perfectly aligned podiums at the center. They and the podiums were contoured with full-body neon green Tron suits, which would continue to add visual splendor to the entirety of the performance.

    The set-list was largely composed of the hits from their late 70s to early 80s output, with no shortage of Autobahn tracks. Many cuts were remixed to feature a large amount of synth soloing and sprawling improvisation. Songs like those off Tour de France Soundtracks were modernized in a way that would not be out of place at a rave in 2025. Songs like Radioactivity and Computer Love were a great reminder of how thematically ahead of their time the band was. A world relying on the connectivity of computers would have been pure science fiction in the pre-internet days that Kraftwerk made their come up, and seeing them present these themes with the same whimsical tone of 80s synth candy now that this computer world has become a reality is both alienating and bizarrely reaffirming. The 20-minute encore of tracks from the grossly underrated album Techno Pop was also a welcome surprise.

    The visuals accompanying the band were as important as something with a title like ‘multimedia tour’ entails. Ranging from black and green monochrome computer graphics to bizarre, hypnotic 3D geometry, every song had its accompanying piece of digital art. The 15-minute version of “Autobahn” was decorated by a minimal, colorful animated Volkswagen driving down the famous German highway in tastefully dated CGI. Tour de France was given a montage of vintage black and white cycling footage.  By the two-hour mark, the band began exiting the stage one by one, finally leaving Ralf Hütter alone to celebrate the legacy he’d created as the final member of one of the most influential bands of the 20th century.