Electro Trailblazers Kraftwerk Have Just Announced a Huge 2023 Australian and New Zealand Tour
Ahead of their time when they started making tunes in 1970, the German band is bringing its electronic music computer animations and performance art Down Under.
Some bands are so influential, so pioneering and so ahead of their time that they change the course of music history. Electro trailblazers Kraftwerk are one such group. Forming in Düsseldorf in 1970, they quickly segued from krautrock to diving into the electronic scene — and imagining the future, including experimenting with robotics, in the process. The song 'Computer Love'? Back in the 80s, it foresaw internet dating.
Unsurprisingly, Kraftwerk have left their mark on everything from their chosen genre and techno to synth pop and hip hop since. Also, more than five decades later, the German outfit is still touring. Kraftwerk's live shows are an experience, combining the band's electronic music computer animations and performance art. Take note, audiences Down Under, because the group is heading to Australia and New Zealand in November and December.
The multi-media project founded by Ralf Huetter and Florian Schneider, and that aims to create "gesamtkunstwerk — a total work of art" — in each gig, will play seven shows in total across both countries. The 2023 tour starts in Wellington on Wednesday, November 29. From there, Kraftwerk will take to the stage in Auckland, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide, then end their trip in Perth on Friday, December 15.
Expect synthetic voices and computerised rhythms aplenty — it is what Kraftwerk's music is known for, and were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame for — plus a visual show that ponders man and machine to match.
Kraftwerk's latest visit Down Under comes after the band played Vivid in 2015, as part of 3D Kraftwerk — The Catalogue 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8, which saw them perform eight albums from 1974's Autobahn through to 2003's Tour de France over four nights at the Sydney Opera House.
Since starting their retrospective gigs at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 2012, they've hit up everywhere from London's Tate Modern and Bilbao's Guggenheim Museum to Tokyo's Akasaka Blitz and Los Angeles' Walt Disney Concert Hall.
KRAFTWERK AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND 2023 TOUR:
Wednesday, November 29 — TSB Arena, Wellington
Friday, December 1 — Spark Arena, Auckland
Monday, December 4 — Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, Brisbane
Wednesday, December 6 — Aware Super Theatre, Sydney
Friday, December 8 — Margaret Court Arena, Melbourne
Tuesday, December 12 — Adelaide Entertainment Centre Theatre, Adelaide
Friday, December 15 — Riverside Theatre, PCEC, Perth
Kraftwerk tours Australia and New Zealand in November and December 2023, with pre-sale tickets available from 11am local time on Monday, July 17 and general sales from 10am local time on Wednesday, July 19. Head to the tour website for tickets and further details.
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