Okay - apologies straight away for the shitty picture. The truth is I am so dead against any idiot who takes photos at a concert and those people usually get on my nerves. But I knew I'd be writing about this and really felt I ought to try and capture a real live shot to accompany my post.
We went all the way to Montreux to see Kraftwerk. Or to be more honest, I decided we'd go all the way to see them. Not that any justification is needed but I felt: what the hell, you're only 40 once, I cannot think of anything I'd rather do to celebrate this supposedly momentous occasion. Should you think this is madness for just some pop concert or other, a bit of background. Obsessed with music from virtually the minute I could speak, I can still feel the thrill I had as a kid hearing Autobahn on the radio. Discovering that the group would be playing in Glasgow a couple of years later, and going to see them when I was 12. The subsequent tours: Glasgow Apollo in 1981 for Computer World, when they invited the audience to "play a little melody" on doctored pocket calculators. The (in retrospect rather disappointing) E-generation comeback at Brixton Academy in 1991, and then the triumph of last year's mega tour - once again at Brixton, possibly the greatest live show I have ever witnessed.
So I can't disguise the enthusiasm I feel for this band. It's written all over this page anyway, but in case you'd missed the point, Kraftwerk get my vote as the greatest pop music of the 20th century.
The 21st has a long way to go - but jeez, does this show set the standard. Andy would confirm how excited I was. I tempered my eating and drinking to make sure everything was at prime comfort level. I had to go to the toilet several times beforehand to rid myself of post-show nerves (and come on, I'm only the audience for God's sake). It's pathetic - it was just like a kid failing to sleep on Christmas Eve because of the anticipation.
The Miles Davis Hall is a perfect size - only holds about 1500 people. Some guys have worn red shirts and black ties in honour of classic Werk styling. A woman on her own in front of me is doing a Sudoku puzzle as she waits. We are about three rows from the front of the low, club-style stage. The lights dim and the Man-Machine refrain blasts out.
After that it's just a two hour blur of genius. Genius genius genius. The show is the same as last year, with one set change by moving all the versions of Tour Dr France together. The opening of Man Machine is as spine-tingling as ever. I even danced, which is highly unusual for me. Up close it's possible to work out some of what they are doing up there, and it's not all just checking e-mail or cycling reports. Ralf certainly has some kind of keyboard which means he can play melody lines live (this is particularly noticable on bits of Radioactivity and during his final solo at the end). The middle two appear to specialise in rhythm generation and sound manipulation: pitch shifting, bending notes and eq-ing the bass and treble levels, sometimes dropping the frequencies flat and low like a dub reggae mixer. Only Florian gives nothing away, icy faced for most of the set. There's a bit of on-stage eye communication and some smiling and that's it. But with melodies like this, and a light and video presentation of such style and wit, who needs guitarists dropping to their knees? So the upshot of all this is: Kraftwerk still unrivalled and unequalled. Worth a trip to Switzerland, and hell I'd even say further than that. Next stop is Electric Picnic in Ireland and then I think I can wait a few more years for whatever their next show brings. Oh, and it poured solidly all day in Montreux having been a lakeside sun-filled paradise for the previous days, hence the title of this post - a little homage to the wonderment of Denim.