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karlbartos_intro.jpgKulturfabrik, Krefeld, Germany
1st April 2005
Karl Bartos

Hardly any other name in popmusic is as much a synonym for electronic lifestyle as Karl Bartos. Originally a classically trained percussionist and keyboarder, later he became a member and author of the legendary German group Kraftwerk. He took part in creating some of modern music’s most influential classics like: "Radioactivity", "Trans Europe Express", "The Man Machine", "Computer World", "Tour de France", "Electric Café" and "The Mix", and altered our perception of sound.

We arrived at about 8 at the Kulturfabrik in Krefeld just seeing quite a crowd of the older "Kraftwerk" fans waiting outside the venue. As we were inside we could have a look at the big video installations on stage. There were 3 screens at the back of the stage and a few TV-sets in front of it.

Music

At his live concerts, Karl and his both comrade-in-arms are combining classical "Kraftwerk-sound" with an own electronic aesthetics. His program consists of new arranged "Kraftwerk" songs, compositions from his solo album "Communication" and some new songs. Like with most of the electronic concerts most of the music came from tape. Karl and the guy to his left were responsible for running the music and playing keyboard. The guy right from karl was responsible for the video installations.

Performance
Karl Bartos live is an audio-visual pop art performance with the energy of a rock concert. An extensive video projection on three big screens shows the visual implementation of the songs. Well, the three guys on stage don´t move much. But the music combined with a cool light show and the video installations creates it´s own charm. You really could see that Karl had fun on stage while the audience was singing along the songs and cheering up to the stage. I had the impression that the "Kraftwerk" songs worked better than his own stuff. People were very happy about songs like "The Robots", "The Model" or "Tour de France".

Setlist
01. Numbers
02. Computer World
03. Camera
04. Message
05. Home Computer
06. Reality
07. Telephone Call
08. Tour de France
09. Life
10. Computer Love
11. The Model
12. 15 Minutes
13. T-E-E
14. The Robots
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15. P-Calculator
16. Ultra Violet
17. Electronic Apeman
18. Neon Light

Rating
Music 9
Performance 8
Sound 8
Lights 9
Total 9 (8.55)

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