RuhrCongress, Bochum, Germany30th November 2025
Kraftwerk – “Multimedia Tour 2025”
KRAFTWERK - a band who doesn’t needs an introduction at all. KRAFTWERK was founded in Düsseldorf in the 1970s by Florian Schneider and Ralf Hütter. In the beginning, they played experimental Rock music and discovered electronic instruments, which they even developed and built themselves in their legendary Kling-Klang studio.
Wolfgang Flür and Karl Bartos joined the band at that time. Their unique sound made them pioneers of electronic music, and they are cited by other artists as an inspiration for their own music like no other band. The Düsseldorf-based band influenced many music genres, including Techno, Synth Pop, EBM and even Hip-Hop. Currently, only Ralf Hütter is still touring live with Kraftwerk, but to ensure that there is still a quartet on stage, Ralf brings in other artists. https://kraftwerk.com / https://www.facebook.com/Kraftwerk
Music & Performance
On this evening, Bochum’s RuhrCongress was so full very early on that visitors were standing close together and it was almost impossible to get to the front towards the stage. Those who had found their seats were then able to experience the start of the concert punctually at 8 pm. At the beginning, four stylised figures representing the band members could be seen on a huge LED wall.
When the quartet then stepped onto the stage from the right and took their places behind their desks, the audience could no longer hold back and cheered loudly. In keeping with the first song, ‘Numbers’, numbers in various sizes lit up on the LED wall, while the guys glowed in their overalls with neon green reflective strips.
The songs were accompanied by corresponding animations playing in the background. For example, during ‘Spacelab’, the globe was visible from space and a UFO was flying around. During ‘Autobahn’, the well-known animated video with the old VW Beetle and the old Mercedes-Benz was shown.
Musically, all the songs were instantly recognisable, but thanks to new arrangements, none of them sounded boring; instead, they sounded quite new. In addition to their own songs, KRAFTWERK played ‘Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence’, a cover version of the classic by Ryūichi Sakamoto. In this moment Ralf spoke some words about his old friend Ryūichi, who died 2023. I very rare moment because Ralf doesn’t speak very often on his concerts.
Whether it was ‘Radioaktivität’, ‘Tour de France’, ‘Trans-Europa Express’ or ‘Die Roboter’, all the song requests from old and young fans alike were fulfilled that evening. And at almost 80 years of age, Ralf Hütter still fascinates a huge fan base.
Setlist
01. Nummern / Computerwelt / Computerwelt 2
02. Heimcomputer / It’s More Fun to Compute
03. Spacelab
04. Ätherwellen
05. Tango
06. The Man-Machine
07. Electric Café
08. Autobahn
09. Computer Liebe
10. Das Model
11. Neonlicht
12. Metropolis
13. Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (Ryūichi Sakamoto cover)
14. Geigerzähler
15. Radioaktivität (Japanese Version)
16. Vitamin
17. Tour de France / Tour de France Étape 3 / Chrono / Tour de France Étape 2
18. La Forme
19. Trans-Europa Express / Metall auf Metall / Abzug
20. Planet der Visionen
21. Boing Boom Tschak / Techno Pop / Musique Non Stop
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22. Die Roboter
All pictures by Andreas Klüppelberg
