Pitchfork: Kraftwerk Announce World Tour

Kraftwerk Announce World Tour
Finally agree to change Kraftwerk "macaroni und cheese" to Kraftwerk "cheese und macaroni"

[Updated Wednesday, January 14th, 2004 18:00:00 Pitchfork Central Time]

Kraftwerk, the world's oldest living robot people, have broken out the WD-40, oiled the squeaky joints and other moving parts, and embarked on what, by any measure, can be considered a major world tour (a very small Japanese portion of which we reported on back in November of last year). Hot on the heels-- if anything about Kraftwerk can truly be described as hot on the heels of anything else-- of 2003's Tour de France Soundtracks, this excursion takes in, rather ironically we like to think, twenty seven cities, only one of which is in France, so it's really not a Tour de France at all, so they'd better not be calling it the Tour de France Tour is all that I'm saying, because that would be, like, totally misleading.

Also, we think it distinctly unlikely that any of the old geezers will be riding bicycles, either to the shows or on the stage, so there's another piece of dastardly Kraftwerk disinformation. They're not touring France, and they're not riding bikes. But they will in all likelihood move their arms stiffly up and down as if they were machines, and sounds will come from nowhere as if pre-recorded on some kind of tape or perhaps even digital device. There will almost certainly not be an encore. It would be amusing to think of Bruce Springsteen shaking in his boots as these masters of the blue-collar stadium anthem flex their stagecraft muscles and practice sliding on their knees from one side of the stage to the other and hanging upside down from the microphone stand in preparation for a marathon odyssey of proletronica, but he's not and neither are they, so let's just dispense with that fantasy right now. Oh, and four of the shows are in North America, so we should be grateful for small mercies. Der dates:

02-06 Helsinki, Finland - Old Ice Hall
02-08 Stockholm, Sweden - Cirkus
02-09 Stockholm, Sweden - Cirkus
02-10 Stockholm, Sweden - Cirkus
02-12 Oslo, Norway - Rockefeller
02-13 Oslo, Norway - Rockefeller
02-14 Copenhagen, Denmark - KB Hall
02-15 Copenhagen, Denmark - KB Hall
02-24 Osaka, Japan - Namba Hatch
02-25 Osaka, Japan - Namba Hatch
02-26 Nagoya, Japan - Kinro Kaikan
02-28 Tokyo, Japan - Zepp
02-29 Tokyo, Japan - Zepp
03-02 Tokyo, Japan - Shibuya Ax
03-03 Tokyo, Japan - Shibuya Ax
03-04 Tokyo, Japan - Shibuya Ax
03-15 Dublin, Ireland - Olympia
03-16 Glasgow, Scotland - Academy
03-17 Manchester, England - Apollo
03-18 London, England - Royal Festival Hall
03-20 London, England - Brixton Academy
03-22 Paris, France - Grand Rex
03-23 Brussels, Belgium - Ancienne Belgique
03-25 Berlin, Germany - Tempodrom
03-27 Cologne, Germany - Palladium
03-28 Hamburg, Germany - CCH3
03-29 Amsterdam, Holland - Heineken Music Hall
03-31 Barcelona, Spain - Razzmatazz 1
04-01 Madrid, Spain - La Riviera
04-02 Lisbon, Portugal - Coliseum
04-05 Munich, Germany - Muffathalle
04-06 Munich, Germany - Muffathalle
04-07 Frankfurt, Germany - Jahrhunderthalle
04-08 Dresden, Germany - Alter Schlachthof
04-23 Toronto, Ontario - Ricoh Coliseum
04-24 Montreal, Quebec - Metropolis
04-26 Seattle, WA - Paramount
04-28 San Francisco, CA - Warfield
05-01 Indio, CA - Coachella Festival (w/ The Pixies, Radiohead)