MEDIA RELEASE
20 FEBRUARY 2013
Kraftwerk to perform
THE CATALOGUE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 (3D Shows)
for Vivid LIVE at Sydney Opera House
May 24 – 27 2013
'*****The quality of the music is beyond question … genuinely spectacular.' The Guardian
'***** As mind-blowing as any stage show of any kind I have ever seen.' The Telegraph, UK
NSW Deputy Premier and Minister for Trade and Investment, Andrew Stoner, Destination NSW and Sydney Opera House today announced that German electronic music pioneers Kraftwerk will perform the Australian premiere of their groundbreaking master works in 3D KRAFTWERK - THE CATALOGUE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 in an exclusive engagement for Vivid LIVE at Sydney Opera House from May 24 - 27. Vivid LIVE at Sydney Opera House is a 10-day celebration of ambitious popular music within the city’s annual Vivid Sydney festival of light, music and ideas, which is owned and managed by Destination NSW. Running from 24 May -2 June, Vivid LIVE is the highlight of Sydney Opera House’s year-round contemporary music program.
KRAFTWERK - THE CATALOGUE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 is a live 3D journey through eight albums that changed the face of popular music forever. Kraftwerk first presented this retrospective at New York’s MoMA in 2012, followed by the band’s hometown of Düsseldorf and most recently at the Tate Modern in London, drawing rave reviews with fans and critics describing the show as ‘mesmerising’ and ‘phenomenal’.
For their Vivid LIVE residency, Kraftwerk will play eight concerts over four nights in the Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House. Each individual concert will be dedicated to one of their eight groundbreaking studio albums, performed in order of their release, commencing with Autobahn (1974) followed Radio-Activity (1975), Trans Europe Express (1977), The Man-Machine (1978), Computer World (1981), Techno Pop (1986), The Mix (1991) and Tour de France (2003) — alongside additional compositions from their back-catalogue.
With the audience wearing 3D glasses, each performance also incorporates the iconic artwork of long-term collaborator Emil Schult into a 3D multimedia performance, re-appropriating Kraftwerk's history with their ever-present reach for the future.
Fergus Linehan, Festival Director of Vivid LIVE at Sydney Opera House said, “We are thrilled to have Kraftwerk in residence for Vivid LIVE following the phenomenal reaction to their performances in MoMA and TATE Modern. Book your flights and hotels now - these eight concerts are a mind-melting feast for the eyes and the ears that are sure to sell out.”
NSW Deputy Premier, Andrew Stoner, said, “I am very pleased that Vivid Sydney continues to attract the world’s most outstanding talent. Now in its fifth year, Vivid Sydney has become a wonderful platform to highlight Australia’s global city to the world by featuring some of the biggest names in music, lighting artistry and ideas, to local and international audiences.”
Renowned as the pioneers in electronic music history, these self-described 'operators' have influenced artists as unique and varied as David Bowie, Daft Punk, Kanye West, R.E.M, LCD Soundsystem and Joy Division. Following its international debut in April 2012 at New York's Museum of Modern Art and residencies at Düsseldorf’s Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen and London’s Tate Modern, KRAFTWERK – THE CATALOGUE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 now invites Australian audiences to explore one of the richest histories in global sound, image culture and popular music.
The full program for Vivid Sydney festival of music, light and ideas, including Vivid LIVE at Sydney Opera House will be announced in March vividsydney.com / sydneyoperahouse.com/vividLIVE
IMPORTANT TICKETING INFORMATION
Sydney Opera House expects high demand for tickets for Kraftwerk’s unique series of concerts exclusive to Sydney based on recent success in New York and London. To ensure everyone has an equal chance to purchase tickets, Sydney Opera House have put in place an online application process. This will minimise the congestion through sales channels and fairly distribute tickets to fans across time zones, states and countries.
Apply for your tickets anytime between Mon 25th Feb 2013 and Friday 1st March 2013 (midnight AEST)
Tickets will not be allocated on a first come first served basis, all applications received during this period will be equally considered.
To apply go to www.sydneyoperahouse.com/kraftwerk
APPLICATIONS CANNOT BE ACCEPTED OVER THE PHONE OR IN PERSON
Season Details & performance dates & times:
KRAFTWERK - THE CATALOGUE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House
Friday 24 – Monday 27 May, 2013
24 May, 7pm - AUTOBAHN (1974)
The perfect soundtrack for the ultimate roadmovie and the beginning of electropop. This pioneering album is a picturesque journey through musical landscapes and sound paintings. The synthetik symphony features a mesmerising motorik rhythm around a collage of car horns, engine noise, radio static and floating melodies. Kraftwerk’s modern pop legacy starts here and Autobahn, in its edited form becomes a revolutionary hit single around the world. Kraftwerk compose cinema for the ears.
24 May, 9.30pm - RADIO-ACTIVITY (1975)
A highly innovative science fiction movie soundtrack about radio-activity and the activity of the radio. This all-electronic concept album explores the themes of broadcast communications and nuclear radiation. Surfing on sine waves and scanning the stratosphere for stray radio signals, Kraftwerk plug themselves into a buzzing grid of energy and radio signals. Radio-activity marks the move to more pop-structured songs.
25 May, 7pm - TRANS EUROPE EXPRESS (1977)
Kraftwerk celebrate Europe's romantic past and shimmering future with a glistening panorama of travel and technology, elegance and decadence. The streamlined locomotive sequencer rhythms of ‘Trans Europe Express’ with its pneumatic, piston-pumping beats of ' Metal On Metal ' are in contrast to the beautiful melody. New York DJ Afrika Bambaataa would re-construct this song five years later for his own seminal ‘Planet Rock’. This Kraftwerk album is a milestone in avant-pop modernism and later becomes a crucial influence on the early pioneers of hip-hop and sampling, electro and industrial music.
25 May, 9.30pm - THE MAN MACHINE (1978)
Over processed robotik rhythms which predate the rise of European techno and trance, Kraftwerk address automation and alienation, space travel and engineering, the seductive allure of urban landscapes and the vacant glamour of celebrity. ‘The Robots’ adds another dimension to Kraftwerk's ultra-dry sense of humour and behind its intoxicating melodic pulse, ‘The Model’ is a highly prophetic satire on the beauty industry. ‘Neon Lights’ is Kraftwerk's most achingly romantic song to date, a sci-fi lullaby for cities at twilight.
26 May, 7pm - COMPUTER WORLD (1981)
Kraftwerk beam themselves into the future by writing about home computers, online dating and globalised electronic surveillance years before these phenomena truly come into being. A vision of bright hopes and dark fears of the booming microchip revolution, ‘Computer World’ is a serenely beautiful and almost seamless collage of sensual melodies and liquid beatscapes. Tracks like ‘Numbers’ and ‘Pocket Calculator, with their weightless bleeps and elastic beats, and their cyberfunk, predict the silky rhythms of Chicago house and inspire a generation of Detroit techno artists.
26 May, 9.30pm - TECHNO POP (1986)
From the block-rocking beats and synthetik language of ‘Boing Boom Tschack’ to the processed vocal chants of MTV-age anthem ‘Musique Non Stop, Kraftwerk's first excursion into digital recording finds both beauty and unease in a world of permanent media overload. The ‘Techno Pop’ album, first released under the name ‘Electric Café’ but now restored to its originally intended title, provides a 360-degree overview of a multi-lingual, multi-channel, musically diverse global village.
27 May, 7pm - THE MIX (1991)
Kraftwerk confirm clubland credentials with their Kling Klang Studio live mixing techniques and a return to live concert activities. They rework 11 of their best-loved tunes for a new generation. Original sounds are reconstructed from their archives and sound library at Kling Klang and sequenced for these new versions that now feature more machine -like rhythms and cleaned-up, liquid-crystal sounds. ‘The Mix’ is a career-spanning collection of legendary electro anthems and a strong statement of the two-way traffic between Kraftwerk and electro club culture.
27 May, 9.30pm - TOUR DE FRANCE (2003)
The year 2003 marked the centenary of the Tour de France and the conceptual starting line for Kraftwerk's global touring activities....Minimum-Maximum. The album features an immaculate new version of their legendary 20-year-old former single, the exquisitely graceful ‘Tour de France’ and the album is a film script that takes the listener through the hills and valleys of the cycling circuit. From the chunky electro-funk of ‘Vitamin’ to the restless metallic shimmers of ‘Aero Dynamik’, this is emphatically the sound of 21st century techno visionaries.....Men and their Machines.
Vivid Sydney 24 May – 10 June vividsydney.com
Vivid LIVE at Sydney Opera House 24 May – 2 June sydneyoperahouse.com/vividLIVE
Media Enquiries:
Helene Fox , Publicity Manager, Sydney Opera House
hfox@sydneyoperahouse.com / 612 9250 7805
Vivid LIVE: sydneyoperahouse.com/vividLIVE
Twitter: @Vivid LIVE @SydOperaHouse
Facebook: facebook.com/vividLIVE
Instagram: @sydneyoperahouse @vividLIVE
For more information on Vivid Sydney: www.vividsydney.com
Insiders Membership Program: For Vivid LIVE, Sydney Opera House Insiders are exempt from booking fees and receive other exclusive benefits. Sydneyoperahouse.com/Insiders