Post Description

Kraftwerk 

Walt Disney Concert Hall, 
Los Angeles, CA 
March 18, 2014 

The Catalogue - 12345678 - Autobahn (7:30pm - early show) 


Lineage:  CA-14 (cardioids) > CA-9200 > GAKables mini starquad > Edirol R-09HR (@ 24bit/96kHz) > Audacity (fades, eq, amplify, export as 16bit/44.1kHz) > CD Wave (track splits) > TLH (flac level 8)
Taper:  klingklang 
Location:  balcony, center 


01. vocoder intro 
02. Autobahn 
03. Kometenmelodie 1 
04. Kometenmelodie 2 
05. Mitternacht 
06. Morgenspaziergang 
07. Geiger Counter 
08. Radio-Activity 
09. Trans-Europe Express / Abzug / Metal On Metal 
10. The Robots 
11. Spacelab 
12. Das Model 
13. The Man-Machine 
14. Numbers 
15. Computer World 2 
16. It's More Fun To Compute / Home Computer 
17. Computer Love 
18. Tour De France 
19. Tour De France Etape 2 
20. Boing Boom Tschak 
21. Techno Pop 
22. Musique Non Stop 


Notes:

First night and show 1 of the Catalogue in Los Angeles.  Part of the Los Angeles Philharmonic's Minimalist Jukebox series at the Disney Hall.

This was my 5th Kraftwerk show and I must say it was incredible.  First off, I was so happy to wipe away the horrible memory I had of the 
last time they played Los Angeles back in 2005 (just for info, my bad experience was due to an audience member and not because of the music).  
I was beyond ecstatic that these 3D Catalogue performances finally made it to the west coast and at a large enough venue to meet ticket demand.  
It seemed as if nearly everyone who signed up for the LA Phil lottery was given a code to purchase tickets, but the 4 ticket limit across all 
8 shows restricted my dream of seeing the entire run.  Still, I'm extremely grateful I was able to attend four of these performances at such a 
beautiful sounding venue.  The surround sound was a remarkable feature and my seat location seemed to benefit from the speaker rigging in front 
of the balcony (inevitably, some sounds were louder than others).  And the 3D effects were a lot of fun to experience, with the crowd obviously 
enjoying the images (the radio dial scene in "Autobahn" got the most giggles out of people).  Since this was my first time seeing the 3D show, 
I found myself just absorbing all of the visuals and failing to pay attention to what the band was doing.  I saw a few people not bothering with 
the 3D glasses in order to see the musicians better, but I chose not to follow that mindset for this show.

As with the other Autobahn Catalogue shows performed throughout the world, my only minor disappointment of the evening was that a lot of the 
songs were so short compared to their album versions (Autobahn is a 26 minute album in this setting).  Regardless, the chance to hear songs like 
"Komentenmelodie 1 & 2" and "Mitternacht" was something I thought I'd never be able to experience live.  This was also the first time I heard 
"Spacelab" live firsthand, so that made my mind explode.  And to top that off, we got "Das Model," which was another a live first for me (sadly, 
they didn't repeat the German version at any other show I saw).  The only noticeable error of the evening was that "News" began along with 
"Geiger Counter" but was then faded out.  

The Disney Hall setting definitely helped restrain the crowd noise.  People naturally reacted to the 3D images, but were very respectful during 
the performance of Autobahn.  (After the show, I heard a lot of disparaging remarks made about the album's non-title tracks, making me wonder why 
these people were even there or else they were simply revealing that they couldn't get into the album show they were more familiar with.)  Despite 
the overall quiet crowd and the luxury of having plenty of empty seats on either side of me, I was still cursed by having a lively fellow a few 
seats to my right.  He was a stoner in an ancient Tangerine Dream shirt who did a Cookie Monster vocal to show his appreciation.  He made his 
presence known during the vocoder intro, so you'll become familiar with him almost immediately.  He would even lean over the railing to increase 
the range of his growl.  To warn you, he is heard in "Autobahn," after "Radio-Activity," after "The Robots," in the beginning and end of "Das 
Model," and then he calmed down and is not heard again until the end of "MNS" after Ralf's solo.

The acoustics of this building are such that if one is stomping on the floor, that sound is as loud in the balcony as it is on the floor.  As a 
result, when people would walk around or clap, it's very noticeable--especially during the quieter moments.  Besides that noise, there is the 
occasional cough, random clap and brief talking in the background (all of which is barely heard).

There are two extremely light pops at the very beginning of "The Robots" and I'm not sure what caused that.  I was unable to remove them.  And 
something popped in the PA during "TDF Etape 2."

The PA increased after the Autobahn performance and seemed to fluctuate (depending on the song) throughout the night.  For example, it was really 
loud from "Radio-Activity" through "The Robots" and then the sound was lower from "Spacelab" through "The Man-Machine."  I was not paying attention 
to this so I ended up with some peaks (one in "The Robots" and a handful during Henning's solo at the end of "MNS") and had to apply some eq to 
those moments.  Please note that light distortion still occurs where it peaked. 

Besides the aforementioned eq, I amplified this but did nothing else to the recording, so be sure to turn it up for the quiet songs.  And if 
burning to cd, the suggested split is between "The Man-Machine" and "Numbers."

I taped the full ambient intro, but have not included it due to the fact that everyone talked through it.

There was a no photo policy for this venue, so the only pics I have included are of the Disney Hall exterior and the 3D glasses sleeve, as well 
as scans of my 'ticket' and the Minimalist Jukebox flyer.

And on a personal note, this was the first time I've had the privilege of taping Kraftwerk.  It's always been my taping aspiration.  Thank you to 
all the Kraftwerk tapers and traders who were kind enough to share their collections with me in the ancient days of snail mail trading.  And 
thank you to everyone else who has freely shared their Kraftwerk recordings without reservation.  I hope you will enjoy the contributions I am 
finally able to offer.

Special thanks to G3 for indulging me and to mixter_ for the encouragement.

Please support the band by buying their official releases and merch.  Speaking of merch, I was bummed they didn't bring along any new shirts for 
this tour, but they did at least sell some different items: the Roboter book, the Catalogue poster, the Autobahn tote and the pixel messenger bag.  
I thought it would have been more thematic had they sold the 3D shirts or the 3D book (I did spot someone in the white 3D shirt at this show, so 
someone was already prepared).

http://www.kraftwerk.com
http://www.facebook.com/KraftwerkOfficial
http://www.twitter.com/kraftwerk


Ralf Hütter

Henning Schmitz

Fritz Hilpert

Falk Grieffenhagen





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