BY B AO L E - H U U KRAFTWERK’S RALF HÜTTER | PHOTO BY JIM LEATHERMAN
THE BEAT
I wasn’t even going to write about this. But apparently, I’m inveterate. I was at the Kraftwerk concert (June 24, Dr. Phillips Center). It was my first show in over two years. The itch, of course, has been there all along. But there are life things more important than covering live music, and I’ve tried to stay as safe as I can for my nearest and dearest. However imprudent I myself feel it is to be “over” a pandemic that’s not over with us, things are getting back to business as usual. So I ventured out to this concert more covertly than I’ve done in nearly 20 years. I hadn’t planned on covering it at all. I didn’t line up press credentials or a photographer (thankfully, our trusty Jim Leatherman was already there). I didn’t even take the opportunity to make it an overdue social thing, save for the sole high-school pal I quietly made plans to go with. Returning after this much time and change in circumstance was fraught enough, so I wanted to go in with as little pressure as possible. I just wanted to go back as a music fan. In the complex calculus of personal considerations I’ve been weighing, this show was the one that I just could not let slip by. For one, it’s Kraftwerk, not just one of my own pet favorites but one of the most seminal, peerless and important music acts of all goddamn time. Furthermore, I never thought I’d get to see them. Their touring demand is worldwide and they’re not exactly road dogs. When their original Orlando date for summer 2020 became a COVID casualty, it seemed fate was against it, plain and simple.
Kraftwerk were breathtaking in a show that was a masterstroke of conceptual artistry, digital mystique and monolithic legend. Their famous 3-D show brought the group’s iconic aesthetic to life
why we keep doing it, why we’ll always keep doing it, no matter what.
CONCERT PICKS THIS WEEK If you go out, be safe, be cool.
Nova Rex: Although this performance is a sideshow of an Orlando Predators game, it’s still noteworthy, especially for rock historians and nostalgists for spandex metal. Basically the Anvil of hair bands, this 1980s Canadian group were brought back into the public consciousness with the 2011 documentary Nova Rex: Ain’t Easy Being Cheesy, which was surprisingly Florida-centric and featured lots of After two years, a rescheduled date actu- Orlando footage and refreshing candor about ally materialized. No, this time I would not their, ahem, art. Go Preds! (6:30 p.m. Friday, be denied. For their part, Kraftwerk were July 1, Amway Center, $19-$80) breathtaking in a show that was a masterstroke of conceptual artistry, digital mystique Valient Thorr, Savage Master, Early and monolithic legend. Their famous 3-D Moods, American Party Machine: show brought the group’s iconic aesthetic to America used to be known for democracy. At vivid life. Their red-shirted, black-tied man- least we still have rock & roll. So if you really nequins made a show-stopping appearance. wanna do July 4 weekend right, you’ll be at Nods to Orlando even made it into their visu- this show, which will pop off like a cannon of als. And here I am writing about it. bald eagles on fire. North Carolina headliners This piece, however, isn’t entirely about Valient Thorr are one of rock’s most euphorKraftwerk. It’s more personal than anything. ic live experiences, with their combination I had to get it out because that old hardwiring of ecstatic showmanship and hard-partydoesn’t just go away. It’ll probably be another ing, denim-vest anthems. Then there’s the minute or two before I’m the beat hound I ridiculous glory of Orlando’s American Party was before, but it was so fucking good to be Machine, as close to a homegrown equivaat a live show again. lent to Valient Thorr as there’s ever been. There’s absolutely nothing in all of Rounding out this maximum bill will be human experience like the communion of the camp-tastic occult metal of Louisville’s live performance. While this isn’t an origi- Savage Master and the powerful retro doom nal observation, it was life-affirming to be of L.A.’s Early Moods. (8 p.m. Sunday, July 3, reminded of it in such a brilliant way. That’s Will’s Pub, $15) orlandoweekly.com
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JUNE 29-JULY 5, 2022 ● ORLANDO WEEKLY
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