xKraftwerk – Brighton Centre, 30 May 2026
Tomorow’s world, today
Fifty-six years into their mission and still sounding like tomorrow, Kraftwerk turned the Brighton Centre into a humming, high-definition machine room for just over two immaculate hours. Ralf Hütter led the current quartet — Henning Schmitz, Falk Grieffenhagen and Georg Bongartz — through a ruthlessly engineered tour of their catalogue, part concert, part kinetic art installation, all precision.
They launched, as they should, with the green-glow rush of Numbers into Computer World, the suits pulsing in sync with vector graphics and chest-rattling bass. From there, the show unfolded like a perfectly sequenced program: Home Computer/It’s More Fun To Compute sharpened the edges; Spacelab landed a flying saucer on Brighton Beach to roars; The Man-Machine flexed its red/black constructivist cool. Autobahn compressed the long road into a sleek nine-minute cruise, while Computer Love and a crowd-pleasing The Model reminded everyone that Kraftwerk can do austere romance as well as robots and rails.
Massive medleys
The night’s heart hit hardest in two extended runs. First, a roaring Tour de France/Chrono/Étape 2 medley — all diamond-cut bleeps and piston rhythm. Then the knockout: Trans-Europe Express/Metal on Metal/Abzug, a brutalist eight-minute masterclass with monochrome visuals snapping like railway sleepers under steel. Loud, physical, undeniable.
There were thoughtful detours too. Hütter paused to salute Ryuichi Sakamoto, the screens dimmed, and the quartet offered a hushed, elegant Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence before pivoting into the Fukushima-era Radioactivity — names of nuclear sites flashing like warnings as sub-bass shook the room. Neon Lights glowed tenderly, its volume modest but Hütter’s vocal unusually warm; Electric Café crackled; Planet of Visions retooled Expo 2000 into a muscular manifesto.
As tradition dictates, Boing Boom Tschak/Techno Pop/Musique Non Stop became a conveyor belt exit — each member signing off with a flourish — only for an encore to bring everyone roaring back. The Robots, rendered in urgent red, closed the loop: man, machine, and myth in perfect alignment. Full-house standing ovation, deserved.
Verdict?
Kraftwerk haven’t just preserved their legacy; they keep reframing it with cruel clarity and modern weight. In a world drowning in retro, this felt defiantly future-facing. The best sound-and-vision show in electronic music remains very much operational.
Highlights: Trans-Europe Express suite; Spacelab’s Brighton flyover; Radioactivity (Fukushima version).
Quibbles: A touch more volume and La Forme could’ve hit harder.
Verdict: An engineered triumph — elegant, heavy, and weirdly moving.
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