Uploaded January 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Kraftwerk live at Zaal Vooruit, Gent, Belgium
September 23rd, 2002
2002/03 Atlantic-Pacific Tour
Home Remaster
Recording quality: B+
Attendance: 900 - 1.100
__________________________________________
00:00 Pre Show Sounds
01:02 Meine Damen Und Herren
02:06 Planet Of Visions | First live performance
07:01 Home Computer
14:22 The Man Machine
22:44 The Robots
31:55 Tour De France
38:40 Autobahn
49:24 The Model
53:07 Neon Lights | First live performance since 1981
59:23 Pocket Calculator / Mini Calculateur
1:07:10 Airwaves
1:08:31 Tango
1:16:53 Sellafield 2
1:17:56 Radioactivity
1:24:56 Trans Europe Express
1:37:02 Numbers
1:41:30 Computer World
1:44:57 Music Non Stop
__________________________________________
The 21st century... has arrived. With technological advancements being made in the late 90s and early 2000s, Kraftwerk reconfigured their studio from a V-shaped arrangement of heavy, analogue instruments with four consoles in the front and four projection screens behind to a seemingly straight line of four tables with a VAIO laptop on each one and one big projection screen behind them.
Except that the studio arrangement wasn't a straight line, but a flat U, so that the Kraftwerk members had better eye contact. All analogue synths have been replaced by VSTs which are similar, thus the sound is still the same. Also, instead of a sequencer computer they now use Cubase, a popular DAW competing with FL Studio.
All of these changes substantially reduced the weight and instability of the Kling Klang Studio making transportation and as a consequence touring easier and cheaper. Before that, tours had to be thoroughly planned and several vehicles had to be taken to carefully transport the sensitive equipment which was expensive and caused concerts to be delayed or cancelled. Nowadays, the band doesn't have to think about the transportation anymore and can undertake tours in a larger scale. The 2002/03 tour through Western Europe and the Pacific was just a test to see if the new studio setup works, but after the release of the Tour De France album, more Kraftwerk concerts took place than in their first 30 years.
Initially, the first concert of this tour was scheduled to take place in Luxembourg at Den Atelier on September 22nd, but had to be delayed by a week due to a heavy rain storm. So, they continued in Gent. Like last tour, the band members appeared in leather suits. The show started with Planet Of Visions, a rework of Expo 2000 based on DJ Rolando's Mix and the Underground Resistance Mix. It was the first performance, so, it sounds rough and not mature yet. Elements from the Kling Klang 2002 Mix got added during the beginning of 2004 which is the version that they now play.
The Robots and Robotronik merged into one song. One can tell that they had trouble porting their project files to Cubase as the lead melody and the robovox are not in sync. Autobahn lost even more of the dance elements from The Mix and the 5th synth in The Model is no longer syncopated. Neon Lights made its return to the setlist. It's based on the project file that was created during The Mix recording session, although it might have had a different drum beat back then.
Pityfully, Kraftwerk doesn't perform Pocket Calculator anymore with handheld instruments in front of the audience. The song now has a strict structure, but retains the length it had in 1998.
Nummweltverschmutzung got removed from the setlist which isn't a loss for many due to its repetitiveness. The luminiscent grid suits are not used this time. Tango and Airwaves were briefly kept and returned in 2012 (Airwa.) and 2022 (Tango). Radioactivity turned from an aggressive dance song into a sinister, atmospherical soundtrack. The drum set changed, but the drum beat from The Mix is kept during the 2nd half of the song. Computer World got refined with a different pad and a dynamic snare beat.
__________________________________________
Special thanks to elektrokardiogramm for uploading this recording.
Like it used to be for Gent 1993, only a distorted recording of this concert is circulated. The distortion is not as severe as in the old one of Gent '93, but the sound is not wide and the treble is weak. I tried to strengthen the treble, but then had to cut it down slightly again as it sounds compressed presumably because of low bitrate (I ripped it from YouTube, but it's not caused by YouTube compression). I subsequently increased the stereo width a bit when the result was still not satisfying. If you think that there is no insanely distorted source then you're wrong because I have one.
__________________________________________
*Copyright Disclaimer: Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.*
Kraftwerk live at Zaal Vooruit, Gent, Belgium
September 23rd, 2002
2002/03 Atlantic-Pacific Tour
Home Remaster
Recording quality: B+
Attendance: 900 - 1.100
__________________________________________
00:00 Pre Show Sounds
01:02 Meine Damen Und Herren
02:06 Planet Of Visions | First live performance
07:01 Home Computer
14:22 The Man Machine
22:44 The Robots
31:55 Tour De France
38:40 Autobahn
49:24 The Model
53:07 Neon Lights | First live performance since 1981
59:23 Pocket Calculator / Mini Calculateur
1:07:10 Airwaves
1:08:31 Tango
1:16:53 Sellafield 2
1:17:56 Radioactivity
1:24:56 Trans Europe Express
1:37:02 Numbers
1:41:30 Computer World
1:44:57 Music Non Stop
__________________________________________
The 21st century... has arrived. With technological advancements being made in the late 90s and early 2000s, Kraftwerk reconfigured their studio from a V-shaped arrangement of heavy, analogue instruments with four consoles in the front and four projection screens behind to a seemingly straight line of four tables with a VAIO laptop on each one and one big projection screen behind them.
Except that the studio arrangement wasn't a straight line, but a flat U, so that the Kraftwerk members had better eye contact. All analogue synths have been replaced by VSTs which are similar, thus the sound is still the same. Also, instead of a sequencer computer they now use Cubase, a popular DAW competing with FL Studio.
All of these changes substantially reduced the weight and instability of the Kling Klang Studio making transportation and as a consequence touring easier and cheaper. Before that, tours had to be thoroughly planned and several vehicles had to be taken to carefully transport the sensitive equipment which was expensive and caused concerts to be delayed or cancelled. Nowadays, the band doesn't have to think about the transportation anymore and can undertake tours in a larger scale. The 2002/03 tour through Western Europe and the Pacific was just a test to see if the new studio setup works, but after the release of the Tour De France album, more Kraftwerk concerts took place than in their first 30 years.
Initially, the first concert of this tour was scheduled to take place in Luxembourg at Den Atelier on September 22nd, but had to be delayed by a week due to a heavy rain storm. So, they continued in Gent. Like last tour, the band members appeared in leather suits. The show started with Planet Of Visions, a rework of Expo 2000 based on DJ Rolando's Mix and the Underground Resistance Mix. It was the first performance, so, it sounds rough and not mature yet. Elements from the Kling Klang 2002 Mix got added during the beginning of 2004 which is the version that they now play.
The Robots and Robotronik merged into one song. One can tell that they had trouble porting their project files to Cubase as the lead melody and the robovox are not in sync. Autobahn lost even more of the dance elements from The Mix and the 5th synth in The Model is no longer syncopated. Neon Lights made its return to the setlist. It's based on the project file that was created during The Mix recording session, although it might have had a different drum beat back then.
Pityfully, Kraftwerk doesn't perform Pocket Calculator anymore with handheld instruments in front of the audience. The song now has a strict structure, but retains the length it had in 1998.
Nummweltverschmutzung got removed from the setlist which isn't a loss for many due to its repetitiveness. The luminiscent grid suits are not used this time. Tango and Airwaves were briefly kept and returned in 2012 (Airwa.) and 2022 (Tango). Radioactivity turned from an aggressive dance song into a sinister, atmospherical soundtrack. The drum set changed, but the drum beat from The Mix is kept during the 2nd half of the song. Computer World got refined with a different pad and a dynamic snare beat.
__________________________________________
Special thanks to elektrokardiogramm for uploading this recording.
Like it used to be for Gent 1993, only a distorted recording of this concert is circulated. The distortion is not as severe as in the old one of Gent '93, but the sound is not wide and the treble is weak. I tried to strengthen the treble, but then had to cut it down slightly again as it sounds compressed presumably because of low bitrate (I ripped it from YouTube, but it's not caused by YouTube compression). I subsequently increased the stereo width a bit when the result was still not satisfying. If you think that there is no insanely distorted source then you're wrong because I have one.
__________________________________________
*Copyright Disclaimer: Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.*
