Kraftwerk Announce New Zealand Headline Shows

German electronic pioneers who reshaped the sound of twentieth century music (and beyond) with their own robotic vision, Kraftwerk are returning to New Zealand for headline dates at Wellington's TSB Arena and Auckland's Spark Arena. Formed by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider in 1970, Kraftwerk's landmark studio albums — including Autobahn (1974), Trans-Europe Express (1977), The Man-Machine (1978) and Computer World (1981) — helped give birth to such future-gazing genres as techno, electro, synth-pop and motorik / krautrock. Still helmed by Hütter (Schneider passed away in 2020), those who missed the legendary collective when they last visited our shores in 2008 (I am guilty of this) finally have a chance to right that wrong. We recommend securing your spot fast for the local leg of Kraftwerk's 2023 Australasian tour in November and December 2023 presented by Frontier Touring, ticket details below...

Kraftwerk

Wednesday 29th November - TSB Arena, Wellington (licensed, all ages)
Friday 1st December - Spark Arena, Auckland (licensed, all ages)

Tickets available via ticketmaster.co.nz

Here's Kraftwerk's iconic official video for 'The Robots', from their 1978 album The Man-Machine...

Kraftwerk anticipated our contemporary handheld device obsessed era with their 1981 anthem 'Pocket Calculator'...

Feel the pulsing vibrations of 1975's 'Antenna'...

Press release:

After their hugely successful worldwide concert tours, Electro pioneers Kraftwerk announce seven new tour dates this November/December 2023 for Australia and New Zealand, proudly presented by Frontier Touring.

Bringing together electronic music computer animations and performance art, Kraftwerk concerts are a true “Gesamtkunstwerk – a total work of art.”

The multi-media project Kraftwerk was started in 1970 by Ralf Huetter and Florian Schneider. They set up their electronic Kling Klang Studio in Duesseldorf, Germany, where they conceived and produced all Kraftwerk albums. 

By the mid 1970’s Kraftwerk had achieved international recognition for their revolutionary electronic‚ soundscapes’ and their musical experimentation with robotics and other technical innovations. With their visions of the future, Kraftwerk created the soundtrack for the digital age of the 21st century.

Their compositions, using innovative techniques, synthetic voices and computerised rhythms, have had a major international influence across an entire range of music genres: from electro to hip hop, from techno to synth pop. 

In their live performances, Kraftwerk founder Ralf Huetter and his team illustrate the belief in the respective contributions of both man and machine.

Starting with the retrospective of their catalogue at the Museum of Modern Art [MOMA] in New York in 2012, in recent years Kraftwerk have returned full circle back to their origins within the Düsseldorf art scene of the late Sixties.

The 3-D concert series at MoMA was followed by further presentations at Tate Modern Turbine Hall (London), Akasaka Blitz (Tokyo) Opera House (Sydney), Walt Disney Concert Hall (Los Angeles), Fondation Louis Vuitton (Paris), Neue National Galerie (Berlin) and Guggenheim Museum (Bilbao). 

In 2014 Ralf Huetter and his former partner were honoured with the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. And in In October 2021 Kraftwerk were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame.