I'm still in awe.

Kraftwerk kicked off their North American tour last night in Toronto, and what a fucking show it was. From the second the lights dropped and the robot introduced the band with the morse code beginning of 'The Man Machine' behind it and the silhouette of the four men at their computers behind the curtain, I was stunned. And for over 2 hours, they never let up.

It's amazing, really, how much they get with so little. The band hardly moved the entire night and the only said one word to the audience all night - a simple and very polite "goodnight" as 'Music Non-Stop' was winding to a close - yet we were all held entranced by, simply put, the magic they were creating on stage. The songs all still sound fresh - it's incredibly hard to believe that 'Autobahn' is 30 years old when it sounds more relevant and modern than most music being written and released today, and that beat in 'Numbers' still drives me absolutely insane, it is so good. No pocket calculators during 'Pocket Calculator', but the robots more than made up for that.

I'm at a loss for words. Kraftwerk are the masters of electronic music, and I have no hesitation to call them some of the finest composers the world has seen. They're living legends, and they are gracing us with their presence in a live forum, but for who knows how long? Whatever it takes, get yourself to one of these US shows. I have no idea how the Coachella line up is going to work, but if you're there and not seeing Kraftwerk, you're wasting your time.

Setlist:

[black suits and ties w/ red shirts, a la "The Man Machine"]
The Man Machine
Expo 2000 [new mix]
Tour de France 2003 suite
Vitamin
Tour de France
Autobahn
The Model
Neon Lights
Radioactivity / Sellafield [new mix]
Trans-Europe Express / Abzug / Metal on Metal
--
[same outfits w/ red flashing lights on the ties]
Numbers ->
Computer World
It's More Fun To Compute / Home Computer
Pocket Calculator
--
[the robots take the stage]
The Robots
--
[really cool black body suits with neon green horizontal and vertical lines - incredible. I want one!]
Elektrokardiogramm
Aerodynamik
Boing! Boom! Tschack! / Music Non-Stop