While this weekend will certainly be dominated by the debut of the Pilgrimage Festival in Franklin, those of you looking for something completely different (and absolutely legendary) ought to check out electronic pioneers Kraftwerk, who bring their 3-D concert experience to the The Ryman Auditorium on Sunday, Sept. 27, for their first Nashville performance ever in 45 years of existence. The show starts at 7 p.m. (there is no opening act billed) and a couple dozen tickets are still available, somehow, right here.
Founded in 1970 in Düsseldorf, Germany by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider, Kraftwerk achieved international stardom in the mid 1970s for their hypnotic, mechanistic soundscapes that foresaw the growing interdependence of man and machine. Oh, and they also introduced the synthesizer as a lead instrument, which makes them about as important an influence on modern music—rock, pop, hip-hop, EDM, modern classical—as anyone who’s ever played the Mother Church. Hütter is the only original member on this tour, but recent set lists have drawn heavily from their classic ‘70s “produkt,” including Autobahn (1974), Radio-Activity (1975), Trans-Europe Express (1977), and The Man-Machine (1978).
The show is being billed as “an immersive 3-D experience,” with paper glasses handed out upon entry. That might seem a bit gimmicky at first glance, but it beats watching four dudes fiddle with their laptops all night, plus it brings the audience in as a kind of passive participant, since the sight of 2,000-plus faces all wearing identical eyewear is extremely Kraftwerk-ian. We are the robots, y’all.
Kraftwerk will perform Sunday, Sept. 27 at The Ryman Auditorium. The show is all ages, begins at 7 p.m. (doors at 6 p.m.), and tickets are available for $61.50-81.50.