Wolfgang Flür @ Epic, Norwich
Techno and visuals from ex-Kraftwerk legend
Wolfgang Flür was once a member of Kraftwerk, who are of course, the band that changed the face of electronic music back in the 1970’s. I just wanted to get that bit out of the way because clearly every member of the good sized audience was there purely because of that connection. Since leaving the band in 1987 I get the impression that Wolfgang has not always found it particularly easy to find a vehicle for his talents, or a way in which he is able to make full use of his musical legacy. This Musik Soldat show is to all intents and purposes a DJ set, featuring visuals that predominantly focus on some incredible archive images of his years in Kraftwerk.
The set started quite slowly and initially I was just captivated by the wonderful images on the screen – old photos of Kraftwerk playing ancient synths in less than salubrious surroundings, unguarded offstage moments or Wolfgang playing his electronic drums which appeared to have mostly been made out of tin foil. Brilliant. Musically we were soon into some pretty serious techno territory. Proper hardcore techno. The kind of techno I’ve danced to in fields as dawn broke – in my younger days obviously. I’m not sure how many people expected his set to be like this but the tunes were…banging. There is one issue I need to mention and that is despite the fact that this was a DJ set, Wolfgang can’t actually mix to save his life! Did it matter? Well it was pretty funny actually because in front of us was a 67 year old man who was clearly having the time of his life - he danced like a man of his age; he encouraged applause and genuinely seemed to be really enjoying himself so it honestly felt like we were all in on the joke.
There were brief moments of music I recognised – Kraftwerk’s Pocket Calculator was in there, and personally I would have liked to have heard more of their music threaded through the set, but this is a minor quibble. In some ways playing such great dance music to an audience whose dancing days are pretty much over was a waste – albeit there were people at the front properly giving it some. Any club or dance tent in the world would have enjoyed his selections, and let’s be clear about this, all of the music was picked by Wolfgang. I know this because after the set I asked him that very question and he gave me an understandably short reply – “of course!”
By the time he donned his Kaiser Wilhelm helmet at the end (thumbing his nose at the old Germany) it felt like it truly was mission accomplished. Yes he is making maximum use of his years in Kraftwerk, but frankly who wouldn’t? He’s not the world’s best DJ but the music was good enough for it not to matter and ultimately he entertained us and you can’t really ask for much more than that.
@StuPres
