If you are old enough to have heard the original in 1974, probably coming out of your car speakers, it may have blown your speakers and your mind, simultaneously. Today, it sounds dated and simple, but that’s because it opened the floodgates for the electronic music that’s so popular and sophisticated today. It was on the air constantly. Eventually, you probably started switching it off when you heard that clunky car engine start up at the song’s opening.
But that was probably 1,000 listens later. There were other electronics pioneers but Kraftwerk and Autobahn constituted a self-contained German Invasion of music. Four guys, no guitar or drums, all electronics. Ralf Hütter is the only original member now in the band, but I’m guessing the other three bodies on stage will be following orders.
If you listen to the link above, and let it play, you will hear more than Autobahn, and you will probably be intrigued. Maybe even hooked. I wonder how many will spend their life savings for all nine shows that are playing in Los Angeles? Each one is a different album in its entirety, plus more.
Each show will feature the band playing one of their classic albums, including Autobahn, 1975’s Radio-Activity and 1977’s Trans Europe Express. The final show will span all 50 years of the Kraftwerk collection. Performing alongside the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, this rare event will take place at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, where Kraftwerk also performed in 2013. Taking place this May from 21-30, the event will mark the band’s first performance in North America since 2022.
Highly Recommended
The Hot Club of Los Angeles – Looking for something different? But really good? And on a Monday? Every Monday? “Hot Club’s brand of virtuoso, Django-style 1930s gypsy swing jazz is found nowhere else in town, and even if it were, it couldn’t possibly be this good. These guys are masters, individually and collectively. You will find it hard to stop smiling all night.” Mon 9 p.m., Cinema Bar, Culver City, no cover.
Tonight – Dudamel, La Phil, Mahler 6 – They call it The Tragic Symphony, but Mahler did not give it that nickname, nor did he care for it. In fact, he composed it during a particularly happy period of his life. He was a master at expressing the vast range of human emotions as music, and on this one he hit some pretty dark and deep corners of the psyche (be ready for that ending). He employed a huge number of instruments to do it (four harps in one passage, hammers and other odd percussion) and conducted the premiere performance himself. Gustavo Dudamel is considered a master of Mahler, and this may be your last chance to see him conduct the Sixth. Next Thursday 8 p.m., Fri 11 a.m., Walt Disney Concert Hall, LA, $147-399.
Recommended
Library Girl, I Was a Late Bloomer – A Tribute to Sharon Olds – It’s a new year and Library Girl is still here, inspiring, intriguing, sometimes incendiary, now an institution, roaring well into its 15th year of rounding up, right here at the Ruskin. A passel of poets proffering passionate, profound or even prophetic pronouncements meant to tickle the thalamus or cudgel the cerebrum. Not every reader chosen by founder Susan Hayden may be your cuppa tea, but over the course of the program you will likely be suddenly astonished at the power of the spoken word, and may introduce yourself to your particular revelatory reader and offer them permanent residence in your ADU. Poetry on demand. This monthly performance is a gift, folks, to we fortunates who live here. Once a month, second Sunday. I suggest never missing another LG. Sun 7 p.m., Ruskin Group Theatre, SMO, $20, includes dessert and free parking.
Toledo Diamond – Unique, riveting, first class act. There’s nothing like it, it is high performance art and great decadent fun. Degeneracy is rarely so well disciplined. Toledo may have his trademark ciggy, but it’s the band that really smokes. Sun 9:30 p.m., Harvelle’s, Santa Monica, $12.
Rick Shea & The Losin’ End With Tony Gilkyson – The good news is it appears Gilkyson, a superb guitar man and storyteller, has joined Shea’s band permanently – at least for now. I’ve given this lineup a Highly Recommended in the past, but I am holding back on that because the bad news is they are playing the Maui Sugar Mill and it’s in Tarzana, a bit of a trek for Santa Monicans. But they will be there every third Wednesday of the month, so plan to combine your treks. Shea said he will have a special guest every month, and this Wednesday it is LA staple Jake La Botz. Wed 8:30 p.m. Maui Sugar Mill Saloon, Tarzana. Maui Sugar Mill has the worst website I’ve ever seen for a venue, no website at all really, just Instagram with very little info.
Coming Attractions: Toledo Diamond, Harvelle’s, 1/14, 21, 28, 2/4. 11, 18, 25; Hot Club of Los Angeles, Cinema Bar, 1/15, 22, 29, 2/5, 12, 19, 26; Whisky A Go Go 60th Anniversary Presents Love. Forever Changes, W. Hollywood, 1/14; Alan Pasqua-darek Oles Duo, Sam First. 1/19, 20: Rick Shea, Tony Gilkyson, Cinema Bar, 1/25; Booker T. Jones, The Soraya, 2/2; Hot Tuna Acoustic, Mccabe’s, 2/10; Robert Fripp, David Singleton, An Evening of Conversation, Questions, Insights, Mccabe’s, 3/3; Academy of St. Martin in The Fields, The Soraya, 4/21; La Traviata, La Opera. 4/6, 14, 18, 21, 24, 27; Rhiannon Giddens, Theatre at Ace Hotel, 4/25; Turandot, La Opera, 5/18, 26, 30, 6/2, 5, 8; Kraftwerk, Disney Hall, 5/21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30; Chris Stapleton, Hollywood Bowl, 6/26, 27; Rolling Stones, Sofi Stadium, 7/10, 13.
Charles Andrews has listened to a lot of music of all kinds and over 3,000 live shows.