Helen Money, aka Alison Chesley, is a cellist who has worked with some pretty heavy hitters in the alternative/underground scenes including Jarboe, Bob Mould, Steve Albini, and Neurosis. In addition to these, she has also released music as part of the band Verbow and as a composer for film, theatre, and dance.
The legendary Kraftwerk brought their 3D experience to The Wang Theatre in Boston. Since their last studio album was released in 2003 this tour was not in support of a new musical work, but a retrospective set that spanned what they have released in the last 40 or so years.
With the crowd in their seats and the supplied 3D paper glasses securely affixed to their faces, the show started promptly at 8pm and wouldn’t be complete for a little over 2 hours. Now if you were expecting some high-end effects akin to a blockbuster movie, you would have been sorely mistaken; but quality of the effects made complete sense if you consider the band, their history and what they write about. Everything was cold and angular with a touch of humor and felt like it was created in a scientific laboratory rather than some big modern visual effects studio. That’s what made it work. As fun as they were, some of it was difficult to focus on and the effort needed to force my eye balls into submission was proving to be too much towards the end.
Even so, I can’t imagine the show without the effects. Some might say it detracts from the musicians, but they are notoriously reclusive, even using robots for official photo shoots in the past, and really don’t physically do more on stage than tap a foot here and there. I don’t think putting more emphasis on them as individuals would really do much for anyone. For a Kraftwerk show it really is just about the music and the visuals. Their music is still as vibrant and relevant today as it was when they first formed in 1970, arguably creating an entirely new genre of music as well as influencing countless musicians around the world. Kraftwerk in 3D was definitely something not to miss. I am glad I didn’t.
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WORDS AND PHOTOS BY HILLARIE JASON