Kraftwerk Prove the Future Never Went Out of Style at Liverpool Empire

L J Hubbard
4 days ago
2 min read

Empire Liverpool – 7th June 2026

IMAGES L J HUBBARD / WORDS SHAUNA STAPLETON

Walking into Liverpool's Empire Theatre for Kraftwerk's Multimedia tour, I was lost in a sea of grey hair and bald heads. It felt more like I was queueing to see Neil Young, The Stones some other ageing rockers rather than the German electronic innovators. But then again Kraftwerk make the kind of music that sounds just as at home on your dad's turntable as it does in a Berlin club, part of their enduring appeal.

Cherry-picking from their decades long career, from the minimal synth beginnings of Autobahn and The Model to the techno leanings of later tracks like Aero Dynamik and Chrono, their set feels like tracing electronic music's entire linage in two hours. With trippy, futuristic visuals and Ralf Hutter's off-piste improvisions keeping things fresh, at no point did it ever feel like a nostalgia trip, even if the did play the hits. Classics like Trans Europe Express and Computer World are given a new lease of life, hearing them over a sound system, accompanied by the incredible visuals, you can get an idea of how pioneering and other-worldly they must've sounded when first released.

During Planet of Visions Kraftwerk honour techno's birthplace with the line "Detroit, we're so electric".

Detroit's techno innovators were heavily influenced by Kraftwerk when creating their own brand of hi-tech funk, yet you can also hear the Motor City's influence in the heavy kicks that accompany a souped up version of encore The Robots, it's driving rhythms having more in common with the likes of John Tejada, Jeff Mills, and Doppleffekt than krautrock.

Indeed, as the four members of Kraftwerk stand stock still, clad in light-up suits behind minimalist-looking synths, even half a century on from their first performance, it still feels like you're looking at the future.

SETLIST