Kraftwerk Delivered an Ageless, Timeless Performance in Dallas

On brand with their man-machine image, Kraftwerk did not offer interviews on their North America Multimedia Tour 2025: Celebrating 50 Years of Autobahn. However, several have studied Kraftwerk at an academic level and leading the charge is Uwe Schütte, author of the book Kraftwerk: Future Music from Germany.

Ahead of last night’s Kraftwerk gig in downtown Dallas at the Majestic Theatre, we asked Schütte, “What is the one thing you’ve discovered in your Kraftwerk research that you find most interesting?”

“For me in my German youth, they were normal, but in America, they reached new audiences and made people dance which was different from their aristocrat performance art image in Germany. And of course, AI is very popular today, but it is interesting that Ralf Hutter and Florian Schneider created the man-machine concept in 1974 and stuck with it,” Schütte tells us from Berlin.
And last night at the Majestic Theatre, the full house demonstrated Kraftwerk’s wide-ranging audience and sweeping appeal, spanning old head historians, and bass heads who simply want to get sweaty and rage. Under the chandeliers and gold leaf trim was Kraftwerk’s last stop on this tour. Shoutout to the people on the lower level stage right who formed their own dance floor in the aisle next to the exit and got loose. Surely this warmed the man-machine heart of Kraftwerk frontman and founding member Ralf Hutter.

Kraftwerk was formed in 1970 by Hutter and Florian Schneider, who died from cancer in 2020. The four-piece multimedia band has made music and toured with various combinations in its 55 years. Last night’s edition included Hutter, Henning Schmitz, Falk Grieffenhagen and Georg Bongartz. With their four presidential podiums in place, the show began with Bongartz taking his workstation first, Grieffenhagen, Schmitz next and Hutter last. Kraftwerk rinsed the classics throughout their album catalog: Autobahn (1974), Radio-Activity (1975), Trans-Europe Express (1977), The Man-Machine (1978), Computer World (1981), Electric Café (1986) and Tour de France (2003) all made the setlist. But the major takeaway from a Kraftwerk live show is loud, banging, punch-you-in-the-chest, beautiful bass – someone at the Majestic will need to tighten the chandelier screws after “Radioactivity.”
Surely some throughout the theater whispered, “You see that guy up there ripping the roof off the place with electro? He’s 78 years old.”

The show touched all the emotions. People sang along with “The Model,” smiled with “Autobahn” and fist-pumped to the final three tracks of the night, "Boing Boom Tschak," "Techno Pop" and "Musique Non Stop."

When the show ended, the boys from Dusseldorf exited the stage in the same order as they appeared, but there was a particularly interesting moment as Schmitz exited. When Schmitz bowed to the crowd and received an ovation, he humbly deflected to Hutter, indicating, “Thank you, but no, this is the guy you need to celebrate, not me.”

Another interesting thought about Kraftwerk is to consider their contemporaries. Hutter is only 11 years younger than Elvis Presley, three years younger than Mick Jagger and four years younger than Paul McCartney. Like many musicians born in the '40s and '50s, Hutter could have easily taken the smiling, toe-tapping, “I Want to Hold Your Hand” route, but no, he did something much cooler and innovative. After all, he damn-near blew the roof off the Majestic Theatre with 120 decibels of radioactive bass last night.
But the most common questions Kraftwerk fans have were not answered last night. Not often, but occasionally, Hutter will say a few words before they exit the stage for the final time, but last night, he left the stage in silence.

Fans want to know if this is the last time Kraftwerk will visit Texas or the last time Kraftwerk will tour in America?

Kraftwerk has tour dates in Europe on the calendar through December, but regarding Texas, Hutter wasn’t talking, and that’s okay.