Who
Wolfgang Flür
Support
Peter Duggal
Where
Birmingham The Castle And Falcon
When
15th September 2018
Price
£18.15
Who with
Tom
Position
Towards the front
Comments
Two months after the show I have finally found time to write up my notes for this, and it's an unusual one as I attended pretty much entirely on the back of targeted Facebook advertising, as I don't see how else I'd ever have found out that the former percussionist from Kraftwerk was playing a pub on the outskirts of Birmingham! I assumed that it would sell out super-fast but it never happened, and Tom was sold on the idea of attending with me as he also saw the massive potential of watching a key member of Germany's greatest band ever in the most unlikely of places and for less than £20. A bit of research suggested that he played at least some Kraftwerk songs live, and as Wolfgang was advertising himself using an old publicity shot of him when he was in Kraftwerk it would be very cheeky of him to ignore his legacy after selling himself on that front. I also doubted I'd have the good fortune to see the official Kraftwerk a second time and wanted another dose, and I'd particularly enjoyed watching the DVD of their Catalogue tour highlights, which I rewatched before the show. Amazingly this was my first concert since April, and in the intervening period I'd only attended WV1 Fest for the purpose of watching Daft Punk. Partly I just didn't fancy going to shows, but there also seemed to have been very few notable events worth my while in any case, and I had long-anticipated that I'd wind down on the concerts, then find myself attending loads despite my intentions.

This show came a couple of weeks after I enjoyed four nights in Gothenburg, and I'd even resisted buying tickets for Fatboy Slim, partly as no-one wanted to go with me, but also because I've long been irked by his continual ignoring of the Midlands, and by the time he finally deigns to play my vicinity I'm not sure I'm interested anymore, and I am conscious that he hasn't released any hits that have registered with me for a very long time. Also I think seeing Kraftwerk and Daft Punk (sort of) has raised my expectations of dance music, and I hoped that this night would elevate my opinions further. I heard through my Kraftwerk greatest hits a good few times, also throwing in some listens of Neon Lights after reading that Wolfgang likes to play it. I also enjoyed a lovely Japanese meal the night before and talked of joining the gym, which never came to anything as I was later uninvited and don't fancy going by myself. But it did remind me of Kraftwerk's own keep fit craze as expressed on the Tour De France songs. It was also Heritage weekend so I had a swim first and set out a little later than I'd had liked, anticipating that the day would be more than long enough already. I made the most of it though, venturing to Bournville and enjoying all the sights except the ones that needed pre-booking, taking in an amazing decorated Serbian church that also happened to be celebrating its 50th anniversary. By comparison the English church there was very plain and dull, and I enjoyed a very rudimentary sausage and chips at Cadbury World, as they'd ran out of Hunter's chicken and I didn't fancy the long wait for them to cook some more.

I also impatiently waited for some children to vacate a beautiful decorated bench so I could take a photo of it, and generally appreciated the fabulous buildings and parks of Bournville, a town that is most famous for the chocolate factory but has so many other sights, even though they are all open just for the one day each year. I squeezed in a couple of extra gardens before they closed at 4pm, enjoying the pleasant weather, then got the train back to Birmingham and walked over to Digbeth. I had invited Tom to join me on my fabulous day out but he'd been enduring car dramas, although I managed very well by myself, popping into Dig Brew for a couple of the nicest and freshest tasting beers imaginable. I had wanted a wheat beer but instead enjoyed a lovely pale ale and a Czech-style lager. I also spied what I'm pretty sure were a few bits of new graffiti around Digbeth, and I was holding back on using my phone as I'd practically killed the battery over the course of my day. I had to backtrack a little to jump on the #50 bus to the venue, spying it from the top deck then disembarking a couple of stops later to go to the Old Moseley Arms pub. Now I figured that an out of the way pub near the venue would be a good bet on a Saturday night, but I had no idea what pleasures were in store. I sat first in the old bar area, before switching to the other side and finding my mouth watering at the Indian meals being eaten at the next table. I enjoyed some light Pravha beer while waiting for Tom, who'd taken a wrong turn and found another pub called the Moseley Arms, before he got back in his car and drove on to the correct one.

Tom had also agreed to attend a party after the concert so had quite the night ahead of him, but he didn't take much persuading to order the mixed platter, which was relatively cheap so we figured would be an appropriate size. How wrong we were. In fact it could quite comfortably have fed four and it's a surprise that the staff didn't warn us how much food was involved, and I compounded the agony by also purchasing a keema naan, but I was hardly going to miss out on the most essential part of any Indian meal! The amount of meat on our plates was utterly insane, but we had a decent stab at it, leaving the unnecessary huge plates of salad that had been thrown in, and a few other bits. It was arguably the most amazing Indian food I'd ever eaten by virtue of the size, and it was a wonderful twist that an old English pub had decided to specialise in something different, and do a damn good job at it too. Our ongoing banter with the next table ended in some applause as we left thanks to how much we'd managed to eat, and we pondered just how the pub could make a profit giving us so much food for so little cost. I'd even had to revert to Coke for refreshment as I couldn't stomach the alcohol, and Tom had kindly lent me a portable phone charger so I could get a bit of juice into my battery, as we also chatted about his trip over to Japan, which he'd somehow done without making a big song and dance about on social media.

We'd helpfully found the showtimes on Twitter so were aware there'd be a support act, and also that the headline set would be a rather short 75 minutes, with an early 10:15pm finish scheduled. We walked back to the venue just as it was getting dark, a little under an hour after the doors had opened at 7pm. I continued in drinking Coke as the amount of food we'd ingested was just completely ludicrous, and standing up was proving to be a challenge. We ventured into the very nice semi-indoors heated smoking area at the front, as Tom insisted on a selfie for his friend and we caught up a bit more, thinking what a pleasant pub this was and how cosy this area must remain in the winter for the smokers, as it was quite nicely enclosed and pushing the limits of what a smoking area could be. After a while we walked to the back of the bar, getting our hands stamped and expecting to be directed upstairs, but being surprised to find that the actual venue was a room at the back of the pub. We showed a ticket print-out to get in, and I was surprised that tickets were still available, making me wonder if ignorance is the problem, or if people simply hadn't been aware of the show, which I wouldn't have known about if Facebook hadn't repeatedly told me. Walking into the venue was lovely, as I'd expected a ramshackle pub gig and this was a very modern and smart room, with an attractive illuminated Jameson Whisky advert to the right and also seats, as well as a merch stand and another bar. On sale were two solo albums for £15 each, as well as £5 posters which Wolfgang would be signing afterwards, but I have little use for posters now and didn't want the hassle of carrying stuff around, so I resisted, although we were warned that they would sell out fast.

A video backdrop and laptop were all set up ready, and the support guy took to the stage at 8:30pm, which was later than Twitter had said (8pm), but in line with the posters around the pub. Wolfgang had hardly thrown a curveball, as his support act Peter Duggal was also a DJ playing on a laptop with video footage, but given the hassle that no doubt would be involved in also setting the concert up for a full live band, I'd say this was understandable. We stood at the front - although there was a space in front of us that remained empty for a good while - and enjoyed his show, which was pleasing if forgettable instrumental dance music. He sounded a little like Kraftwerk and was shrouded in darkness throughout his set, but he made a reasonably pleasing noise, and when his video footage took in Paris and then marching North Korean lady soldiers, I did start to wonder if he'd been rummaging through my holiday photos for ideas! He really won everyone over with a song featuring 1960s footage of a futuristic-looking city, which we gradually realised was Birmingham's old Bull Ring! The Rotunda ultimately confirmed our suspicions, and I wondered if the immaculate and fascinating video footage had been put together just for our benefit? My research now suggests that this is a genuine song he has done, making this a special event as it was being performed where it belonged, but we all appreciated the effort and I feel that no-one in the room was actively disliking his proficient electronic set. I shot a video near the end as a tune was backed by colourful old computer game footage, including a very old version of Paper Boy, and Peter's set drew to a close with warm applause.

We expected a break but Wolfgang Flür took to the stage pretty much straight away, pressing a few buttons and before we knew it the main set was underway. Wolfgang relied on two Apple computers and looked amazing considering his 71 years, but I suspect he is known as the sexy one in Kraftwerk, and he has grown old gracefully, no doubt enjoying the good level of anonymity that one would get as a former member of Kraftwerk. Only a truly hardcore fan would ever know who he was! He was by himself throughout and quickly pointed for the sound to be turned up, rewarding us with a fabulously loud set that also didn't make our ears whistle, which indicates he got it all spot-on. The first thing on the screen was some text asking us not to upload videos onto social media, and we all laughed so I'm not entirely sure if he meant it or not, but as we were free to shoot and film without any hassle I must reward the guy by doing what he asks! Also we were reminded that this was music to dance to, not to record, which was a good sentiment, although at a small-level concert it's always tough to get the people dancing properly, and given how full our stomachs were we didn't stand a chance of moving much ourselves. He opened very strongly with the cheeky It's More Fun To Compute, and I shot a brief video as he cooly danced around and clapped, mouthing words throughout. It was repeatedly flashed onto the screen that he was an ex-member of Kraftwerk, and we were bombarded by great archive stills of the band in their heyday, at one point even getting to see a knitted version of The Robots!

I was hugely amused by the footage of the band on stage standing still as if they were robots, while their actual robots were in the front row of the crowd watching their concert. Wolfgang also had a flashing name tag advertising his Musik Soldat, although with his focus on the old footage it would have been rather cheeky to bombard us with new material. However, that is kind of what happened, but I think it worked out because the new material was great, and it's not like he could have beaten Kraftwerk at their own game anyway! He briefly borrowed someone's phone as they had mirrored his nametag to also display scrolling text helpfully, and a lady spent the entire show filming with a large camcorder, partly in the audience and sometimes onstage, and it seemed that she had been tasked with creating a full record of the evening for the benefit of either the venue or for Wolfgang himself. I thought Musik Soldat was his album but I think it's actually the name for his overall act, and his primary album was Eloquence, which had come out back in 2015. He'd also ran into trouble with his book I Was A Robot, getting into a dispute with the other members of the band over if he'd invented their electric drums or not. Florian and Ralf seem to have won this argument, but after seeing his talent it's hard to believe that he wasn't a key contributor to their sound, so he could have been hard done by here. The real revelation was the quality and catchiness of his own material, which stood quite comfortably alongside the Kraftwerk tunes, although it did mean his 1970s publicity photo was a bit cheeky when Wolfgang himself isn't just rooted in the past.

Perhaps the highlight, or the most obvious highlight, was a German version of Pocket Calculator, which was especially welcome as I'd been sad that Kraftwerk hadn't played it live. He put his own spin on it and I shot a nice video, but when he followed this with Neon Lights it lured us into false expectations that he'd be reverting to Kraftwerk material, which was absolutely not the case. Neon Lights was a treat though, with a lady doing the singing (all pre-recorded), and the video I shot captured a neon-filled city landscape. Of course it didn't have the budget of Kraftwerk's fancy 3D version in a posh theatre, but it retained a huge amount of charm and impact. Wolfgang's hand-waving, dancing and gestures throughout were a treat, and it did make me wonder if he'd only left the group because he just couldn't bear to stand still! As the show progressed a few people got into the dancing and moved in front of us, sometimes disrupting my video footage, but the guy in the Kraftwerk suit and red shirt wins an award for effort. The music was fab and very danceable, and the fact I didn't know most of it was irrelevant. I felt that Wolfgang Flür would be the definitive nightclub DJ, playing interesting music that makes you want to move, while sporting genuine father of electronic music credentials. There was a little video footage of him playing some larger venues too, although the set was so polished and professional that it was far from the ramshackle pub gig I'd anticipated.

A massive highlight was Cover Girl, which is his sequel to The Model and pretty much as good as the original tune, being absurdly catchy and seductive. This is the point where I'd normally be ranting about the lack of hits, but his last song or two was so extraordinary that he rendered this a moot point, with an endless tune featuring old war footage and a burning Zeppelin being utterly stunning and epic. He finished the set by donning an old German spiked helmet and marching up and down on the stage before saluting us, which I feel was a playful and humorous take on being a German musician, rather than an expression of any idiotic far-right tendencies. But his set was so good that I'd already forgiven him for barely playing any Kraftwerk, so by this point he probably could have got away with anything. He waved us off and we were surprised when he didn't return, as I'd anticipated a rendition of Autobahn or suchlike to end the night. The show was over though and we had to dash, with Tom being keen to move on to that birthday party. He'd originally offered to drive me back but the early finish meant it wasn't an issue anyway, with Wolfgang finishing at around 10:20pm, just five minutes later than expected. I got on a bus without any drama and made my way back into Birmingham centre, with plenty of time spare before my train.

I ventured to McDonald's for the new (and apparently smaller) Crunchie McFlurry, which tasted delicious, then endured a hugely frustrating wait for my train which was not only delayed but full of fuckwits. Luckily the wait had given me plenty of time to draft the notes that have allowed me to write up such a detailed review two months after the event, and just in time before I got to watch Gruff Rhys playing Birmingham's Glee Club. I have made a note about a guy on the train being a twat but can't remember any details, and I also thought it would have been nice if Wolfgang had finished with Musique Non-Stop, although I believe he'd pretty much left the band by the time they recorded the Electric Café album. I'm surprised to read that Flür isn't credited with co-writing any of the Kraftwerk hits, making me wonder just how much contribution he actually made, but the level of talent he displayed this night made me feel that he could have or did play a pivotal role, likely contributing a lot to the sound or having an uncredited hand in the writing process. The next day I was doing more Heritage Weekend activities in Coventry and Birmingham, but as I was tired I set myself a later alarm. I can't find any setlists online so struggle to verify what Wolfgang Flür played, but despite the lack of Kraftwerk material he had entertained hugely, offering something different to what I expected but something memorable which had also impressed Tom. All my concerts respect a pecking order though, and as such I have to reward this show a high 7/10 score, because there's only so high a mark you can get after playing so few hits. Fun, fun fun indeed.

Mark: 7.0/10