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Solange Knowles has penned an essay on race and being a minority in predominately white spaces, after her recent experiences at a Kraftwerk gig. Knowles had previously tweeted about being told to “sit down” by a group of women during the concert, but the singer has now given a full account of the evening and how it made her feel.

Solange Knowles has penned an essay on race after her experiences at a Kraftwerk concert

Knowles wrote that while dancing she heard a group of women yelling “Sit down now, you need to sit down right now”, aggressively at her from the box behind. “You want to be considerate, however, they were not at all considerate with their tone, their choice of words, or the fact that you just walked in and seem to be enjoying yourself,” Knowles wrote.

Continue reading: Solange Knowles Writes Essay On Race After Suffering Abuse At Kraftwerk Concert

The sun is shining, the line-up is terrific; T In The Park 2013 is about to celebrate its 20th anniversary with thousands of fans and seven stages. Performers during the three day festival will include Mumford & Sons, Rihanna, The Killers, Ke$ha, Kendrick Lamar, Emeli Sandé, The Proclaimers, and many more massive mainstream names. The recently revived German electronic pioneers Kraftwerk will also be making their festival debut in a hotly anticipated set that is rumoured to include 3D visuals, as well as My Bloody Valentine.

Kraftwerk To Bring Their Machine-Like Electronica To T In The Park.

T must surely rival similarly huge English festivals Glastonbury and Download for the strongest line-up of the year, with Mercury Prize winning Alt-J, New York's Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Frank Ocean, Paloma Faith and Icelandic newcomers Of Monsters and Men also playing across the weekend to celebrate two decades of the Scottish event. Festival director Geoff Ellis said, according to BBC's Newsbeat, "It doesn't feel like 20 years since we started and it's a milestone." The festival, which has been held annually since 1994 has been held at Balado airfield in Kinross-shire since 1997 and now attracts 85,000 fans and 35,000 campers to the second largest greenfield event in the UK.

Continue reading: As Fans Gather For 'T In The Park,' Police Crack Down On Drugs

Kraftwerk kicked off the first night of their Tate Modern residency in London last night, playing material off their debut 1974 seminal album Autobahn, as well bringing out some other material to thrill the 800 sell-out capacity in the art gallery’s Turbine Hall.

Speaking to Reuters, Catherine Wood, curator of contemporary art and performance at the Tate Modern, commented on the German electronic trailblazers decision to perform at her venue. "They have a history of engaging with visual art, with minimal form, and perform in a way that is completely at odds with the usual idea of the rock star by putting the robot in the foreground," she said. "It takes away the aura of the artist and they have played with that in a very knowing way."

The group only have one original member left in the group – Ralf Hutter – and no information was given about the other musicians who joined him on stage last night, but it seemed to matter not as they wowed the crowd with cuts from the classic breakthrough electronic LP. They have seven more nights coming up ,for each of their seven other albums. Tickets were put on sale for the events last year, and even at £60 a pop the demand for them was such that the Tate’s website crashed. After last night’s show it’s easy to see why, and the group have set themselves a high standard for the ensuing concerts.

Continue reading: Special Kraftwerk Autobahn Show Kicks Off London Tate Modern Residency

When tickets went on sale for Kraftwerk’s show at Tate Modern, the flurry of excited ticket buyers was so fierce that the venue’s website failed to cope under the pressure. Angry fans directed their ire at Tate Modern; it seemed that even a £60 per ticket costs was not enough to deter a slew of Kraftwerk enthusiasts from desperately trying to get their hands on a chance to see the German electro pioneers.

Each night, the band will showcase one of their albums in its entirety, at the gallery’s Turbine Hall. Last night was the first of the band’s shows and saw them play their classic 1974 album Autobahn in full, along with ‘The Robots,’ a single from their 1978 album The Man Machine. The audience was described by the BBC as “mostly middle-aged male fans” who “cheered and clapped” as the show began. Writing for The Guardian, Alexis Petridis gave the evening a 5/5 thumbs up. The evening began, he writes, with an “almost palpable air of disbelieving excitement.”

All signs seem to suggest that the Kraftwerk concerts were a real vision to behold. With 3D graphics buoying the atmosphere. The singer Imogen Heap posted an excitable tweet about the evening’s entertainment, accompanied by a snap of her and her friend in the 3D glasses, saying “Here's ‪@GuySigsworth + I in uber cool compulsory 3D specs. Incredible visuals+fat sound! So many good tunes Kraftwerk!” Despite the ticketing drama, then, those that were lucky enough to get their hands on a ticket seem to consider it well worth the £60 fee. 

Continue reading: Was Kraftwerk's Tate Modern Show Worth The Ticket Price?

The Tate Modern’s servers have crashed and scores of Kraftwerk fans are furious. This is the aftermath of tickets for the legendary electronic act’s upcoming shows going on sale. Kraftwerk are scheduled to perform four shows in total at the Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall this coming January. Each show will be based on one of the group’s eight studio albums and the demand for tickets is unlike anything the Tate Modern website has had to handle in its existence. The immediate surge caused by the tickets going on sale crashed the servers not a minute later than the 7.30 onsale time, The Independent reports.

While the website staff scrambled to repair the damage, the increasingly irritated customers were left with one phone line, which simply could not cope with the demand. Visitors to the website were greeted with the following message: "Kraftwerk at Tate Modern has just gone on sale and we are experiencing a phenomenal demand for tickets which is affecting our web server. Please try to buy tickets online again later, or call 020 7887 4919 to join the telephone ticketing queue. We have extra staff on hand today but demand is extremely high. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause you, and hope you are successful in getting your tickets."

Upon trying the number, most of the fans were put on hold for indefinite amounts of time. A large number of them took to Twitter and Facebook to vent their frustration.

In a feat of mild hypocrisy, we found ourselves pretty excited indeed to discover the news that German electronic music pioneers Kraftwerk are to perform all eight of their seminal albums on consecutive nights in February 2013 at London’s Tate Modern Art Gallery.

So, yes, we’re thrilled about this, even though our reception to The Rolling Stones current shows was somewhat indifferent at best. But, you see, whilst the Stones were long past their creative peak by the 1980’s, Kraftwerk’s 2003 album Tour de France still held more than a candle to their previous seven works, whilst the group were true innovators as opposed to the ‘Stones admittedly excellent bettering of genres already well on the way to the mainstream. Looks, it’s just exciting, ok?

The Quietus reports that, titled 'Kraftwerk – The Catalogue 12345678,' the shows will take place in the Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall, commencing with their first album, Autobahn (originally released in 1974), on February 6, 2013 and finishing on February 14 with Tour de France. Tickets for the event aren’t cheap at £60, but even so fans are going to struggle to work out which show to go to, given the high consistency of the group’s output - even as they took on more pop influences into the 80’s.

Continue reading: Frohlocken! Kraftwerk To Play Their Albums At Londons' Tate Modern Gallery

There have been no less than 15 nominees put up for a spot in the 2013 class of the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame, including some real heavyweights -as you'd expect - like Rush, the late Donna Summer, Public Enemy and NWA. Indeed, just the names of those three show that it's diversity beyond the more recognised elements of rock that is starting to be recognised by the prestigious club these days, the shortlist showing vast sub-genres that rock & roll now takes in. Certainly in the case of Public Enemy and NWA you can point to their attitude, and the way in which they forced people to pay attention to them as rock & roll in itself; and they are just as worthy candidates as Summer, who passed earlier this year, but who made some of the most futuristic music of her era that only feels now like it's being caught up with.

Continue reading: 15 Nominees Up For The 2013 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame: A Look At The Candidates

Public Enemy may not be the first band that you think of when you think of the phrase ‘rock n roll’ but the ground-breaking hip-hop group have been nominated as one of 2013’s potential inductees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Joel Peresman, the president and chief executive of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame spoke about the variety of this year’s list of nominees. “The definition of 'rock and roll' means different things to different people,” said Peresman, “but as broad as the classifications may be, they all share a common love of the music. This year we again proudly put forth a fantastic array of groups and artists that span the entire genre that is 'rock and roll.

Public Enemy are amongst a sub-group of nominees that are elected for the first time. Joining them are Deep Purple, Motown band The Marvelettes, NWA and Rush, amongst others. Returning candidates include Kraftwerk, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Donna Summer, Heart and Randy Newman. Donna Summer has been on the list five times before, though this is the first time since her death, this summer. Fellow disco pioneers Chic have been on the ballot six times previously, as well.

The final decision on who gets to enter the hallowed Hall of Fame is decided by a group of 600 members of the music industry, including musicians and music historians. Once the decision is made, the entries will be honored at a ceremony in Los Angeles on April 18, 2013.