Museum Kunstpalast at the Ehrenhof, © Düsseldorf Tourismus GmbH

Ehren­hof


Ex­pres­sion­ist­ic top back­drop

Apart from cars and the railway, Kraftwerk, especially their founding member Ralf Hütter, were particular fans of cycling. This is not least documented in the band’s last album to date, “Tour de France”. “Cycling is a dance between human and machine”, Hütter explained to the SPIEGEL magazine a few years ago. He described the fascination of the sport with the “Quality of infinity and [the] dynamic that is also reflected in the music”. When for the first time in the history of the Tour the Grand Départ of the Tour de France took place in Düsseldorf in 2017, these two worlds collided for a moment. In the Ehrenhof, in front of the Tonhalle Düsseldorf, Kraftwerk played an outstanding “best of” concert to celebrate the start of the Tour. The connection between the futuristic sounds made by the band against the expressionist backdrop with its impressive architecture, was unique. Kraftwerk were celebrated in their home city by 15,000 fans (with 3D glasses perched on their noses). The journalist Philipp Holstein wrote: “Kraftwerk in Düsseldorf is like the Beatles in Liverpool. You could feel that the Mensch-Maschine had a sense of home”.

Further Information:
Ehrenhof, 40479 Düsseldorf

Entrance with flair: The Museum Kunstpalast, © Düsseldorf Tourismus GmbH