The team from Kraftwerk--comprising original founder Ralf Hütter, Henning Herbert Schmitz, Johann Friedrich Hilpert and Stefan Pfaffe--certainly lived up to expectations during their first ever gig in Singapore on Wednesday night. They basically just stood there and twiddled their computer knobs and fiddled with their keyboards throughout the entire two-hour or so gig, where they played from their almost 40 year-old repertoire spanning classics like “Autobahn” and newer ditties like “Aero Dynamik.” Certainly, we didn’t really expect anything more than a bunch of stationary guys staring at their laptops, juxtaposed against a collection of quirky and stimulating visuals projected as backdrops, although we were hoping for something a little fresher and more original. After all, these guys aren’t dubbed the godfathers of electronic music for nothing.

Still, we enjoyed most bits from the gig, part of the group’s tour around the region like Hong Kong and Australia. While some of the segments in the show got a tad repetitive after a while (there’s only that much visuals of fonts and images of cyclers and trains that one can take), some of the highlights here included the quirky “Vitamin,” featuring visuals of various assortments of pills (a nod to works by famed British artist Damien Hirst, perhaps?), the pulsating dance tunes “Pocket Calculator” and “Aero Dynamik,” and “Robots,” where the foursome were replaced by robot replicas of themselves onstage. Indeed, these great moments overshadow some of the show’s more disappointing moments, like their biggest hit “The Model,” which was marred by the fact that it was played too early into the set and should have been saved for the encore, and “Tour De France,” which was all too predictable.

Those who have managed to catch the show would probably notice that the gig was really not that all different from those that’s been staged for the longest time by the famous foursome (just check out YouTube for these snippets). And after bigger, better, bolder concerts this year such as Kylie’s earlier this month, Kraftwerk’s gig seemed a tad timid. But hardcore fans will testify that this is one of tightest and most cohesive gigs they’ve seen this year, judging from the two encores and unwavering support from the fans, who finally stood up and danced during the last two closing numbers (“Aero Dynamik” and “Music Non Stop”). Kraftwerk was great, but we expected greater.--Terry Ong