First Techno (Kraftwerk 1970)

PhineasFreakers1 HN recommenders · 2018–2026
8.5M views · music · evergreen · Uploaded 2015-04-27

The earliest existing concert video of Kraftwerk, from a 1970 performance shortly after the band formed. It shows the band in its original setup and the audience's reactions.

Used in techno-history threads as evidence of Kraftwerk's role in the genre's origins and as an example of original work.

Watch on YouTube

5 comments from Hacker News

@kowdermeister2018 · in “Keep on moving: the bizarre dance epidemic of summer 1518”

I feel some details might have lost in 500 years :) The council probably liked the decadence of the happening and they added some fuel. It was probably unreal to be at a "festival" you never seen before so I can understand. Just like experiencing a techo party for the first time no one seen before. [VIDEO]

@awiesenhofer2020 · in “Florian Schneider has died”

Still one of my favourite clips on youtube: the very first video recording of Kraftwerk live, from 1970! [VIDEO] (Those audience reactions!)

Strongly recommendsView on HN
@Dowwie2021 · in “History of Techno”

1978 Kraftwerk live performance of 2 songs: [LINK] Kraftwerk's first live recorded performance was in 1970: [VIDEO] How many people in the 1970 audience sensed that they were listening to something as significant as what it became?

@aa-jv2023 · in “The Battle over Techno’s Origins”

Techno was started in Düsseldorf by Kraftwerk. [VIDEO] People found this very inspiring and created their own variants. The Detroit variant came along. The Chicago variant came along. The UK variant came along. But it all goes back to Kraftwerk.

@yencabulator2026 · in “Patterns and problems in emerging multi-agent systems”

"A lot of creative work is remixes" in no way conflicts with "That's pretty low-value creativity." Hiphop made using samples a fashion . You can think of it as choosing to restrict one's in order to explore something deeper, like a painter deciding to paint with only two pigments to exercise their skills at shading at patterning. Or you can think of it as a cheap way to make demo tracks in your bedroom. If you want to find actually creative things, look outside of mainstream, Disney, etc. I'll leave you with this link. You tell me if you think it is just a remix of something earlier: [VIDEO]