After successful world tours, Düsseldorf electro pioneers Kraftwerk are returning to Europe with their Multimedia Tour 2025 - and are making a stop in Bern. The influential band will be performing at the Festhalle Bern on Wednesday, December 17, 2025.
With their visions of the future, Kraftwerk provided the soundtrack to the digital age early on - the band's influence on pop and club culture remains immense to this day.
Detroit techno inventor Juan Atkins reverently called the band his "gods". Hip-hop pioneer Afrika Bambaataa sampled Kraftwerk melodies in "Planet Rock" (1982) and Depeche Mode songwriter Martin Gore paid tribute to Kraftwerk as the "godfathers" of electronic music. David Bowie also paid tribute to the Düsseldorfers, naming the instrumental track "V-2 Schneider" after Kraftwerk co-founder Florian Schneider.
Kraftwerk was founded in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. The band gained international recognition as early as the mid-1970s with their revolutionary, purely electronic sound, for example with the album "Autobahn". This was followed by groundbreaking works such as "Trans Europa Express" (1977) and "Die Mensch-Maschine" (1978), with which Kraftwerk cemented their reputation as innovators.
The group combined music and technology early on to create a multimedia Gesamtkunstwerk of electronic sound, computer animations, videos and performance art. Their 3D concert series at New York's MoMA in 2012 marked the start of further appearances at renowned art institutions - from the Tate Modern in London to the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin.
Kraftwerk performances are more than just concerts: with precisely coordinated 3D animations and a clear visual aesthetic, Kraftwerk create a connection between music and technology. The idea of "man-machine", a central theme of their work, is not only realized musically, but also visually. Visitors experience an immersive production - and are equipped with 3D glasses for this purpose.