Kraftwerk to open Tour de France in Dusseldorf
January 31, 2017
Tickets for the Kraftwerk concert in Dusseldorf on July 1, 2017 - the day of the first leg of the 104th Tour de France cycling race - went on sale Mondayas fans rushed to secure them. The outdoor multimedia show will be in 3D, requiring concert-goers to don special glasses.
The band, which was personally invited by Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme, was founded in Dusseldorf in 1970 and was among the first successful acts to popularize electronic music among a broader audience.
Kraftwerk are also no strangers to cycling. In 2003, they released an album titled "Tour de France" to mark the 100th anniversary of the legendary cycling event. On July 1, they will perform the entire album, which the band describes as "a music film" that "expresses the sound of 21st-century techno visionaries."
Upon Kraftwerk's request, French electronica duo Air will perform a pre-show.
Held from July 1-23, this will be the fourth time that the Tour de France has started in Germany, after Cologne in 1965, Frankfurt in 1980 and West Berlin in 1987. The first leg will take competitors from Dusseldorf to the Belgian city of Liège.
The 3,516-kilometer race will conclude, according to tradition, at the Champs-Élysées in Paris.
The official route was unveiled in October 2016.