Saturday evening, October 2025, and Mrs KFD is searching for something to watch on telly. She has found a recent concert film from the AVIICI arena on SVT by a Swedish synth band who neither of us have heard of. Their name is KITE and it all looks rather interesting, We’re thinking DEPECHE MODE, AVIICI, HUMAN LEAGUE, NEW ORDER…..
Crikey. The singer and keyboard player of the band are now on ice skates and are performing the song in the middle of an elaborate figure skating routine involving a large troupe of skaters.
Wow. Suddenly I experience a flashback to my teenage years,
As you all know, the early 1970s were a remarkable time for British rock music Not only were bands recording some timeless albums, they were also staging some ridiculously ambitious, unforgettable live shows.
Atom Heart Mother. Nursery Crime. Dark side of the Moon, Genesis Live. TARKUS.
I was left pretty gobsmacked after seeing, for example, Pink Floyd at the Roundhouse and Genesis at the Reading Festival.
Fast Forward back to our evening in front of the telly In Bagis, October 2025. That KITE show is very impressive.
I’ve googled and discovered it was a completely one-off event. Ticket prices were high but the only ones who were dissatisfied were those who missed it.
Of course, what I would now like to hear about from you is those live shows where no expense was spared and the artists who in different ways have really pushed the boat out.
For example……
Van Morrison, The Flaming Lips, Röyksopp, Page and Plant, Rammstein, Björk, The Leningrad Cowboys, Bryan Ferry, Damien Albarn, Kraftverk, Father John Misty,
A WEE BITE OF KITE…..
Nina Persson in ice skates, Quite a contrast to her recent gig with James Yorkston.
I’m seeing Rick Wakeman do King Arthur on Friday. I expect a rather cheaper show than this.
Funny you should mention Wakeman and King Arthur: did anyone here attend one of the ruinously expensive stagings on ice, when the album was released? 1975, I think…
No expense spared there. It looks like a lot of fun.
Van Morrison pushing the boat out, yer having a laugh!
Not at all ,@Pyramid.
When I saw Van at the Rainbow Theatre in 1973, there was no expense spared. What a band.
Shame he didn’t do any ice-skating, but otherwise it was a perfect show.
👍
They have definitely listened to those bands you mention. I’m surprised to see Kite perform. Last I heard, the whole thing was up in the air.
Yeah but someone was pulling their strings behind the scenes.
Didn’t stop the enterprise blowing up sky high though.
Kite is cult…and known for their spectacular gigs. They don’t happen often, but instead they are unique and unforgettable – apparently (I’ve only listened to their records, never seen them live).
They started in 2008, so of course they’ve heard all of the bands mentioned, but I would argue that they have more in common with The Knife and Fever Ray, soundwise.
But all synth pop bands will sound similar, in that they all tries to sound futuristic, and the future sounded the same in 1980 as it does today… 😉
Good point about The Knife and Fever Ray @Locust.
I’ve never see THE KNIFE but FEVER RAY do magnificent live shows.
I mentioned the Kite TV SPECIAL on FACEBOOK and got this reply from my journalist pal, Nils Hansson.
We were there, it was a magnificent event. It was also the first time that I was aware of when Kite tickets where easy to come by – they were so pricey and Globen is such a large venue that they took a month or so to sell out.
Normally Kite perform so rarely that tickets are gone in a minute and a half. When they played Way Out West 2022 the crowd was too large for the stage, we just gave up trying to see them.
And they’ve done spectacular one-offs before, like Cosmonova and the Royal Opera – the ticket demand is said to have crashed the Opera website twice (SVT showed that one too).
WAY OUT WEST
SWEDISH ROYA OPERA
Their most famous fan is of course the journalist Fredrik Strage, who rarely misses an opportunity to mention them and how many gigs of theirs he’s been to, and how many T-shirts he owns… 😀
That is hilarious, @LOCUST.
Strage is a good journalist but he is rather full of himself..
When I went to Nalen Club to see The Delines, he turned up with a small entourage of admirers. But he writes well and is never dull.
Let”s go back to 1973, the READING FESTIVAL, and the first time i saw Genesis. They opened with that wonderful tune, WATCHER OF THE SKIES
Peter Gabriel stage costume was something else
Here’s a YT quote from someone who was there.
the show started with Peter hoisted high and slowly defending to the opening chords of watcher of the skies. He remained inside his pyramid until the end of the song . A brilliant start to a superb concert.
He wore as I recall fluorescent eyeshadow which showed up under UV lights.
I bought some and some friends and myself would go up to people at a nightclub and say you’ve got a smudge on your face and wipe some on their face. Endless fun when their faces would light up under the UV lights.
What a scallywag you were back in the day, Hubert.
One of the bands of the past decade who have put on the most interesting shows are KRAFTWERK. When they played Roskilde the whole audience were provided with 3D glasses
They’ve always been musically interesting, but the showmanship took a little more time perhaps.
And now some combos that were not afraid to push the boat out…
The Polyphonic Spree who are from Dallas.
I’m from Barcelona .. who are actually from Malmö
The Leningrad Cowboys …who are actually from Helsinki
We can also find examples of showmanship to enhance the music in the classical world.
I was talking to my brother i New York last week and he’ had just just been to a concert which included Tallis’s Spem in Alium. He was impressed—-
Performed with singers divided into eight choirs each with five voices to hear it performed in the vast sanctuary of St John the Divine was breathtaking.
That made me think of jan Garbarek and the Hilliard Ensemble, whose concerts always made full use of the buildings in which they performed.
My brother then mentioned a series of recent concerts entitled Secret Byrd by the Gesualdo Six.
https://www.thegesualdosix.co.uk/secret-byrd/
Did any of you see this? It sounds rather good,
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/jan/29/secret-byrd-review-london-william-byrd
What can I say?
Everybody’s heard about the Byrd. Everybody knows that the Byrd is the word.
Most of the gigs I go to these days are at the small but excellent Fasching Jazz Club. Not much room to install an ice rink there.
But one artist who I have seen performing in an arena is Kendrick Lamarr who put on a quite remarkable show. Imaginative, unpredictable, breath-taking… I was gob-smacked. It must have taken months of preparation,
Kendrick and Kite have a lot in common. They aspire to produce an experience unlike anything you’ve seen before.
GO TO YOUTUBE AND WATCH KENDRICK’S SUPERBOWL SHOW AND YOU’LL SEE WHAT I MEAN…..
Watching KENDRICK led me to the NFL channel which has many OTT shows…