Kraftwerk were forced to cancel their show in Melbourne for the Global Gathering Festival on the [Saturday] 22nd of November 2008, when Fritz Hilpert suffered from a heart attack and had to be hospitalized. Ralf Huetter, as well as another performer of the show walked up on stage 20 minutes after they were due to start, to announce the news.

The MC in the beginning is announcing how Fritz Hilpert has suffered a minor heart attack and has been rushed to hospital... so kraftwerk will not be performing but the [not so] good news is that the Gorillaz [sounds system] will be performing on the main stage instead. [from YouTube]

The video of the announcement is below. Hopefully he is okay, and it looks like Kraftwerk ended up performing the next day.

In other sad news (for Kraftwerk at least), they lost a German copyright court case...

they were suing German rap producer Moses Pelham.

Pelham had used a two second sample of Kraftwerk's track 'Metal On Metal' and Kraftwerk weren't happy about it...

...The new ruling states that a sample can be used, but it must not be the melody of a song, and it must be a completely new composition, baring no resemblance to the original. [Undercover]

All Kraftwerk dates and that video below...

Continue reading "Kraftwerk's Fritz has heart attack before Australian show, Kraftwerk lose copyright case (sampling legal?)"