Twitter went into over load mode today as frustrated fans of the German electro-pop band Kraftwerk attempted to log onto the Tate Modern website and order tickets for this highly anticipated event. ArtLyst broke this story and were the first to publish the news that the Tate website shut down as a result of the volume of traffic generated. Fans have created some of the wittiest messages ever seen on the social networking site Twitter. We have printed some of the best below.
Beaubodor said; Give the Tate a break. Tracey Emin’s sewing the Kraftwerk tickets as fast as she can. Lavinia Greenlaw Like taking part in a happening. Only not. A not happening . Andrew Harrison; I think Tate should take the ‘Modern’ bit off their name for a while after this. Clare Gogerty; “Oh, the irony of trying to book tickets for Computer World to find Tate’s server has crashed”. In tribute to kraftwerk the Tate’s ticketing system is apparently being powered by a computer from the early 70s, Tim Mountford ”Delighted to read tweets that tate staff are so nice and polite selling kraftwerk tix. Would love to speak to them myself but”… Helen Barrett ; Just back from Tate Modern: angry mob threatening to riot over ticket sales, and they were only half joking!!!
A spokeswoman for Tate said: “Tate’s IT and ticketing services teams worked closely together and had procedures in place to ensure that its IT systems and website had the capacity to manage a high volume of demand.
“Unfortunately we are experiencing problems with our server which is why we are directing people to the phone lines.”
She added: “Tate sells millions of tickets a year through its web systems and for this event there are a minimum of 900 tickets on sale for each night.”
The German electronic music pioneers will play eight live performances in Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall from 6 – 14 February 2013, their first London dates since 2004. KRAFTWERK – THE CATALOGUE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 will be a chronological exploration of the group’s sonic and visual experiments and will present eight classic masterworks from across their celebrated repertoire with 3D visualisations and effects. Combining sound and images, the performances will showcase nearly 40 years of musical and technical innovation, including new improvisations, 3D projections and animation. Commencing with Autobahn, each night will cover one of Kraftwerk’s groundbreaking studio albums in full and appear in order of their release — Autobahn (1974), Radio-Activity (1975), Trans Europe Express (1977), The Man-Machine (1978),Computer World (1981), Techno Pop (1986), The Mix (1991) and Tour de France (2003) — alongside additional compositions from their back-catalogue.
This mornings sale of tickets for the iconic electro pop band Kraftwerk, at Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall, brought down the website and left the self managed ticket sales to an ill equipped in-house system, unable to cope with the traffic. The band who are to perform eight seminal albums with highly advanced 3D audiovisual shows is predicted to sell out, when the lines come free. Both the telephone lines and the archaic website, designed at best to sell a few Damien Hirst tickets and mugs was sticking on hold and even though fans were willing to pay the exorbitant £60 price for tickets to one of the concerts, many were left empty handed. Most likely the inexperienced Gallery have sold the bulk of the concert tickets to the touts, who should be banned from such profiteering. The Tate press office declined to comment and refused to give press tickets away, saying that “the concert would be oversubscribed”. Facebook and Twitter were a buzz with less than complementary views of the Tate’s handling of this event. Final thought, I think if Tracey Emin was sewing the tickets, her seamstresses would have been faster and more efficient.
At the time of this publishing the tickets were all gone for most of the events.
Read More About the Kraftwerk Ticket Fail Here
Kraftwerk an iconic force in modern music. (PHOTO: Peter Boettcher)