I watched Kraftwerk at the Esplanade Theatre last night. Literally transfixed at the edge of my seat, I felt like I was a child again. For two hours we were all captivated and transported to a different world. I saw fellow audience members get up and dance, and others were bouncing along happily in their chairs without a care, with happy grins on their faces. People clapped along to the beats, sang along, cheered in excitement when the curtains lifted to reveal four Kraftwerk robots for the song We Are The Robots.

It may be unflinchingly mechanical and electronic, but it is so very much human. The vocals may be processed through vocoders, or generated using voice synthesizers, or simply sung in a very deadpan manner, but it still allows us to imagine, to empathise, to connect. And it does it so very well. What is not magical about a pocket calculator? When I was little, I used to be fascinated by how the pressing of certain numbers and keys would generate a different set of numbers. And I think that is the very sort of spirit they have managed to capture in their music.