Kraftwerk: Mayfair Ballroom, Newcastle

FOR THE past couple of days Kraftwerk had been rehearsing in the pleasant and appropriate surroundings of Newcastle's City Hall. Yet, strangely, for the opening concert of their debut British tour, the band — if 'band' Kraftwerk can be called — were set to play in a far more unsuitable place: the city's Mayfair Ballroom, all dusty dancefloor and grimy carpet, and not without a certain notoriety as a venue in the North-East.