Berlin, late 1960s: A divided city becomes the epicenter of a musical revolution. Amid the tensions of the Cold War, a group of young sound explorers emerged to redefine the boundaries of rock music. Agitation Free, founded in 1967, was never just a band, but a laboratory for “movement, unrest, and change”—the definition of the word “agitation” that their mentor Folke Hanfeld had found in a dictionary.

From the very beginning, Agitation Free served as a hub for the burgeoning “Berlin School” of electronic music. Their early rehearsals at the Electronic Beat Studio under the direction of Thomas Kessler became a magnet for other legends such as Tangerine Dream and Ash Ra Tempel. At the same time, they served as a springboard for exceptional talents like Christopher “Chris” Franke (Tangerine Dream) or guitarist Axel “Ax” Genrich (Guru Guru).

While Agitation Free’s studio albums “Malesch” (1972) and “2nd” (1973) are milestones of the genre, it was on stage that the “Free” in their name truly came to life. Their concerts were avant-garde experiences that combined liquid light shows and experimental films with hypnotic, drawn-out instrumental improvisations.

An example of this is their new live recording “Live in Berlin” from December 1, 2025, at Berlin’s Kesselhaus, featuring the current lineup: founding members Lutz “Lüül” Graf-Ulbrich and Burghard Rausch, as well as Michael Hoenig, who has retired from live performances but remains the band’s “spiritual leader,” together with Daniel Cordes, Axel Heilhecker, and Tim Sund. As Michael Hoenig once noted, Agitation Free’s music is a “time machine that connects the past and the future.” The magic lives on.

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