The hottest ticket in town on the hottest night of the year, the opening concert of the Manchester International Festival brought together two titans of musical minimalism. Sonically, the connections between the German techno-pop pioneers Kraftwerk and the New York avant-garde veteran Steve Reich are not obvious, though both emerged from the experimental wing of classical music and both have influenced several generations of electronic artists. The Velodrome was also an inspired setting, a nod to Kraftwerk’s love of cycling.

Playing piano with his irregular collaborators Bang on a Can, Reich premiered a new short piece, 2x5. Over a chugging, gently hypnotic rhythm, this 20-minute composition had a texture akin to Radiohead’s more chewy jazz-rock excursions. It was engaging, but a little too introverted to fill this cavernous venue.

Kraftwerk’s rare British concerts always have a special aura, but this show felt more momentous than usual, for two reasons. First, during the band’s performance of Tour de France, a quartet of Team GB Olympic cyclists raced around the steeply banked Velodrome track. Ralf Hütter, Kraftwerk’s de facto leader and a keen cyclist, broke with tight-lipped tradition by shouting out euphoric introductions and gushing thanks to the athletes.

Second, Kraftwerk closed their set with the British premiere of their new 3-D video screens. Through special glasses we saw the fluorescent green graphics of Computer World and pop-art pills of Vitamin dance across the auditorium with Pixar-sharp precision. While both these stunts could have felt gimmicky, they actually created extra jolts of excitement that helped to compensate for the Velodrome’s muggy atmosphere.

Apart from revamped visuals and some newer songs, this was essentially the same live show that Kraftwerk have been perfecting for two decades. This baffles some critics, but these Düsseldorf perfectionists are not really a pop group, more like a never-ending audiovisual artwork. Over the years, they have also digitally renovated classic tracks such as Trans Europe Express and The Robots from within, replacing their stark, Bauhaus geometry with slippery, funky, sensual Zaha Hadid curves. A stupendous start to any festival, Kraftwerk’s retro-futurist spectacular still feels as fresh as tomorrow.

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