Touring the globe (2000–09) Kraftwerk

in stockholm, february 2004

in august 2003 band released tour de france soundtracks, first album of new material since 1986 s electric café. in january , february 2003, before release of album, band started extensive minimum-maximum world tour, using 4 customised sony vaio laptop computers, leaving entire kling klang studio @ home in germany. group obtained new set of transparent video panels replace 4 large projection screens. streamlined running of of group s sequencing, sound-generating, , visual-display software. point, band s equipment increasingly reduced manual playing, replacing interactive control of sequencing equipment. hütter retained manual performance, still playing musical lines hand on controller keyboard , singing live vocals , having repeating ostinato. schneider s live vocoding had been replaced software-controlled speech-synthesis techniques. in november, group made surprising appearance @ mtv european music awards in edinburgh, scotland, performing aerodynamik . same year promotional box set entitled 12345678 (subtitled catalogue) issued, plans proper commercial release follow. box featured remastered editions of group s 8 core studio albums, autobahn tour de france soundtracks. long-awaited box-set released in different set of remasters in november 2009.

in june 2005 band s first-ever official live album, minimum-maximum, compiled shows during band s tour of spring 2004, received extremely positive reviews. album contained reworked tracks existing studio albums. included track titled planet of visions reworking of expo 2000 . in support of release, kraftwerk made quick sweep around balkans dates in serbia, bulgaria, macedonia, turkey, , greece. in december, minimum-maximum dvd released. during 2006, band performed @ festivals in norway, ireland, czech republic, spain, belgium, , germany.

in april 2008 group played 3 shows in cities minneapolis, milwaukee, , denver, , coheadliner @ coachella valley music , arts festival. second appearance @ festival since 2004. further shows performed in ireland, poland, ukraine, australia, new zealand, hong kong , singapore later year. touring quartet consisted of ralf hütter, henning schmitz, fritz hilpert, , video technician stefan pfaffe, became official member in 2008. original member florian schneider absent lineup. hütter stated working on other projects. on 21 november, kraftwerk officially confirmed florian schneider s departure band. independent commented on incident: there brilliantly kraftwerkian news florian schneider, founder member of german electronic pioneers, leaving band pursue solo career. many successful bands break after few years. has apparently taken schneider , musical partner, ralf hütter, 4 decades discover musical differences. kraftwerk s headline set @ global gathering in melbourne, australia, on 22 november cancelled moments before scheduled begin, due fritz hilpert heart problem.

in 2009, kraftwerk performed concerts special 3d background graphics in wolfsburg, germany; manchester, uk; , randers, denmark. members of audience able watch multimedia part of show 3d glasses, given out. during manchester concert (part of 2009 manchester international festival) 4 members of gb cycling squad (jason kenny, ed clancy, jamie staff , geraint thomas) rode around velodrome while band performed tour de france . group played several festival dates, last being @ bestival 2009 in september, on isle of wight.

kraftwerk released catalogue box set on 16 november. 12 album-sized box set containing 8 remastered cds in cardboard slipcases, lp-sized booklets of photographs , artwork each individual album.