Pitchfork

[Posted Monday, November 3rd, 2003 04:00:00 Pitchfork Central Time]

Kraftwerk are set to make their live television debut this Thursday, November 6th as part of this year's MTV Europe Video Music Awards in Edinburgh, Scotland, according to MTV.com. The awardscast will also feature live performances by The White Stripes, The Chemical Brothers with the Flaming Lips, Beyonce, Dido, Kylie Minogue, Pink, The Darkness, Travis, and Sean Paul. Mistress of ceremonies duties will be deftly handled by the highly capable and completely lucid Christina "Hey, Madonna Kissed Me Too" Aguilera, who might have responded to news of Kraftwerk's TV debut by stating that "H.R. Pufnstuf was off the chain, but I was kinda wizzacked out by that goofy-ass sea monster."

The influential German electronic pioneers will play "Tour de France 03" to an outdoor audience in Edinburgh's Princes Street Gardens, which will be simulcast live as part of the award ceremony at the Western Harbour Ocean Terminal Arena. Will the performance be gilded by hundreds of black-clad paid extras vogueing shamelessly a la Dieter on Sprockets? Will there be a production number with dozens of choreographed bicyclists running circles around the aging Kraut-poppers on Soviet-era ten-speeds? One can only speculate.

As Pitchfork reported back in June, Tour de France Soundtracks is Kraftwerk's first album since 1986's Electric Cafe, and commemorates the centennial of the famous bike race now dominated by a single American testicle. Their performance on the MTV Europe VMAs will precede a full world tour next year, starting in Japan this winter and hopefully bringing them stateside for the first time since 1998. Here are the Japanese dates announced thus far:

02-24 Osaka, Japan - Namba Hatch
02-25 Osaka, Japan - Namba Hatch
02-26 Nagoya, Japan - Kinro Kaikan
02-28 Tokyo, Japan - Zepp Tokyo
02-29 Tokyo, Japan - Zepp Tokyo
03-02 Tokyo, Japan - Shibuya Ax
03-03 Tokyo, Japan - Shibuya Ax