We speak with TOURING about the challenges of playing live and why electronic music belongs on stage.
A trio operating between Munich and Berlin, TOURING – Matthias Hauck, Nepomuk Heller, and Marko Roth – merge electronic music with a cinematic visual language, moving between electronica, breakbeats, house, and techno.
Last year, they brought that vision to Munich’s Philharmonie and then followed up with TANGLED – a project that translates human gestures into real-time visuals in a live environment.
On stage, they structure their set with the flexibility of a DJ mix but keep a defined narrative arc, balancing precision with spontaneity. The core compositions remain intact, while the performance comes alive through real-time sound shaping, modular improvisation, and evolving textures – turning studio material into something physical, immersive, and distinctly live.
A few years on since the first edition of this series, we welcome TOURING to explain 'How We Play Live'.
[quote align=right text="It’s easier to “read” someone gently playing guitar, or a drummer going full physical on a kit, than someone turning a low pass filter on a synth. Sonically, the impact can be just as strong, it’s just not as obvious through movement or through people’s familiarity with the instrument"]
Attack: You’ve said you structure your live show almost like a DJ set. But because it’s live, is it as easy to jump between tracks based on crowd feedback – or is it more complicated than that?
TOURING: It’s actually pretty easy. Each song can be triggered directly via MIDI, so we can basically change the order however we want. Some transitions we rehearsed in advance won’t be quite as “perfect” then and become more freestyle, but that has its own charm. The only catch is that since we want the set to tell a story and have a certain arc, we rarely change the order on the fly. We like sticking to the plan.
What’s one of the biggest challenges that playing live presents?
I think the biggest challenge, and also the most fun part, is leaving a familiar, safe environment like the studio and exposing yourself on a stage in front of people you don’t know. How will the music land, are people willing to lean into it?
For some, especially those who really crave being on stage, that might come more naturally. But for us, as more introverted people, presenting our music and artistic concept live and making ourselves vulnerable is probably the biggest challenge.
And what’s something people often misunderstand about performing live electronic music?
One thing is not understanding the complexity. Electronic music often relies on sequenced rhythms and programmed patterns, or melodies that only really become powerful when they’re reproduced by machines. That clashes with the classic idea of live music, where an instrumentalist (guitar, piano) and a voice are front and center. In that world, virtuosity and human charisma still carry a lot of weight. With live electronic music, it’s much more about energy and sound. How do you translate something created in the studio into a live form that makes the audience feel something?
A lot of that is arrangement decisions and subtle sound tweaks, which can be pretty abstract. It’s easier to “read” someone gently playing guitar, or a d