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from my experience, there are many ways to do live shows with electronic music. one way, the simple way, is to do what it sounds like crystal method did: have a pre ordered play list, play the songs minus some synth lines and whatnot, and then just play those synth lines and whatnot live. this gives the artist, or artists, more of a chance to interact with the crowd. so just because they aren't exactly "playing live," the show can still be good, because of the crowd interaction.
a second way to do it, and one that i have seen in multiple shows, is to have a set playlist, and have a laptop setup on stage where the musicians can start/stop loops and other song lines using music programs like Reason and such. in this setting, you can actually see the artists playing the music. they start the song by cueing it up in Reason, and then play the synths and other instruments through the song. still, the songs that play through the music program are of a set lenth and order, so the artists aren't exactly playing the music "on the fly," which makes it easier for them, and they can still interact with the crowd. this is my favourite way for an electronic band to do a live show.
the third way, and one that is not done very often (i've only seen it once), is to do the whole thing live. the group will usually have a drum machine, or drum pads, and there will be a full fleged band on the stage playing all the instruments. this is usually a hit or miss type show. KMFDM did their show like this and it kind of stunk. but i have heard live recordings of other groups doing this type of show and it sounded awesome.
so there ya go. i'm not exactly an expert in this area, but i've been to enough shows, and have made enough music of my own to kind of understand how the whole thing works. if i've been at all inaccurate with a description, please, feel free to call me on it.
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