Way back in 1945 the British ceased being at war with Germany and the bombing of their cities and factories came to an end. Fast forward to 2012 and Germany have sent over Rammstein to lay waste to our arenas and try their best to set them on fire…..with great success!
First however The Deathstars had the unenviable task of opening up and attempting to 'warm up' the crowd without the use of pyrotechnics and flame throwers. Handpicked by Rammetein to support them on their European campaign it is obvious from the start as to why they were picked. Very much in the Sisters Of Mercy, Ministry mould these dark heavy Swedes sound powerful from the off. With the dark mood lighting and spurts of dry ice the theme is predominantly death and dying. 'Blitzkrieg','Metal' and 'Death Dies Hard' are pumped out of the P.A to an ecstatic female following and a bemused male contingent. Their 40 minute set comes to a close all too soon with them having left a respectable impression.
Entering the arena down the steps through the crowd, complete with flaming torches, leather products and onto a stage set up at the mixing desk, Rammstein are most certainly in the house. Walking across a lowered gantry that extends over the crowd this is one entrance that builds anticipation like no other band I've witnessed.
'Sonne ', 'Keine Lust', 'Mutter', 'Mein Land' are all blasted out at a deafening level with typical German precision. We get the flames, enough pyro to lay waste to a small country and the leather clad Germans are delivering what was promised. Till Lindemann is simply the consummate front man, if he's not trying to set Flake, the keyboard player on fire, he's squirting the crowd with aniseed flavored semen from a prosthetic cock! Flake does his usual crowd surf aboard an inflatable boat waving to the crowd from his glittery jumpsuit.
Halfway through the set the gantry is lowered down and the band makes their way to the smaller stage in the middle of the arena. This is just a stunning concert from start to finish, after a small set they're back on the main stage for encores of 'Engel' and 'Amerika'. Finishing off with 'Pussy' Till covers the crowd in foam with blasts of pyro and fire emanating from all areas. You have to hand it to these crazy Krauts they know how to put on a big show and the 34 trucks in the parking lot are loaded up for the next city to be devastated with metal and fire!!!
Words and Pictures
Mark Davies
http://www.rammstein.de/en/
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