Yes, that is a man playing a guitar on stage, whilst breathing out a huge plume of FIRE!!!
Needless to say, Rammstein absolutely fucking rocked last Thursday night. It was an amazing gig, and the sheer spectacle of it all was incredible. I’d been looking forward to it for months, and it didn’t disappoint.
Support act Combichrist played to a half-empty arena, but I was thoroughly impressed at the power of their performance. With two percussionists, the beats just don’t stop, which reminded me of Slipknot, and the singer has some serious stage presence. Being sat to the side of the stage, it amused me how often one poor roadie had to keep rushing onto stage to repair the drummer’s, erm, drum set as he kicked it apart.
And then it was time for Rammstein…
There was a bit of a Spinal Tap start to the show, with the two guitarists breaking out of a back-lit screen, but from there it was pretty much just relentless noise and power. Songs-wise, most of the songs were from the new album, ‘Liebe ist fur Alle da’, but there were some classics thrown in for good measure.
The first few songs didn’t really feature too much in the way of a stage show, but once ‘Feuer Frei’ started, it all kicked off. The photo above is from that song, during which the two guitarists and the singer each had flamethrower mouthpieces strapped to their heads. Even sitting quite a distance away, the heat was incredible. God knows what it’s like on stage or right in the front row.
I quite liked the little mid-set slowdown, which gave everyone a chance to get their energy back ahead of a frenetic second-half. Rammstein do have some very good acoustic numbers, despite being famed for the pounding noise that takes up most of their back catalogue.
The second half of the show was a lot more pyro-maniac, with fire, fireworks, explosions, flares and all manner of craziness.
During ‘Pussy’ (sample lyrics: “You’ve got a pussy / I’ve got a dick / So what’s the problem?!”), the singer climbed onto a huge pink cannon and sprayed the crowd with white foam for a few minutes. And in the closing song, ‘Engel’, he donned a pair of epic metallic angel wings which spouted fire from their tips.
Never let it be said that Rammstein go for any kind of subtlety in their stage shows…
The closing few songs were generally their well-known hits that really got the crowd pumped up, and right as I leaned over to my mate to say that they hadn’t played my favourite song ‘Ich Will’ yet, the opening bars of it kicked in. I’ve wanted to see that song live for so long, and it was perfect. I’ve chills down my spine just remembering it.
I’ve got to leave the final word to the mate I went with, who said that it was like no other live music he’s ever seen. And it’s true, it really stands alone as a performance, as an event. Musically, it’s incredible, but with all of the visual drama and theatre, it’s simply outstanding.
There’s another great review here, with a few more photos.
