Fans. Always show up ridiculously early. Should we run over there, too? 
Naah. Clint's on.At about seven we went downstairs into the hotel bar to have a few drinks. We heard the music thumping from three floors up, evidently the hotel staff had put on the right tunes for a Rammstein crowd. The place was packed with fans. It was awesome.
I don't know if we were just lucky or if the God of Metal was smiling upon us, but a table cleared just when we got there. Fabulous waitresses in short skirts were humming about: we got our drinks almost before we even had a chance to order them.
After my first Corona I stepped outside for a nice fine smoke, and outside the place was buzzing like crazy, too. Rock music was playing, and clever businessmen were shouting out tickets at the corner; folks dressed in black metal wear crowded the sidewalks, and tattooed girls in ripped tights showed off a lot of skin and questionable make up. Everybody was happy and laughing and charged with anticipation. It was great.
We had few more drinks and then walked over to the arena. Inside the support band was already playing. Some featureless hardcore metal I didn't recognize. In fact, they were through their set already, for when we got to our seats they were finishing their last song.
We got ourselves another beer in the lobby and looked at Rammstein merchandise: a great variety of posters in various sizes, t-shirts, hoodies, belts et cetera. Long lines of fans in front of it. Our driver got himself some wallpapers.
I got myself some napkins from a hotdog stand, and out of them I improvised some earplugs. Didn't want to ruin my hearing for a Rammstein show. Yes, it was that loud.
Before the show.
And then they turned off the lights. Darkness. The crowd who'd been screaming "Rammstein! Rammstein! Rammstein!" before, fell silent. And then...
CLANG!
BANG!
The blackness broke open in two different spots. White light shot into the audience. Shapes emerged in those light beams, wielding a pickaxe, a giant hammer, using them to break off more darkness. CLANG! BANG!
In the center a line of fiery sparks went up, then over, then down again, like a blowtorch cutting through metal from the outside, and then with a deafening BOOM the barrier was kicked down and fell and there he was, the singer of Rammstein, spreading his arms like Jesus himself, and his followers were jumping and screaming like crazy before him, and that was the moment when the drums and the bass and the electric guitars kicked in and the hardcore was on.
There were lots of fireworks and flames. At one point ("Benzin") they brought a giant gasoline pump on stage. The singer took the nozzle and started using it like a flame thrower, shooting fire all over the place. At the same time a guy dressed like a fan climbed onto the stage from the crowd and was hit by the flames and set on fire and ran around screaming and burning until a guy with a fire extinguisher came running. He put out the flames and two big security guys dragged the "fan" off stage.
Later the keyboarder tried to kick the singer, but in return he himself got thrown into a bathtub. The singer then poured liquid fire into that same bathtub.
Through all that the heavy hypntoic rhythm of distorted guitars, bass and drums, played precisely and on-the-spot - broken up only by string sequences from the keyboarder, who by the way emerged from his fiery bath not only in perfect health, but also wearing a new sparkling suit. For the rest of the show he could be seen walking on the spot by his keyboards, like a machine.
I don't know if we were just lucky or if the God of Metal was smiling upon us, but a table cleared just when we got there. Fabulous waitresses in short skirts were humming about: we got our drinks almost before we even had a chance to order them.
After my first Corona I stepped outside for a nice fine smoke, and outside the place was buzzing like crazy, too. Rock music was playing, and clever businessmen were shouting out tickets at the corner; folks dressed in black metal wear crowded the sidewalks, and tattooed girls in ripped tights showed off a lot of skin and questionable make up. Everybody was happy and laughing and charged with anticipation. It was great.
We had few more drinks and then walked over to the arena. Inside the support band was already playing. Some featureless hardcore metal I didn't recognize. In fact, they were through their set already, for when we got to our seats they were finishing their last song.
We got ourselves another beer in the lobby and looked at Rammstein merchandise: a great variety of posters in various sizes, t-shirts, hoodies, belts et cetera. Long lines of fans in front of it. Our driver got himself some wallpapers.
I got myself some napkins from a hotdog stand, and out of them I improvised some earplugs. Didn't want to ruin my hearing for a Rammstein show. Yes, it was that loud.
Before the show.And then they turned off the lights. Darkness. The crowd who'd been screaming "Rammstein! Rammstein! Rammstein!" before, fell silent. And then...
CLANG!
BANG!
The blackness broke open in two different spots. White light shot into the audience. Shapes emerged in those light beams, wielding a pickaxe, a giant hammer, using them to break off more darkness. CLANG! BANG!
In the center a line of fiery sparks went up, then over, then down again, like a blowtorch cutting through metal from the outside, and then with a deafening BOOM the barrier was kicked down and fell and there he was, the singer of Rammstein, spreading his arms like Jesus himself, and his followers were jumping and screaming like crazy before him, and that was the moment when the drums and the bass and the electric guitars kicked in and the hardcore was on.
This is "Du hast". The sound quality is terrible, but perhaps you get an idea of how loud it was. Awesome!
There were lots of fireworks and flames. At one point ("Benzin") they brought a giant gasoline pump on stage. The singer took the nozzle and started using it like a flame thrower, shooting fire all over the place. At the same time a guy dressed like a fan climbed onto the stage from the crowd and was hit by the flames and set on fire and ran around screaming and burning until a guy with a fire extinguisher came running. He put out the flames and two big security guys dragged the "fan" off stage.
Later the keyboarder tried to kick the singer, but in return he himself got thrown into a bathtub. The singer then poured liquid fire into that same bathtub.
Through all that the heavy hypntoic rhythm of distorted guitars, bass and drums, played precisely and on-the-spot - broken up only by string sequences from the keyboarder, who by the way emerged from his fiery bath not only in perfect health, but also wearing a new sparkling suit. For the rest of the show he could be seen walking on the spot by his keyboards, like a machine.
Fire! 
Our seats were on the 2nd level, directly opposite the stage. Furthest away from the action, you could say. Therefore my pictures might be a bit blurry. 
Down in the mosh pit people were going crazy. 
They had all kinds of lights in the show: every colour you can think of, and they also had laser light. Whee!
When in doubt, bend your knees and headbang. They played all their major hits. Everything was in German, except a few lines in "Du hast" (Never! Never!) and in "Pussy" (You've got a pussy! I've got a dick! So what's the problem? Let's do it quick! - finalized by I can't get laid in Germany!).
Here's me, mesmerized.Altogether an awesome show and well worth both the money and the drive. I'd go again.
No comments:
Post a Comment