One of the bands I have been dying to see for quite some time is Rammstein. This industrial/metal group from Germany has not toured much in the US, but finally returned in a blaze of glory. Really, though, it was several blazes of glory. And when I say glory, I mean fire and metal and fist-pumping.So read it as being blazes of fire and metal and fist-pumping!
After parking in the neighborhood seeing some young gentlemen rolling dice on the sidewalk, we walked into The Forum right in the middle of Combichrist's set. Not wanting to be exhausted from too much metal, we grabbed some expensive, crap beer and people-watched for some time. We had decent seats, which were at the railing that separated the seats from the ground.
Rammstein was right on time and began with a bang: singer Till Lindemann and the two guitarists, Richard Kruspe and Paul Landers, entered from large, coffin-like boxes. How did they enter? They had chainsaws, of course! Pretty damn cool especially since they went right into the badass first song off of Liebe Ist fur Alle Da, Rammlied. It's similar to the Rammstein song from Herzeleid but more energetic and refined.
At one point Till had a microphone/mini-flamethrower that was strapped to his face, which also allowed him to breathe fire and sing simultaneously.
I want one.
During Weiner Blut, there were about fiffteeen or twenty suspended babies with green lasers shooting out into the audience. (At first, I didn't even realize they were dolls but thought they were just some regular lights.) Then the wires holding the aforementioned babies each exploded at the end of the song, dropping them onto the stage.
At one point, poor Flake was carried by Till and placed into a tub on stage as punishment for kicking him. Till did not stop there, for he took a mysterious barrel and stood on a cyclindrical column that rose almost 30 feet into the air. With no railing to hold on to, Till sung and poured liquid fire and sparks into the tub. Flake later emerged wearing a sparkling, sequined suit, and then proceeded to go back to this keyboards. From then on, however, he was constantly walking on a rotating treadmill while performing his musical duties.
Yeah, I know that doesn't make much sense, but it did happen.
There was an old-style gas pump brought on stage during Benzin, which of course Till used to spray fire. Towards the end of the song, a "fan" made it up on stage and was promptly lit on fire by Till and his gas pump. He had to be beaten by the crew to be put out, but not before knocking over a guitarist.
At the end of the main set during Pussy, Till rode a mechanical, flesh-colored canon that just happened to be shaped like a certain male body part that spewed fake "snow" all over people on the floor. Wow. What a way to end a concert.
Except that is was not over.
For the first encore, Rammstein played the powerful songs Sonne and Ich Will from Mutter. In between them was another single from the latest album, Haifisch. They then retreated back to prepare for the absolute finale.
Engel.
Till emerged wearing angel wings, which must have been about 20 feet across. And what do you think those angel wings did? They blew fire and sparked of course! It was a fantastic end to a memorable show.
I'm thinking this concert ranks up in the top five easily.
Setlist:
- Rammlied
- Bückstabü
- Waidmann's Heil
- Keine Lust
- Weißes Fleisch
- Feuer frei!
- Wiener Blut
- Fruhling in Paris
- Ich Tu Dir Weh
- Du Riechst So Gut
- Benzin
- Links, 2, 3, 4
- Du Hast
- Pussy
- Sonne
- Haifisch
- Ich Will
- Engel
First pic source: http://www.ocweekly.com/slideshow/rammstein-the-forum-33378988/2/
Is this a "band" or a "fire throwing" act????
ReplyDelete