Livebericht Rammstein

Livebericht Rammstein (mit Apocalyptica )

Ein Livebericht von Shadowman aus Lille (Zenith) - 10.02.2005 (44805 mal gelesen)

If you have a megaband playing less than 20 kms from home, you wouldn't want to miss out on that opportunity right? So I put on my Bleeding for metal shirt and headed towards 'Le Grand Palais', better known as the Zénith, in the centre of Lille.

The Finnish band APOCALYPTICA had the ungrateful task of opening for the fire gods. On only half the stage at their disposal they did a fine job however. Sitting on coffins they played a rather predictable set but that couldn't spoil the fun for the 6000 metalheads present. The expected highlights 'Enter Sandman' and the inevitable 'Seek and Destroy' got the crowd really moving. Kivilaakso and Toppinen, who, with hip-long hair made a rather funny contrast with the other band members, seemed to be in top form and handled their cellos with the greatest ease waving them around as if they were matchboxes. After about an hour Paavo Lotjonen already announced the closing song very much to the displeasure of the French (and Belgian, heard quite a lot of Dutch that night) audience. It seems APOCALYPTICA had spared their energy for this one because the riffs of 'Hall of the mountain king' were played so fast, I could have sworn I saw smoke coming out of the necks of their instruments. Unbelievable. No encores however.

And thus came the long wait for Germany's pride RAMMSTEIN. A too long a wait if you ask me, almost an hour. You may think this gave us plenty of time to undergo the pleasure of alcoholic beverages but with such astronomic prices beer- in a plastic cup nota bene- one has to be a millionaire to get drunk in France!

At about 21:30 there was finally some movement on stage. The roadcrew with questionable black ties and brown shirts, RAMMSTEIN look-a-likes, created a bit of confusion among us all and took place in front of the stage shining their flashlights into the mosh pit in front as if they were looking for the band themselves. And then with an enormous blast the huge black curtain drops and the first lines of 'Reise, Reise' are being recognized by the biggest part of the audience. Guitarists Landers and Kruspe-Bernstein descended with an elevator from the higher part of the stage. Vocalist Till Lindeman appeared through a tunnel and with his inimitable gestures made the French go wild. Guess he was focussing on his entree a bit too much because the first song wasn't sung all that well. Only a small amiss because he hardly made any further mistakes from then on.
Second song 'Links 2 3 4' was a guaranteed winner and RAMMSTEIN knew it. Lille went completely mad early in the set.
Smoke, not on the water ;) but through every possible opening of the stage during the next song 'Keine Lust'. Lindeman reappeared on stage without the jacket and I couldn't help noticing he gained a few pounds here and there. Had a bit too much of the fine French patisserie perhaps?

For those waiting for some fire - hey, this is RAMMSTEIN, right? - their wishes were granted during the next song, how can it be otherwise with such a title, 'Feuer frei'. The anticipated fire-spitting of both guitarists and singer remains impressive. Flames up to 6 metres licked the spots above. Amazing. Another song from the third album, 'Mutter', was to follow 'Rein Raus'. Lindeman had us all screaming our lungs out during this one. In my opinion a bit of an unfortunate choice with the next song 'Morgenstern'. The build-up enthusiasm from 'Rein Raus' disappeared right away.

Luckily a lot of things happened on the next one, 'Mein Teil'. Lindeman, dressed up as a chef, rolled a giant cooking pot on stage and glared into the hall with demon eyes. Halfway through the song the lid opens and keyboard player Flake Lorenz pops out. From only a distance of a few metres the frontman of the band, with a giant gasburner strapped around his waist, starts to spit a massive stream of fire underneath the cooking pot. After about one minute Lorenz jumps out with his knees and elbows on fire and starts running on stage like a madman, rushed by fire-balls dropping out of the sky. All this while playing an immaculate version of 'Mein Teil'. Is this craftsmanship or what?

Another two songs from the latest album 'Reise Reise' follow after that fine piece of theatre, 'Stein um Stein', where Lorenz to the surprise of everyone and apparently for no obvious reason, decided to smash his mobile keyboard into smithereens, and 'Moskau', accompanied by an appropriate display of red lights behind the back of drummer Christoph Schneider. More than impressive.
The next triptych was the absolute highlight of the evening. RAMMSTEIN started it with 'Du riechst so gut'. Now I never thought I'd live to see the day a Frenchman singing in German, but that is exactly what happens when Lindeman points his microphone at the crowd and lets them take over during the chorus. When guitarists Landers and Kruspe-Bernstein set their right arms on fire security, we were having all the trouble in the world controlling the completely freaked-out crowd-surfers in the pit below.

Onwards it went with two songs from 'Sehnsucht'. First the inevitable 'Du hast'. A song I heard in stereo since the French geezer behind me was shouting along every word of it causing me serious vibrations of my tympanic membrane for the next few minutes. Immediately after this one, giant fire-rockets were blown above the whipped up metalheads during 'Sehnsucht'. I would have expected the roof to come down any minute now. A prominent role in this song was provided for keyboard man Lorenz. If pop music is allowed to have its Wacko Jacko then the metal community can have its Wacko Flaro. This guy is completely insane! He was jumping up and down on stage like a chimp on speed!

One more to go before the end of the regular set and have a guess? Yep, 'Amerika'. Three enormous canons blew red/white/blue confetti into the Zénith during the last minute of the song, The cleaning personnel indisputably had a ball the day after.

RAMMSTEIN greeted the crowd and disappeared backstage. A deafening stampede of feet on the tribune and an endless cheering "Rammstein, Rammstein" was the result.
First one to reappear from the catacombs was the singer, being dressed up as a terminator and looking into the amazed crowd with a true contempt for death showing an evil grin upon his face. Drummer Christoph Schneider took place after his set of drums and the first notes of the slow song 'Rammstein' were being received with great anticipation by everyone present. The vocalist moved his arms towards the sky and soon everybody realized that a metal Robocop is up to no good at all. The height of the flames he produced with his futuristic attire during each chorus astounded us all; ten metres for sure!
Two more songs from "Mutter" were to follow, 'Sonne' and 'Ich will', announced by the loudest bang you can ever imagine which caused my hearing loss for the rest of the evening. Eat this AC/DC!

RAMMSTEIN once more gathered in front of the stage after this one and the black curtain went down again. Was this the end?
The crowd surely didn't agree and resumed the boos and the cheering. With success.
Curtain up again, revealing not only RAMMSTEIN but to everyone's surprise the guys from APOCALYPTICA, with their cellos at the ready, flanked drummer Schneider. The lights once more went down in the Zénith and the only ballad of the evening 'Ohne Dich' began. A modest moment appreciated by many. Lighters quickly vanished during the next one, 'Mein herz brennt', causing once more total mayhem and giving the crowd surfers a final moment of glory. APOCALYPTICA still playing along and lifting this wonderful song up to a superior level thanks to the prominent role of their cellos.

This time the curtain irrevocable went down and the lights in the Zénith went on. A bit to my disappointment no 'Tier', no 'Engel', no 'Bück Dich' But hey, one can't have 'em all, can one?
Overall conclusion, RAMMSTEIN still is a live band in the finest tradition of KISS and ALICE COOPER gave the spectators value for their money, putting on an amazing show with lots of stuff going on at any given time and not to forget a prominent role for the sixth bandmember, Mr Fire.
RAMMSTEIN? Either love 'em or leave 'emI adore them