Rammstein at The 02 on February 27th 2012
Review: Ross Maguire
Photos: Aidan McCarthy
German death metal superstars Rammstein were in Dublin last night to promote their greatest hits album Made in Germany: 1995 – 2011. The band are known to have produced intense and spectacular live shows down through the years, often controversial and strange, and last night was to be no different.
Avid fans of Rammstein would probably have been just as equally excited about hearing some of the tracks of the greatest hits album played in succession as they were of the live performance that awaited, but myself being pretty much totally unaware of most of the songs except for notable stand out tracks, just looked forward to seeing one amazing show that might never return to Ireland again.
Support on the night came from Deathstars, who certainly got the crowd warmed up, but were nothing in comparison to the spectacle that followed. After about half an hour wait the 02 went eerily dark, and a bridge shooting dry ice and sparks slowly dropped down over the standing crowd in the middle of the arena to a soundtrack of dark haunting music. Rammstein‘s entrance was the most outlandish thing I have ever seen at a gig, but then again this is Rammstein. A spotlight shone to the side of the standing crowd down by the bar, and the band came marching through the crowd with torches and dressed in industrial apparel taking to this bridge and walking over the crowd towards the stage. By the time I looked up I hadnt noticed that what was once a curtain was now a massive space full of industrial props and massive lights hanging over the band.
Straight away the band kicked into “Sonne” and the sound was immaculate, the crowd singing along and bouncing to every beat, these are the heaviest riffs your likely to ever hear live. Then came the pyrotechnics, with flames shooting out from the front of the stage and above the crowd. With no talk in between songs and all lyrics in German they certainly found something for everyone to keep there eyes on with guitarist breathing fire while playing in the middle of songs and singer Till Lendemann standing under a shower of sparks and dry ice during most songs. The keyboardist was highly entertaining with some great moves and playing keyboard whilst walking on a series of treadmills pretty much through every song. There was definitlely a theme going on between singer Lindemann and keyboardist Lorenz when Lindemann brought out a massive cauldron which contained Lorenz and began to shoot a flame thrower at him which exploded the cauldron and ended up with Lorenz running around on fire. One of the tracks “Feur Frei” was perhaps a lot more accessible to most of the audience as it translates to “Bang Bang” and the crowd sang along with Lindemann in the chorus, with every word of “Bang” being accompanied by explosions coming from all sides of the stage.
Some more notable tracks made up this almost two hour set which also contained two encores. Tracks such as “Du Hast” and “Ich Bein” being amongst crowd favourites. One of Rammsteins most famous accounts in their history was there use of well, lets say inappropriate prop’s such as the massive cannon which shoots “foam” and the squirting dildo which got them in trouble in 1998. Well time’s have changed since then censorship wise and considering the nature of this tour Rammstein weren’t going to let this slip the bill. Naturally enough the crowd were subject to Lindemanns cannon antics on this occasion, luckily I was sitting up high!.
Aside from the flames,rubber appendages,rockets,flares,stunts and explosions the band came into the bridge again on the crowd and performed some of the songs here with just their instruments, giving a bit of a break from the intensity of the gig before taking to the stage for the final display which featured the insanity all over again to leave you thinking that there no chance in hell your getting sleep for the next five days.
I was genuinely scared during some of this show, and I almost forgot that I was listening to music and watching a gig. It was like watching the most insane musical or play you’ve ever been at and wondering why the actors are doing it all too well. I’m by no means a death metal or German industrial rock fan, but my god Rammstein totally made any other gig I’ve been at pale in comparison. They pushed the boundaries as far as they could go and did it expertly. This is a gig that will long stand in my memory, even if there are parts i’d rather forget, but for a band like Rammstein thats a good thing.
Rammstein Image Gallery
Photos: Aidan McCarthy
