Danke Schön, Rammstein
2 days ago, I travelled to Chicago to see Rammstein in concert. I’ve been a Rammstein fan since middle school, and they were the first band I ever listened to in a language besides English. And when they announced a North American tour back in February, the first in 10 years, I knew I was going no matter what. My brother Evan, also a huge Rammstein fan, wanted to go as well, so we had to convince my mom to let him skip school for 2 days to go, which she was totally cool with!
We took the train out of Michigan early Tuesday morning, and got into Chicago around 10:30. We were staying with my friend Beth and her boyfriend, who I also stayed with for the X Japan concert. We went to her place, slept for a while, and then started getting ready for the show.
They drove us to the Allstate Arena, and we managed to get in there with little hassle, except for the security guard who made me take off my belt, chain, and bracelet, which was kind of annoying. We found our seats, and waited for the night to start.
Combichrist was the opening band. I didn’t really know much of their music, but after seeing their set, I had a new respect for industrial bands. I didn’t expect them to be good live, but they kicked ass. And, they only played for about half an hour, which was good cause I was ready for Rammstein!
We only had to wait about half an hour after Combichrist finished. The lights in the arena went off, and the opening to ‘Rammlied’ began, as Richard and Paul broke their way through a wall on the stage, and Till used a welding tool to cut a door, before kicking it in. Next came ‘Buckstabu’, with Till stalking around the stage, growling and yelling. Then was ‘Waidmann’s Heil’, one of my favorites off LIFAD. The crowded screamed ‘STERBEN!’ with Till as fire when off around the band non-stop. Next they played a couple older songs, ‘Keine Lust’ and ‘Weisses Fleisch’. After came the explosive ‘Feuer Frei’. The explosions and pyrotechnics, which went off every time Till sang ‘bang bang!’, were so hot we could feel them in the top section. It was during this song that Till, Paul, and Richard wore their masks that allowed them to blow fire several feet into the air. ‘Wiener Blut’ was next, and they had baby dolls hanging from the ceiling with green lasers shooting out of their eyes, and at the end of the song the babies exploded into fireworks. ‘Fruhling in Paris’, the one slower song of the evening, really showed the band’s emotion.
‘Ich tu dir Weh’ was next, and it was definitely a crowd favorite. Especially when Till grabbed Flake and threw him over his shoulder, before dumping him a bathtub on stage, “murdering him”, and then getting hoisted about 10 feet in the air on a platform and pouring sparks into the bathtub. At the end of the song, Flake gets out of the tub, now in his sparkly silver outfit, does a weird little dance, and he spends the rest of the show playing his keyboard while walking on a treadmill. Next came ‘Du Riechst so Gut’, Rammstein’s first single ever released. ‘Benzin’ followed, which was the only song off “Rosenrot” they performed. The pyrotechnics were insane, and at the end, Till used his flamethrower to set a guy on fire. The stage went dark for a moment, and then the lights came on as the band marched out from underneath the stage to ‘Links 2,3,4′. Then, the opening notes to ‘Du Hast’, the song that made them famous in America, rang out, and the entire crowd lost it. I’m pretty sure there wasn’t a single person in that arena that wasn’t screaming “Du hast mich!” as loud as they could. They finished the regular set with ‘Pussy’, during which Till climbed onto the giant dick-shaped cannon that shot foam into the crowd. The band took their bows and then left the stage.
They came back on a few minutes later, and ‘Sonne’, my favorite off the Mutter cd, began, and Evan and myself headbanged for the entire song. Next came another favorite, ‘Haifisch’. During, Flake got onto a raft, and proceeded to row across the crowd. The last song of the encore, ‘Ich Will’, started and we all went crazy, cause we knew the show was almost over. The band once again left the stage, before coming out again about 5 minutes later. The song was ‘Engel’, and Till took the stage with giant angel wings on his back that light up and shot fire from the tips about 10 feet into the air. The show wasn’t over yet though. During their bows and thanks, Till announced that it was Mr. Schneider’s birthday, so the crowd sang happy birthday while Flake played it on the keys.
It’s hard to put the experience into words; the lights, the non-stop pyro & cryotechnics, the theatrics, all of it combined to make this one of the best shows I’ve ever seen; it was worth every penny. The stage show topped even Iron Maiden and X Japan, and I don’t say that lightly, as they’re my two favorite bands. I’ve been so lucky to be able to see my 3 favorite bands in the past year and half. Rammstein has been such a big influence, and they are the main reason that I’ve been studying German for the past 2 years. I just hope I don’t have to wait another 10 years for them to come back!
