Attended by hundreds, Rammstein's concert last night was certainly worth the trip down to the Docks. There was a huge lineup to get in, but there always is – once in however, Crossbreed was already playing. They will now be known as the "blacklight band" (not to be confused with the Blacklight Activists; they just played under some interesting blacklights). They seem to be an up-and-coming band, might see more of them later. The style was an attractive mix between punk and industrial. About another hour of standing around, the crowd getting increasingly tighter, Godhead finally came on stage. I'd say they had much more appeal than their opener for Manson back in November, a lot more energy and style. They played an Eleanor Rigby cover that seems to be liked enough, and of course the ever popular "The Reckoning", and also I believe "I Sell Society".
The crowd got even tighter and the inevitable crush towards the stage felt as Rammstein came on one by one. Looking serious and concentrated but with a hint of comedy, they went right into the hard hitting songs and into the pyrotechnics on the second song. By the end of the first set, I was good and ready to get out of the pit and did so with much difficulty! Good thing I had a protector!~ A little chicken girl like me would not have lasted long as people were going into a frenzy of excitement.
Some of the pyro effects included the "shooting fire out of the mouth with a headset on", four consecutive fireworks on the ceiling that were synchronized to go off with a song, and the wall of flames behind the stage towards the end of the show. That one was particularily cool. The customary flaming jacket to "Rammstein" took off on a twist – halfway through the song, Lindemann's (the lead singer) pants caught on fire and he went down in a blaze. Since the music didn't quite stop we weren't sure whether to be concerned or not, but the band members went over to him and inspected the damage. He stood up a minute later to reveal his half-burnt off mohawk but kept singing. The crowd went wild cheering him, and a second later he takes a mask off his head to show his REAL head!!! It was amazing! Needless to say, they finished the song in a combustion of glory.
Another surprise was the encore, where Godhead joined Rammstein on the stage and played a song together. I don't think it's completely new because I saw a few people singing with it, not sure what it's called though.
All in all, it was a great experience and I would recommend anyone who likes industrial or even death metal music to go see them in concert. You need a lot of strength and determination to stay in the pit, but it's well worth it to watch one of Germany's most popular industro bands close up and personal.
To learn more, check out these sites :
www.crossbreed.com &
www.godhead.com &
www.rammstein.com
review by
lament
July 17th 2001
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