2007-04-09
You can't misidentify Rammstein, it THE most identified-with-Germany band in the world and the first to come to mind when thinking about the German electro/metal/industrial scene, and you most certainly can't mistake the ecstasy when it comes to a live show by these industrial-metal-icons (or inventors of "Tanz-Metall", as some refer to them). The thousands of fans (about 16,000) who filled up the amphitheater at Nimes, France, sometime around July 2005, on the main event shot at this DVD, may not be fluent in German but sure are fluent at Rammstein lyrics and knew which concert to spend their euros on.
This DVD was released by Rammstein at the latter part of 2006, including in it that impressive Nimes show (along with an audio CD of most song out of it) and various parts of show from the same tour; at the Citta Club in Tokyo, London's Brixton Academy, and Moscow's Sport Complex Olympiski (the special and limited edition also include interviews, documentaries, all four live show fully, a photo book, and an audio CD of the entire Nimes show).
The first thing to catch the eye is the package of "Völkerball" (translates to: dodge ball, or dancing/musical event of all people), unfolding as a cross or the band's logo and revealing black & white photos of the crowds out of that tour; yes, not of the band but of boys and girls, in various facial expressions, positions and postures, and from various ages and origins. There's no doubt Rammstein rams down the language barrier, like the greased up German machine that it is, leaving the skeptics jaw-dropped (and not just because of the fogo's going around).
The crowd waits in long lines, shouting respectively "Ramm–stein! Ramm–stein! Ramm–stein!", and the carefully designed opening selection menu pops up; a click on the main Nimes show (103 minutes, 19 songs) get us to the heaped amphitheater from an aerial point of view, where all five members of Rammstein or on the enormous stage, dressed up and maked-up and fully accessorized…hold on, five Rammstein members? Where did frontman (and on the identifying mark of the band) go? Where is Till Lindemann? Oh, he lets the crowd boil in it's own sweat and hormones before making his entry, emerging from a metallic female genitalia door, and opening with one of the band's all time hits "Reise, Reise".
You can take the common stigma about this band, that it is a Nu-metal band with little content and some used-up electronic elements, and toss it away right now; for from the very base of the band's name meaning a ramming stone but also referring to an air show disaster which accrued at the city of Ramstein-Miesenbach in 1988, through the songs themselves, like " Links 2 3 4" declaring left wing political opinions with the sound of a 1930's right end rally and military march, or the sarcasm of "Feuer Frei!" (where the band members all wear "Lycopodium Masks", those fire breathing masks) and up to the extremeness of "Mien Teil", dealing with the case of cannibal
Armin Meiwes and the band's opinion on it (let's just imply there's more than one meaning to "teil" in German), where Till is dressed up as a chef, dripping with blood, singing into a knife-microphone, and blazing a cauldron, where demented keyboardist Christian "Flake" Lorenz is found, with a rather large flamethrower.
The setlist at the Nimes show consists mostly of song out of 2004's "Reise, Reise" and 2001's "Mutter", but also features three songs out of Rammstein's first album "Herzleid" ("Asche Zu Asche", the well-known "Rammstein" and the crowd pumping "Du riechst so gut"), a great implementation of it's most known hit "Du Hast", and a surprise choice of the very electronic Sehnsucht (both from the 1997 album "Sehnsucht"); two more surprises are the wild "Benzin" (first single from 2005's "Rosenrot") and a cover to
Depeche Mode's "Stripped".
The other live shows (in the standard version) are much shorter; from London it's a small bite of four songs, two songs fro Tokyo and a trailer to the sounds of "Los", and from Moscow it's a short video of (what else?) "Moskau". Rammstein did wisely here, since the theatrical show on stage (make up, costumes, fireworks, flaming microphones, flamethrowers, explosive drum sticks and other pyrotechnics keeping the stageworkers busy) and the setlist are almost completely identical from show to show, so you could say one full show is quite enough, even if you're not really there, to tire you.
If Rammstein's music was once described as "music to invade Poland to", then their live show can be described as the conquer parade at Warsaw's main street. The music's grandness gets reinforced with the steel professionalism on stage and the theatrical value of the show, making the crowds inflamed throughout the combustion of stage). My revulsion with Rammstein was overthrown by "Völkerball", in a very systematic and efficient way… What other way did you think they'd do it?
Ofer Vayner
