Live Review: Rammsttein at Brixton Academy - 3rd February 2005

Author: Richard Cosgrove

If there's one band that can't be accused of doing things by halves, it's Rammstein. Taking the best bits from theatrical rock shows of the last few decades and putting their unique stamp on them, they've gained a formidable reputation as one of the most outrageous and entertaining live acts on the planet.

Tonight they've rolled into London town for the first of three sold out nights at Brixton Academy, a surprising choice of venue given that the rest of their UK tour is taking in the country's arenas and cattle-sheds, which are seemingly much better suited for the large scale spectacles that Rammstein are renowned for. It also raises the question of just how much of their full stage show they'll be allowed to use in the Academy, particularly as they had to cancel their gig at the Astoria a couple of years ago due to Camden Borough Council's concerns over the amount of pyrotechnics
that they wanted to use. As it turned out, our fears were unfounded, and this was to be quite a night.

After five minutes of doom-laden atmospheric music, the lights go down and five burly men in white shirts and black ties walk onto the stage, carrying baseball bats with lights attached to the ends. They begin goading the audience for a few moments until a blue light illuminates the curtain, silhouetting the stage set as the intro to"Reise Reise" begins. The five monkey-boys turn to look at the curtain and what lies beyond it with a sense of pantomime awe, for this is what a Rammstein show is all about, the spectacle, and over the next hundred minutes or so we're going to get just that.

The curtain falls, quickly bundled away by the suits, and Rammstein are here, tearing into the song with a ferocity and volume that can actually be felt through the floor. The set resembles a set from Alex Proyas's Dark City, and the band stand (or sit in the case of drummer Christoph Schneider stand) atop this structure, some twenty feet above stage level, clad in black leather.

Suddenly a door opens in the front of the set, and vocalist Till Lindemann walks slowly onto the stage, dressed head to toe in, what else, black. Half way through the song, guitarists Richard Kruspe-Bernstein and Paul Landers step onto lifts that owe a debt to KISS's classic 1970s stage shows and descend to stage level. They stand rigid at their mikes, as is the Rammstein way, delivering their solos and backing vocals (Lander's mike stand complete with a neat kickstand mechanism that allows it to lay flat on the floor until needed) before returning to the top of the set as the song finishes.

Without pause, Schneider begins the unmistakable drumming of "Links-2-3-4" as the five front-line members file out of the set door, marching into place. At this point my fears that playing a venue as small as the Academy might hinder the use of the band's pyrotechnics are laid to rest as a huge explosion heralds the song's buzzsaw guitar riff, and appears to take out the first five rows of the audience, spewing enough smoke into the air to render the band invisible for several seconds. The fervour and enthusiasm of the audience in shouting along with the song's militaristic refrain conjured up images of Nuremberg, with Lindemann rallying his troops, an image bolstered by keyboard player Christian "Flake" Lorenz being dressed like the long-lost seventh member of the Village People, complete with stormtrooper helmet, short lederhosen and knee-high socks.

"Keine Lust" follows, leading nicely into "Feuer Frei" during which we get our first taste of Rammstein's pyro. During the quiet middle section, facemasks are strapped onto Lindemann and his two guitarists and we are treated to the sight of them spewing thirty foot columns of flames over each other and the audience. As this is happening, from where we are standing the crowd is a sea of mobile phone screens, the audience recording this moment for posterity. We could feel the heat from our vantage point some fifty feet away so the audience at the front must have momentarily questioned the wisdom of being so close to three manic Germans with enough firepower to barbecue the first ten rows.

"Morgenstern" comes next, giving the audience chance to catch their breaths after the fiery face masks - it's one thing marvelling over them in the video, but to actually see, and feel, it live is quite another matter. The band
disappear off stage after the song, as Lindemann appears in the doorway dressed as a chef, carrying a knife the
size of which would do Michael Myers proud, and pushing a giant cauldron. In the absence of "Buch Dich" on this tour
and it's ejaculatory hi-jinks, it seems Rammstein have found a new way to torment Flake, who has a keyboard
strapped to the side of the cauldron and pops up and down throughout "Mein Teil" to play his parts. Being a
cauldron, and this being Rammstein, it's somewhat inevitable that fire will be involved at some point, and right
on cue Lindemann is handed a flamethrower and proceeds to engulf the cauldron, with Flake inside it, in wave after
wave of flames. As he hands the weapon back to a stagehand, Flake climbs out of the cauldron, his arms and legs
now on fire thanks to some strategically strapped fireworks and runs around the stage before exiting stage right.

Ballad "Stein um Stern" is served up as the dessert course to "Mein Teil"s main event, after which a small drum kit is placed at the front of the stage and Schneider descends via one of the lifts to take up his position alongside a new feature for this tour, acoustic guitars. "Los", with it's harmonica solo and Bavarian slap dancing courtesy of Flake is the sort of thing that only a band like Rammstein could get away with, and get away with it they do, with some style. I never thought I'd see the day that Rammstein would play acoustically but it just goes to show hat this is no one-trick band. Schneider remains at stage level for "Moskau" before returning to his lofty perch for "Du Reichts So Gut".

At the beginning of the song, Lindemann appears with his legendary fiery bow, whirling it around his head with wild abandon, and managing to actually set one of the monitors on fire, which judging from the horrified expression on the roadie who ran over to it with a fire blanket wasn't part of the show's plan. For the song's solo, guitarists Kruspe-Bernstein and Landers stand together with yet more fireworks strapped to their upper arms.

Rammstein's best known song "Du Hast" comes next, and spectacle wise would have been might impressive purely for the huge jets of fire at the front and rear of the stage that reached almost to the Academy's ceiling. That clearly wasn't impressive enough for Rammstein, however, so Lindemann is handed another bow and takes aim at a target high in the lighting rig. He shoots, and scores as four balls of fire go flying out along wires over the audience's heads. On a roll now, and into the final straight of the main set, "Sehnsucht" follows, accompanied by several huge explosions over Schneider's head in perfect synchronicity with his drumming.

Set closer "Amerika" sees Flake wheeling himself around the stage on a Segway vehicle, the two wheel scooter-type things previously best associated with Peter Gabriel, and managing to both steer and play keyboards without falling off the stage or mowing down his fellow band members. The song reached its climax and the Academy erupted
into a maelstrom of red, white and blue ticker tape blown out over the audience.

After a short interval, the band walked back onstage, and began the slow and powerful "Rammstein". Having since forsaken his fiery coat, Lindemann appeared through the door with what can only be described as two flamethrower
gauntlets which he fired up frequently throughout the song, almost setting the stage on fire towards the end when
he accidentally pulled the trigger whilst his arms were pointing downwards!

"Sonne" follows, complete with the return of the flame columns before the first encore wraps up with "Ich Will". Flake and Lindemann then took the stage alone for a run through "Ohne Dich, the singer resting his head on the keyboard players shoulder while he sang.

The fitting show finale was their superb cover of Depeche Mode's "Stripped", which turned a synth-pop classic into a huge riff-heavy, jarring industrial masterpiece. It was at this point that bassist Oliver Reidel finally got to have some fun. Up to now every other band member had had their moment of excess, whether it be with flamethrowers, fiery face masks, scooters or exploding drumsticks, but not Reidel. Now, though, he got to partake in Rammstein's unique form of crowd surfing, by climbing aboard a rubber dinghy and setting sail over the heads of the crowd. He navigated his boat almost to the back of the Academy, falling out twice but being helped instantly back into this boat, and providing one of the most amazing live spectacles that this writer has ever seen, bringing whole new meaning to audience participation.

Safely back on the stage, the band wrapped up "Stripped" and after thanking the audience in English, disappeared one by one through the stage door, leaving Flake alone to play his portable keyboard as he was hoisted up on a lift to the top of the set before disappearing down the back stairs as the house lights came up.

Ladies and gentlemen, the bar for theatrical rock performances has well and truly been raised.