As promised, here's my review (this review has spoilers):
The wording of this text was made at the Schönefeld airport (although I have recently edited it to correct errors or add more stuff) about 3 hours after the end of the concert. Note that I did not write "live show", but "concert." This choice of words was intentional. But more about it later.
I arrived at Pankow Park - where is located Black Box Music - at 11 AM. I was the first to arrive, and I sat on a park bench near the warehouse of BBM. I spent my time reading some long, boring shit. It's not that I like to read such things, but they were related to colledge and I had to read them anyway. That's how I spent my time until about 3 PM.
Eventually I saw a guy with a Rammstein shirt passing near me, and I thought I'd follow him, to know where he would go, and ensure my place at first row. In a hurry to get my stuff in my backpack, I lost sight of him. But never mind, because when I came back, I crossed paths with Schneider. I said "Hello Schneider!" to him, to which he replied with "Hallo!"
I returned to the bench to eat the sandwich I had brought with me, and then I moved closer to the division of the warehouse where the concert would take place. At this time there already were half a dozen fans near the warehouse waiting to enter. Probably they had the feeling that I arrived after them, but the opposite was actually true. As was already darkening, I did not read any more boring shit, and decided to listen to music for a few hours. Then the representatives of the fan club of Czech Republic came to talk to me. We spent the rest of the time chatting until 6:15 PM, when the doors opened. The entrance turned out to earlier than what was said on the ticket. Me and the guys from Czech Republic got to first row with no problems. The grid was quite near the stage, and there were not any security guards on the space between the grid and the stage.
A bit later, a woman asked us to be on the front row next to us, and we opened room for her. Soon after she pretended herself as the administrator of the official fan community. Later also appeared staff from Rammstein-Mexico and Rammstein-Serbia. I ended up staying in the grid, right in front of Till, with representatives of the fan club of the Czech Republic on my left, the official community manager on my right side, and the representatives of Rammstein-Mexico and Rammstein-Serbia behind me . I spoke with them all except Rammstein-Mexico.
The concert started later than planned, because in that day there was more people than on the previous days (because of the presence of fan sites). The intro was different from what was leak on youtube. It consists of a strong, steady beat. The intro was short: after a while, the band came from the stairs on the right side of the stage. They were wearing the clothes of the LIFAD tour, with the exception of Schneider, who had a different outfit. Kruspe was wearing the coat from Reise Reise tour, and Till, instead of holding his hair with a net, used a rubber band that made him look like a samurai. As I was in the first row and the stage was close to the grid, I could see all the band members in high definition and in 3D.
As a consequence of the aforementioned delay, Mein Land was left out of the setlist. But the absence of Mein Land did not bother me: Mein Herz Brennt was still present (which I was not able to hear live for almost 10 years), as well as Wollt ihr das Bett in Flammen sehen? (which I never expected to see live), Asche zu Asche, Mein Teil, Mutter (wich I also did not saw live for almost 10 years). And so on.
With the exception of Mein Land, The setlist was the same as of the previous rehearsals, but the order of a few songs were switched.
For me the low point of the concert was Pussy. When they played that shit, I crossed my arms, and when they finished playing it, I did not applaud. But it was the only low point. It's the only thing I complain about this concert. I did not like having to endure Amerika, but the song that I really hate is Pussy.
This concert did not had many fire stunts. The concert was limited to the essential stunts (burning micros during Asche zu Asche, flame-throwers during Mein Teil and Feuer Frei, flames coming out of the ceiling during du hast). There was no fire comming out of the ground during Sonne or Du Hast, probably because the room was small, and the grid was fairly close to the stage. Under these conditions the flames might have burned the fans standing in the first row.
The stage was the one from the LIFAD tour, with some modifications reminiscent of Sehnsucht tour. The cloth with tears gave way to a different cloth with a pattern resembling a beehive (which also fell off in the middle of the concert). Instead of the pillars on the back of the stage, the back of ths stage had the fan from the live aus berlin show from 1997 (coming down from the ceiling during the later part of the concert). I do not know if this version of the stage will appears again. If it does not make a return, it is a shame.
This event had two peculiarities that were very rare for a Rammstein concert: The audience was definitely thrilled with the band, but everyone knew how to restrain themselves so as not to interfere with the personal space of others. There were no moche pits, no crowd surfers, or similar assholes. Even I that was in first row, did not felt crushed by whoever was behind me. I even had enough room to move.
The second peculiarity was the fact that Till interacted with the fans. This attitude from him is very rare. The man seemed in a good mood and was looking great. Probably because he did not felt the pressure of having to do everything by the book during the performance. All band members were looking good, relaxed and motivated.
Although officially this event was a rehearsal, the band behaved like they were in a concert. They were enthusiastic, and gave a good performance. And this is what makes this event a concert, not a live show: it was not necessary the apparatus of 14, 20 or even 32 trucks for Rammstein to be Rammstein. I liked this concert as much as the one I attended in Lisbon in 2001. If the guys had not included Amerika and Pussy, and instead had played Weisses Fleich and Bestrafe Mich, this would have been my favorite Rammstein concert that I attended.
For some time I have wonder why I still care about Rammstein, given the fact that the last 3 albums did not meet my standards. But after this adventure, I will not sell any Rammstein ticket shows ever again. And from now on, anyone who dares to question my loyality to the band, is going to get his face crushed.
The wording of this text was made at the Schönefeld airport (although I have recently edited it to correct errors or add more stuff) about 3 hours after the end of the concert. Note that I did not write "live show", but "concert." This choice of words was intentional. But more about it later.
I arrived at Pankow Park - where is located Black Box Music - at 11 AM. I was the first to arrive, and I sat on a park bench near the warehouse of BBM. I spent my time reading some long, boring shit. It's not that I like to read such things, but they were related to colledge and I had to read them anyway. That's how I spent my time until about 3 PM.
Eventually I saw a guy with a Rammstein shirt passing near me, and I thought I'd follow him, to know where he would go, and ensure my place at first row. In a hurry to get my stuff in my backpack, I lost sight of him. But never mind, because when I came back, I crossed paths with Schneider. I said "Hello Schneider!" to him, to which he replied with "Hallo!"
I returned to the bench to eat the sandwich I had brought with me, and then I moved closer to the division of the warehouse where the concert would take place. At this time there already were half a dozen fans near the warehouse waiting to enter. Probably they had the feeling that I arrived after them, but the opposite was actually true. As was already darkening, I did not read any more boring shit, and decided to listen to music for a few hours. Then the representatives of the fan club of Czech Republic came to talk to me. We spent the rest of the time chatting until 6:15 PM, when the doors opened. The entrance turned out to earlier than what was said on the ticket. Me and the guys from Czech Republic got to first row with no problems. The grid was quite near the stage, and there were not any security guards on the space between the grid and the stage.
A bit later, a woman asked us to be on the front row next to us, and we opened room for her. Soon after she pretended herself as the administrator of the official fan community. Later also appeared staff from Rammstein-Mexico and Rammstein-Serbia. I ended up staying in the grid, right in front of Till, with representatives of the fan club of the Czech Republic on my left, the official community manager on my right side, and the representatives of Rammstein-Mexico and Rammstein-Serbia behind me . I spoke with them all except Rammstein-Mexico.
The concert started later than planned, because in that day there was more people than on the previous days (because of the presence of fan sites). The intro was different from what was leak on youtube. It consists of a strong, steady beat. The intro was short: after a while, the band came from the stairs on the right side of the stage. They were wearing the clothes of the LIFAD tour, with the exception of Schneider, who had a different outfit. Kruspe was wearing the coat from Reise Reise tour, and Till, instead of holding his hair with a net, used a rubber band that made him look like a samurai. As I was in the first row and the stage was close to the grid, I could see all the band members in high definition and in 3D.
As a consequence of the aforementioned delay, Mein Land was left out of the setlist. But the absence of Mein Land did not bother me: Mein Herz Brennt was still present (which I was not able to hear live for almost 10 years), as well as Wollt ihr das Bett in Flammen sehen? (which I never expected to see live), Asche zu Asche, Mein Teil, Mutter (wich I also did not saw live for almost 10 years). And so on.
With the exception of Mein Land, The setlist was the same as of the previous rehearsals, but the order of a few songs were switched.
For me the low point of the concert was Pussy. When they played that shit, I crossed my arms, and when they finished playing it, I did not applaud. But it was the only low point. It's the only thing I complain about this concert. I did not like having to endure Amerika, but the song that I really hate is Pussy.
This concert did not had many fire stunts. The concert was limited to the essential stunts (burning micros during Asche zu Asche, flame-throwers during Mein Teil and Feuer Frei, flames coming out of the ceiling during du hast). There was no fire comming out of the ground during Sonne or Du Hast, probably because the room was small, and the grid was fairly close to the stage. Under these conditions the flames might have burned the fans standing in the first row.
The stage was the one from the LIFAD tour, with some modifications reminiscent of Sehnsucht tour. The cloth with tears gave way to a different cloth with a pattern resembling a beehive (which also fell off in the middle of the concert). Instead of the pillars on the back of the stage, the back of ths stage had the fan from the live aus berlin show from 1997 (coming down from the ceiling during the later part of the concert). I do not know if this version of the stage will appears again. If it does not make a return, it is a shame.
This event had two peculiarities that were very rare for a Rammstein concert: The audience was definitely thrilled with the band, but everyone knew how to restrain themselves so as not to interfere with the personal space of others. There were no moche pits, no crowd surfers, or similar assholes. Even I that was in first row, did not felt crushed by whoever was behind me. I even had enough room to move.
The second peculiarity was the fact that Till interacted with the fans. This attitude from him is very rare. The man seemed in a good mood and was looking great. Probably because he did not felt the pressure of having to do everything by the book during the performance. All band members were looking good, relaxed and motivated.
Although officially this event was a rehearsal, the band behaved like they were in a concert. They were enthusiastic, and gave a good performance. And this is what makes this event a concert, not a live show: it was not necessary the apparatus of 14, 20 or even 32 trucks for Rammstein to be Rammstein. I liked this concert as much as the one I attended in Lisbon in 2001. If the guys had not included Amerika and Pussy, and instead had played Weisses Fleich and Bestrafe Mich, this would have been my favorite Rammstein concert that I attended.
For some time I have wonder why I still care about Rammstein, given the fact that the last 3 albums did not meet my standards. But after this adventure, I will not sell any Rammstein ticket shows ever again. And from now on, anyone who dares to question my loyality to the band, is going to get his face crushed.
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