Symbolism belongs to Rammstein like shit belongs to a cow. It is therefore good that on the day of farmers’ protest and nitrogen denial, the black smoke rises in full from the Goffert Park in Nijmegen. Rammstein has settled in for two shows with an impressive backdrop that is somewhere between Mordor, the Ruhr in olden times and Game of Thrones, with Till Lindemann as The Mountain in the radiant center.
Photography Hub Dautzenberg
The park has rarely seemed so full, while more often 65,000 visitors have gathered. Rammstein fans may take up more space, or the decor may take up a few meters of the meadow. The mood is and remains high all evening. numbers words Wort for Wort sang along. Rammstein’s visual spectacle cannot possibly disappoint and it’s amazing how they don’t let their music go up in smoke between all that fire.
The material of the new album Zeit is well represented in the concert. The band starts with Armee of the Tristen followed by Zick Zack† Success numbers like Left 2-3-4 And especially Sehnsucht bring the audience to a first climax afterwards. puppy provides a visual spectacle when a gigantic pram is put into action, but for many visitors the number is also reason for a pee or a beer.
A little further on, at the long introduction to the song Germany, it becomes clear where that attraction for Rammstein comes from. The entire history of Germany, and certainly that of the last 150 years, goes into that enormous meat grinder of theirs and that is where Rammstein’s Gesamtkunstwerk comes out, in which you can still regularly find chunks of the original. From Alfred Döblin to Timur Vermes, from kraut and Kraftwerk to techno, from marching hordes to Wir Schaffen Das. It’s up to artists to transform this into something you can enjoy one evening in July. And that this doesn’t have to be subtle if you want to please a crowd, Rammstein proves.
Of Radio† Mein Teil (in which Christian Lorenz is comically roasted by Till Lindemann with increasingly large flamethrowers), you hast and sonne Rammstein closes the regular part of the concert, while everyone knows there is still much to come. The first encore is given on the stage in the audience when the band, together with support act Duo Abélard and a singing audience, play an acoustic version of Angel brings. In combination with the twilight and the text ‘wir haben Angst und sind allein’, the melancholy reaches its peak.
After they sail back to the stage in rubber boats over the audience and Lindemann brings them back on stage with a Wilkommen sign, they continue with Auslander followed by You richest so gut and pussy† The second encore consists of Rammstein† Ich Will and the new, but appropriate closing number Adieu† The band leaves in an elevator to the ridge of the set to go up in smoke (and fire).
Emissions have not been measured, but as a visitor you still feel purified and satisfied afterwards. So this fire can hardly be bad.
Seen: July 4, 2022 in Goffert Park, Nijmegen.
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