Rammstein: Made in Germany

The reason I came to Antwerp was to see Rammstein. It was a late decision, leading to a bit of a complicated itinerary (1 additional flight, 3 additional trains) and some expensive (i.e. bought from scalpers) tickets. I did get standing tickets (there is no golden circle, just standing and sitting; the standing is in the centre of the hall) and interestingly there is no difference in the price either.

A quick note on the venue logistics; getting in and out was a mess, with only a few entrances open. Besides that it was well organized especially with the seamless public transport links after the concert. Photos are taken mostly from a distance, so may be a bit blurry ... clicking will enlarge them slightly.

Deathstars
I am surprised that there hasn't been an older band that has used this name. They are a Swedish goth/industrial metal band, though their songs were in English. Their music sounded great, though their lyrics (which i could decipher) weren't that impressive. But then, I think most bands just treat voice and lyrics as a backing sound track, so I suppose it doesn't really matter. They were a great warmup to Rammstein.

Rammstein
A great performance is made of different factors - the music, the lyrics, the show, the lighting to name a few. Rammstein embodied all of these last night; starting with a spectacular entrance. The main stage was pretty standard, though a number of industrial effects (such as huge fans) would come in as the show progressed. There were no video screens, strange for such a large venue. In front of the sound deck, was a small cordoned off area( which I assumed was for fireworks) and this is where I stood.

As the show started a bridge dropped from the ceiling connecting the main stage with the small cordoned off area. It looked and sounded exactly like spaceship landing in sci-fi movies; and the band paraded through the crowd onto the smaller stage, before crossing the bridge. They would return later in the show to perform two songs, most notably Bück Dich; which takes their shows into the realm of performance art like no other band.

Being a "best of" show, all the hits were played (including my personal favorite Engel, which was not played in the SA show); accompanied by some spectacular fireworks. As with the South African show, the band didn't speak much with the crowd (no "we love you" or other chit chat) but there seemed to be a lot more engagement with the crowd; and the show was absolutely spectacular. At over 2 hours, it was also a long set for such a high energy performance.