CONCERT REVIEW

Rammstein Blows It Up

The German band proves themselves to be master showmen bridging the language barrier and holding the Coliseum crowd in the palm of their hand.

“Fire is inspirational.”

- Richard Pryor

The summer of 2020 was set to be epic. Numerous bands had scheduled large-scale tours and I grew more excited as I secured tickets for some of my favorite live bands including Nightwish and Mötley Crüe. Anchoring the lineup of concerts was a rare North American appearance by the German band Rammstein. I had never had the opportunity to see this band live and looked forward to experiencing them in the setting of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, probably the only facility in the city that was large enough to hold their legendary spectaculars.

The excitement for these concerts was slowly dashed as it became more apparent that COVID-19 was not going to be contained. As cases in the United States continued to increase show after show was postponed. One-year delays eventually turned into two years.

The repeated postponements finally came to an end for me on February 4, 2022, as the instrumental band Russian Circles took the stage opening for System Of A Down at the Banc of California Stadium. As I experienced the return of live music I could feel myself get a little emotional.

While System of a Down and Korn put on good shows that night, there was a surreal experience to the evening. The tone was set by the fact that Faith No More was missing from the bill as its singer continued to struggle with the emotional fallout of the pandemic. It also felt strange to be in a large crowd after two years of isolation from my family group.

Next in my concert lineup was an evening with the band Nightwish at the Wiltern. This marked a return to indoor concert going which felt even stranger than the large outdoor crowds. It was great to be experiencing live music, but it still felt surreal and a little dangerous.

The Midnight Oil show at the Palladium in June almost felt like a return to normalcy. These tickets had been purchased just a few months before and it was the first show post-lockdown that had not been postponed. Perhaps not coincidentally, I ended up testing positive for COVID-19 about five days after this night out.

As the Mötley Crüe show approached I let myself get excited. The Crüe has a reputation as amazing live performers and the band had promised an “epic” show to match the stadiums on their tour. My expectations were quickly dashed as the band failed at all aspects of their show from the quality of the sound to the intensity of the performance. It was easily one of the worst shows that I had ever seen.

The anticipointment of the Mötley Crüe show was still fresh in my mind as the Rammstein date approached. Still, the excitement was creeping in as I made my way on the Red Line towards Union Station. After dinner amongst Dodger fans at Philippe’s, my sister and I headed towards the Coliseum.

How is it that a structure that has been in place for 100 years does not have the traffic infrastructure needed to handle the crowds headed to its events? It took us over an hour to make the five-mile trip from downtown, including the time to find the lot where my sister had purchased prepaid parking. While the ticket specified that we should park in the “Blue Lot,” there were no signs to direct us to park, never mind telling us the color of these lots.

Pre-stressed by our Los Angeles traffic experience, we made our way toward the stadium, beckoned by the Olympic torch that had been lit for the event. It was a nice touch for a band known for the liberal use of pyro.

As we took our seats (without the assistance of any ushers), we were immediately taken in by the immensity of the stage. It was several stories tall and looked like it was pulled directly out of a post-apocalyptic science fiction novel. Extending out into the field were independent sound towers. A small stage stood off to one side of the field unconnected to its much bigger brother. It was here that the opening act appeared.

I had read that the opener for the show was a duo of classical pianists named Duo Jatekok. They were described as a sort of palate cleanser before the intensity of the main act. I was, however, surprised that they exclusively performed Rammstein covers. The night was off to an interesting start.

Shortly after the openers concluded the house lights went black and a classical march started playing from the PA. A digital Rammstein “flag” was raised on the highest lighting tower. It felt like a scene out of a right-wing rally if instead of expecting chants of “lock her up” and “build the wall” you were expecting to be entertained with songs about sexual exploits and other lyrics sung in a language you could not understand.

After the “flag” had reached the top of the tower the band was announced with a set of explosions. Rammstein had already expended more pyro than the entire Mötley Crüe show. Rammstein’s sound was also noticeably superior to that of the Crüe. From the first note, the music was crisp even in the far reaches of the stadium.

The show was strategically designed to build in intensity as the night progressed. From the beginning of the show the entirety of the lighting rig seemed to be in use, but only utilizing white lights. Colors were added to the pallet throughout the night. Additional lighting elements were also added slowly.

The over-the-top pyrotechnics that the band is famous for also followed this type of progression. After the initial burst of explosions at the top of the set, the fireworks were sporadic until about half an hour into the performance. At that point, the first of the onstage flame throwers was used. Later on, massive flames were shooting out of the sound towers in the middle of the field. By the end of the night, the stage appeared to actually be on fire.

With most bands, certain songs are expected to be part of the setlist. With Rammstein, there are specific pyrotechnic stunts that the audience counts on seeing and the band did not disappoint. A giant baby carriage was wheeled on stage and then set on fire. The keyboardist was “cooked” in a massive pot. The singer shot a peacock-like set of flames from a device on his back while the guitarists shot flames out of their guitars.

One of the only stage set pieces missing was the flame-throwing angel wings as the song that it usually accompanies was performed in an acoustic form from the satellite stage. The individual band members were transported back to the main stage from this location aboard rafts powered by the crowd below them.

If there was any complaint about the show, it was the absence of the song “Amerika.” Perhaps the band felt uncomfortable performing a song condemning American cultural imperialism in front of American audiences.

Rammstein delivered on Mötley Crüe’s promise of an epic stadium show and set the bar for what can be accomplished when a tour is undertaken by an artist whose integrity is still intact. Unlike Crüe’s audience, the fans at the Coliseum were fully engaged throughout the show, even though the vast majority of the lyrics were not sung in English, Hopefully, the tour is successful enough that the band will decide that European audiences are not the only ones who should receive the gift of their performance and they will not wait for years to go by before they return.

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Carl Petersen is a parent advocate for students with special education needs and public education. He was elected to the Northridge East Neighborhood Council and is the Education Chair. As a Green Party candidate in LAUSD’s District 2 School Board race, he was endorsed by Network for Public Education (NPE) Action. Dr. Diane Ravitch has called him “a valiant fighter for public schools in Los Angeles.” For links to his blogs, please visit www.ChangeTheLAUSD.com. Opinions are his own.