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UK Ahoi Tour Concert reviews

Brixton, Manchester and Nottingham - February 2005

Part one.
Last night was my first Rammstein concert, having missed out in 2001 and I have to say I was not disappointed. Last night I understood why people say the live show is outstanding.
It is the slickest gig: a cross between a West End, London production and the coolest rock and roll show alive. This can only be achieved by the incredible dedication of their support crew.

We managed to get places right at the front, directly in front of Till and the most fabulous view of everything.

First thing to say was the set list was nothing new, but that didn't matter because it was great as it was:

Reise Reise
Links 234
Feuer frei!
Asche zu asche
Morgernstern
Mein Teil
Stein um Stein
Los
Du Reichst so Gut
Du hast
Benzin
Sehnsucht
Amerika

Rammstein
Sonne
Ohne dich

Ich will
Stripped

There were a few things that I noticed, in-between screaming like an idiot:

1) Even though it is a very small venue they still made £50,000 of pyro work really well. The stage itself is only 50 meters wide, and it was discussed heavily before the show if they would be able to use everything, and they did. The actual technical set up with amour-core cable and gas bottles all over the front of the stage is something to be quite in awe of. The bangs, flashes and jets of flame are brilliant, and they are incredibly hot. You can feel your eyelashes curling!

2) Apocalyptica are quite stunning. I never realized cellos could so sexy….a great start to the evening.

3) During 'Mein teil' Flake did not wear his usual 'gimp's hood' type thing, and instead hid right down inside the pot when Till cooked him. Till was covered in fake blood and they both looked like they were really enjoying 'vamping' it up for the audience.

4) At one point Till was using Paul's elevator to come down onto the main stage. Paul was standing right underneath it, unaware of Till trying to slowly descend behind him. Till alerted him to the fact he was coming down by spitting on his head. He had to do it two or three times until Paul finally looked up and moved over.

5) Richard has most definitely been working out hard, his chest is very well defined and they have all lost weight but look very good since the beginning of November. They didn't look tired or pissed off and I think were quite surprised by the reaction the audience was giving them. We were making a lot of noise.

6) For 'Los' we were treated to them coming right down to the front of the stage, including Schneider, who was so close I could've licked his knees caps. A brilliant version with some hard rocking electric guitar 'Los' at the end of the song; that song needs to be recorded as an electric version and stuck on a B side somewhere. It was incredible to see them all so close up, the pit between the barriers and stage at the Academy is about a meter and a half. You can see the whites of their eyes!

7) They are all as individual onstage as they are in interviews. But this works. The fact they are NOT coordinated together as such makes the show more interesting because you get something different watching each of them.

8) Till avoids all eye contact but is the consummate showman. Rich poses like no guitarist I have seen for many years, but he can do it and gets away with it with aplomb. Paul, with his staccato movements and serious face, also creates his own style. Olli seems to just having a bloody good time, and Schneider is so serious you want to hug him and tell him to lighten up a touch - I bet he is absolutely drained once he gets off stage.

9) Olli fell out of the boat during 'Stripped'! Thankfully the crowd put him back in and he was okay, but we had Tom the tour manger right in front of us, staring into the crowd with a seriously worried face. And if you get a chance, watch the other band members while Olli is out surfing. Their concern for him is palpable. They still take doing the surfing quite seriously, and are well aware that he is at the crowds mercy.

10) Which leads me on to say, to anyone going the next few days, DON'T CROWD SURF' at Brixton Academy. You will be thrown out. We made friends with a security guard, who was a little darling. Even in the roughest shoving, and it was very fucking rough, he mad sure we and all those squished up on the barrier were okay, especially us tiny 5 footers. If you see a security guard called Chris, respect him cos he will throw you out if you fuck with him!

11) One last thing to say…we began queuing at 2.30pm, it was worth it. The day before the gig was great, right down to not being rained/snowed on. Meeting fabulous people in the queue, old fans, very new fans and everyone in between. It was a truly splendid day and I can't wait to do it all over again at Manchester and Nottingham.

Part two.

This is subject to review because I keep thinking of lots of little things all the time to add. Also this is very personal account, so if you are after more technical stuff you may want to skip it.

First thing to say is, thank you to all the wonderful people who went out of their way to say 'hi and thanks for the website'. I now have an ego even bigger than Texas:-P

Second, to all those I have met off the board’s thank you too. It was so good to be able to put faces to nicknames. I hope to talk to all of you long into the future. Sorry to those I missed meeting, maybe next time!!

The Manchester gig:

1) We were later to Manchester than planned, but still made it on time to meet for drinks before hand.

2) Didn't get to the front this time. It was good but being small I couldn't see much and so don't have anything really interesting to report. Same set list, same effects. I thought the crowd a bit quiet but that might just be the part I was standing in.

The Nottingham gig:

We were at the front again, right in front of Paul. Wonderful!! We met Beth from the Herzeleid board and her son. She was dressed in the most fabulous imitation 'Fraustein' uniform. Quite brilliant with a little cap too; more about the hat later, it was a big part of the evening!

1) The crowd was really up for it in Nottingham. Very vocal and fun. Apocalyptica went down a storm and I think they made a few new fans on this tour, I for one will be buying their stuff!

2) The opening with RR is always just perfect. The whole momentum thing is right there the second that curtain comes down. Into the first number and you're just swept straight away.

3) The set list was exactly the same I believe as the previous few nights so I am not going to repeat people.

4) Standing with a good group of people I was rocking (as my sore neck can attest to!) The whole gig just swum along beautifully, making lots of noise, head banging and bouncing up and down a lot and during 'Stein um stein' I looked up to see Paul watching me. So I did what all squealing fan-girls of 34 do and blew him a kiss to which he smiled. I though nothing more of it. You often catch an eye at the front, but he then continued watch me all the way through the gig. It was a really amusing thing. I suppose if I was younger and shyer I would've not looked up, and been a bit uncomfortable but fuck it, I was having fun and the more he watched the more I bounced around. So I just went for it. The fact he seemed to appreciate my singing along and head banging definitely made the evening a bit more special.

5) During 'Ohne dich' Till began the song with his head on Flake's shoulder as usual, then looked around the audience and suddenly pointed at me and began to sing. I got almost an entire first verse of 'Onhe dich', he sang to me and I was singing right back. They seem to really latch onto the people who sing or try to sing along (I say that cos I am not word perfect at all)

6) Right at the end of the gig I was getting very emotional cos it had been a fabulous five days and it was time to go back to reality, and Paul saw me looking sad and kind of smiled sadly and gave me a thumbs up. This was just before he began Stripped. He was really sweet and it wasn't my intention to cry but I was a bit overwhelmed by it all. It was great of him to notice.

7) The lady next to me, Beth, had this little cap which towards the end, during the first 'goodbye' in fact, was thrown on stage. Olli picked it up and put it on! Very funny and we all loved that. It wasn't Beth who'd thrown it, but someone else and she wanted it back. So when they came back on we yelled at Paul for her hat. He nodded to show he understood and good as his word a roadie brought it back during the second break. So Beth got her hat back. Then during Olli's boat trip it was snatched off and thrown on stage again, Except it missed and we all groaned cos it slipped down behind the pyro stuff. Till was standing on our side, next to Paul talking while Olli was out and we all yelled at them a pointed. Paul rolled his eyes cos it was 'that damn hat again'. Till got security guy to fetch it and Beth got it back again. THEN during the very last few moments when they were all on stage it was thrown onstage again and Schneider picked it up, looked at it and walked off stage with it!!! So it was gone!! I have no idea if Beth got it back. But the whole thing was bloody amusing and they guys were great to throw it back to order!!!

8) I would've had a great time even if Paul had ignored me all evening. But to have a few fleeting moments of Till's attention, a brief look from Olli, (I can't remember during which song but Paul and him were standing next to each other and Paul leaned over and said something to Olli and then looked towards me and Beth. Olli gave us a good look over and grinned.) made the whole concert a little more memorable.

9) The actual shows were visually stunning as always and quite how they are going top themselves when they tour 'Reise Weiter' I have no idea.

10) My only regret is that they weren't here longer...but I hope very much that the UK fans showed we can appreciate them too and they comer back soon!!

© February 2005 - Minx