Rammstein 2019 in Bern: When even Francine Jordi goes to see brutal rockers

On June 5th, Rammstein gave the fourth concert of their European tour in the sold-out Stade de Suisse in Bern and once again offered their fans a huge spectacle. Provocation is as much a part of Rammstein as the rolling R and this time too there was no skimpy on pyro, fire and other impressive shows. Everything was perfectly styled, somehow slick and the unexpected celebrity visit also went with it. Have Germany's bad boys gone soft?

Rammstein are not just brutal - provocative is extremely successful and you can earn a lot of money with it. But what makes the scandalous musicians, who made it to number 14 in 1 countries with their new record, so successful? Already when choosing their band name, Rammstein showed their penchant for the tasteless. The band was formed in Berlin in 1994 and named itself after Ramstein Air Base. The US military airfield became notorious in August 1988 when three jets collided at an air show and 70 people died. In 2004, Rammstein sang about the horrendous deeds of Armin Meiwes, the "Cannibal of Rotenburg" in the song "Mein Teil". The video for the song "Pussy" was shot in a Berlin brothel in 2009 and shows the band members and their body doubles having sex. To date, the full-length clip can only be seen on porn sites.

Rammstein Sonne Bern 2019

Frontman Till Lindemann's (56) rolling R caused early Nazi allegations that peaked in 1998. At that time, the band used Nazi propaganda recordings by Leni Riefenstahl in the music video for «Stripped», so the song was boycotted by the music stations and not played. A few weeks ago, the rockers caused outrage again because the clip for the single "Germany" shows the musicians as concentration camp prisoners. Rammstein themselves distance themselves from fascist ideas. Till Lindemann was a successful swimmer in his youth in the former GDR. At the Junior European Championships in 1978 he finished seventh and should have taken part in the Olympic Games two years later. However, since he had secretly snuck out of the hotel at the European Championships in Rome, he was not allowed to take part in the Olympics. Lindemann's father was the well-known GDR poet Werner Lindemann (1926-1993).

The reason for the group's success is not just their music, but also their spectacular stage show. Rammstein concerts are a real firework of pyrotechnics, for which singer Till Lindemann is personally responsible, because he has been a trained pyrotechnician since 1996. Lindemann & Co. travel through Europe with a huge entourage. 74 trucks, a whole truck for pyros alone, two for catering - and the tough guys even have their own cooks with them. Rammstein is one of Germany's most successful cultural exports. By the beginning of 2018, the band's 20 million records were sold over the counter. But what can you expect from a Rammstein concert? In short, spectacle, scandal, joke, fire and above all noise! Probably the most successful German rock band offers what you would expect from them in the Stade de Suisse. Sometimes you don't even feel the speed at full throttle and the joke falls by the wayside this year.

Rammstein you smell so good Bern 2019

Incidentally, the price for the personalized tickets, which were used to pull the teeth out of the black market, was queuing for hours around the Stade de Suisse. Those who had to wait didn't miss anything in the opening act, because the pianist duo Jatekok from France came first to get the audience in the mood. The classical pianists Adélaïde Panaget and Naïri Badal played pieces from the album "Rammstein - XXI - Piano". However, my face almost fell asleep, the two are good, but unfortunately to yawn! At 20.15 p.m. sharp it started with a violent bang, dark wafts of fog moved over Bern's Stade de Suisse and there they are: frontman Till Lindemann in a silver outfit, keyboardist Christian Lorenz in glittering gold, drummer Christoph Schneider shirtless nor the guitarists Paul Landers, Oliver Riedel and Richard Kruspe. Right from the first song there was a fire show that has rarely been seen before - and yet die-hard Rammstein fans are used to more. The concert began in front of almost 44 fans with the track "What I love" from the new album. Unfortunately, the bass was so heavy that one's beer mug turned in one's hand.

What the band produces penetrates marrow and bone. The body vibrates and you even notice your inner organs, because they also vibrate to the beat. In addition fog, spotlights and fire again and again distributed on the stage and in the Stade. Pillars of fire that spray up perfectly to the rhythm, designed and controlled so precisely that they appear like beautiful sculptures that are gone in less than a second. In the usual martial way it continues with "Left, 2, 3, 4". Another quite musical, even poppy song. It takes more than 15 minutes until the next time it rumbles, thunders and smokes. That may seem short, but by Rammstein's standards, this can almost be interpreted as a ceasefire. A first real highlight is "Show yourself", in which the abuse in the church is accused and Till sends an angry "Show yourself" to heaven to call the God in whose name all this is happening. If he happened to be just above the Bern region, he should have heard it, because it was loud and pretty hot. Anyway, he didn't answer.

RAMMSTEIN - Ich Will @ Bern 05.06.2019/XNUMX/XNUMX live

“Germany”, which elaborately depicts 2000 years of German (war) history in the video version, is staged rather simply here on the darkened stage. The band members wear light-up costumes that make them look like stick figures. In the song "Puppe", where it says: "Then I'll rip off the doll's head", Lindemann shoots a giant pram with a flamethrower and sets it on fire. In "Mein Teil" Christian Lorenz sits in a soup pot and is literally being cooked there. The song "Diamant" is sung without any lights, crackers, fire or other effects. With "Ohne dich" tens of thousands of lighters shine in the arena, they were given to every visitor upon entry. At some point, the band members bow to the audience. But that can't be the end, can it?! It isn't. After a few minutes, the six band members, along with the Jatekok duo, emerge on a raised platform in the middle of the stadium and play together "Engel", the band's first commercial hit in 1997. Then the musicians climb into inflatable boats one by one, one for each and are carried back to the stage on hands by the audience. The encores make up a significant portion of the show before Lindemann blasts bubbles at the audience with a cannon and the band members ride upstairs in an elevator. Then another bang. After two and a half hours the show is clearly over.

Unfortunately, many of the powerfully ejected sounds fizzled out somewhere in the stadium. It was cheered on vigorously, but the flames still don't really want to blaze. Rammstein's works, while not very different stylistically, contain captivating melodies and harmonies that go to the heart. But somehow these did not reach the audience on Wednesday evening. Rammstein's works are often epic in size. The themes they set depict life as it is, even if the dark and disturbing comes to the fore far more clearly here than in other bands of the so-called "New German Hardness". The band plays with clichés, presents them to the audience, are sometimes misunderstood, stimulate debate - and please or displease on different levels. stop art. Rammstein have actually become a huge art performance – which has long since only been able to shock fundamentalist Christians and allotment gardeners with sticks up their asses, serves the mainstream for amusement, so that even a Francine Jordi was able to shine with presence. Somehow you sometimes missed the humor and the joke of the six musicians, which you often felt under their costumes in the past. Was it good? Yes. Wars sustainable? No. Does that matter?

Rammstein Rammstein Bern 2019

setlist

1. What I love
2. Left 2-3-4
3. Tattoo
4. Sehnsucht
5. Show yourself
6. Mein herz brennt
7. Doll
8. Marry me
9. Diamond
10. Germany (Remix by Richard Z. Kruspe)
11. Germany
12. Radio
13. My part
14. You have
15. Sun
16. Ohne dich

B-stage

17. Engel (Scala & Kolacny Brothers)

Encore

18. Foreigners
19. You smell so good
20. Pussy

Encore 2

21. Rammstein
22. I want

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Rammstein live from Bern 2019