Rammstein

Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia, PA

August 31, 2022

I have been aware of Rammstein for a long time, possibly from 1998, when the band was banned in Worcester, and Till Lindemann and Christian “Flake” Lorenz spent a night in jail. I suspect that event may have put them on my radar as a bad boy metal band, as it certainly would have been news in puritan New England. (Check out stories by Revolver Magazine and the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.)

I bought Metal Hammer’s March 2019 issue for a story on Within Temptation. The issue featured Rammstein on the cover, and I read every word of that story. Something about them resonated with me. Maybe I understood them as committed artists who were uncowed by critics and unintimidated by authority, or maybe it was simply because they knew how to play with fire. If they toured anywhere nearby, I was going to be there.

New Year’s Day 2020 drew to a close, and my daughter and I wanted to make 2020 as great a year musically as 2019 had been. Scrolling through Ticketmaster looking for shows, we found Rammstein’s North American Tour. Knowing it would be a flaming good spectacle, and having been severely let down by our Iron Maiden nose-bleed seats located so far to the side that we could see nothing of the action on the stage, we bought the best center seats we could afford, and my son-in-law agreed to join us.

Then in March, pandemic.

Rammstein’s tour was postponed, and postponed, and postponed. But now, at last, three years later, here we are!

On Wednesday night, I was expecting spectacle. But this spectacle was far beyond anything I have ever witnessed in my life. It was performance art—breathtaking—quite literally. At points, I sat there transfixed in my seat, holding my breath in anticipation of what could possibly come next. The music pounded, pummeled, rumbled, and skewered us. Till’s sonorous vocals ranged from throaty whispers to screaming rage. And the fire! Did I mention there was fire? Incredible pyrotechnics toasted us even up in our aerie seats.

Here are a few of my pictures. You can find more by Bill Raymond/Digital Noise Mag here. The setlist is here, and Kerrang! has an article discussing Rammstein’s 20 greatest songs, many of which were included in the show.