Brixton - Thursday 3rd February 2005
reviewed by Prodigal
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The first thing that shocked me was the queue....it started at the front entrance & went the entire way around the building block...incredible!! Still, it only took 40 minutes or so to get in as we arrived at the time the doors were opening. Only had to put up with one mad Rasta preaching the evils of Statan, etc....yawn!! There was the usual scrum at the merchandise stall...usual rip-off prices such as £22 for a tour t-shirt & £45 for a hoodie. They looked so bloody cool that I had to get a t-shirt...my wallet has only just recovered!
Onto the music. First up was a band from Finland called Apocolyptica...which consisted of 3 blokes playing cello's & a drummer!!! Not very promising I thought, but as it turned out...they were suprisingly effective. They covered several Metallica tracks (One, Seek & Destroy, Blackened) with a couple of their own compositions and The Hall Of The Mountain King!! Very skillful stuff - they made the cellos sound like guitars on overdrive. Cool - worth checking out!
The main event....
Managed to find a good spot about ten feet in front of the mixing desk toward the left hand side of the stage...just aswell we weren't too close - as I'll explain later!
There was a massive black curtain hanging down in front of their stage set....then a 5 minute selection of industrial sounding instrumentals got the crowd - & me! - going potty. Then bright blue back lights light up the silhouettes of the band in position - so bloody cool! Then 7 stage hands come on...inspected the state of the crowd & then pulled down the curtain & the massive Reise, Reise kicked in....Brilliant industrial stage set, with the drummer high up in the middle & the guitarists on elavated platforms that slowly lowered onto the stage several times during the show. Well, what can one say about this show?? It was absolutely stunning.
Everything from the incredible pyrotechnics, lighting, fireworks, flaming arrows, double-barreled hand held flame throwers!! They even had face masks that had flame throwers attached for "Feuer Frei". When these things let rip, the heat was incredible from where we were...it must have been an inferno on stage....
But all these effects would be for nothing if the music & performance wasn't up to scrathch....These guys can REALLY play & put on a great show as well. Till Linderman is such a cool frontman & fantastic singer - he hardly said a word to the audience, but because of his massive stage presence & brilliant showmanship...but he didn't need to say a word. The audience were in the palm of his hand all night, especially during Mein Teil (My Part) when he was dressed as a Chef - covered in human blood, with a microphone shaped like a meat cleaver. He then proceeded to try & cook the keyboard player in a giant pot with a flame thrower!!! Amazing stuff.....
The setlist (see below) was excellent, with a good mixture of old & new. Highlights are hard to pick out because every track had it's brilliance...but if pushed I say these:
1) Mein Teil - for the above mentioned stuff & a brilliantly creepy vocal performance from Till.
2) Du riechst so git - REALLY love this track...the sublime guitar duet between Richard & Paul was wonderfully done...they had minuture fireworks attached to arm bands...the stage lights went down & they stood together - the lovely blue firework display from their arms whilst they were playing looked beautiful.
3) Du Hast - Stunning powerful version of one of their best known tracks...with some suitable pyrotecnics!
4) Los - Wonderful track...a tiny drum kit was set up on stage for Chrstophe, & this lovely acoustic track had the place rockin'. All the band on stage together & NO pyrotechnics at all...just to show this band are supreme musicians....as well as great showmen. It also showed what a fruitcake & decent dancer(!) the kyboard player is. He has an appropriate nickname:Flake..to right! They ended this track with a blistering electric guitar version, which was stunning in it's simplicity & power.
5) Amerika - what can I say? Apart from gobsmackingly (mmm nice word that!) brilliant....The crowd were going really potty at this stage & the stage effects for this had thousands upon thousands of coloured (red, white & blue of course!) tissue paper sprayed into the air - & all over the audience!! Don't think George Bush or his poodle Tony Blair would like it though!
6) Rammstein - Very powerful title track performed with Till wearing 2 strap-on flame throwers...everyone in the front rows of the audience were praying that he remembered to point them upward when he let rip with them...thankfully he did 'cos they were bloody hot!
7) Stripped - The first time I have seen a Dinghy crowd surf! Yep, the bass player (Oliver Riedel) got in a rubber dinghy & travelled toward the mixing desk & returned - even "capsizing" a couple of times - ouch!
Summary:
Like I said in my review of the album Reise, Reise it really does not matter that most of the stuff here is in German. This is absolutely stunning & powerful HEAVY METAL performed by a fantastically talented group of musicians. At the end of the day, that is what us metal fans want. This is showmanship & musical skill of the VERY highest order.
In my view there won't be a better live show than this all year....& that includes anything by Maiden (I never, ever thought I would see a band that equalled Maiden for musical skill & exceed them as far as showmanship in the live arena is concerned!)
19 tracks, 2 encores & nearly 2 hours later...an exhausted, but very happy Prodigal gives his star rating as : 11/10
Setlist:
1) Reise, Reise (Arise, Arise)
2) Links 234 (Left 234)
3) Keine Lust (Don't Feel Like It)
4) Feuer Frei! (Fire At Will!)
5) Rein Raus (In, Out)
6) Morgenstern (Morning Star)
7) Mein Teil (My Part)
8) Stein um Stein (Stone By Stone)
9) Los (Less)
10) Moskau (Moscow)
11) Du Riechst so gut (You Smell So Good)
12) Du hast (You Have/You Hate)
13) Sehnsucht (Longing)
14) Amerika (America)
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15) Rammstein
16) Sonne (Sun)
17) Ich will (I Want)
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18) Ohne dich (Without You)
19) Stripped - sung in English 'cos it's a Depeche Mode song!!!
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