Rammstein sold out Madison Square Garden. In 15 minutes. I still find it hard to believe that this actually happened. I suppose it is a testament to the law of “supply and demand” being that it was Rammstein’s 1st U.S. show in 10 years. But still, this is Rammstein we’re talking about, a band that most everyone I knows thinks is a complete joke and/or a bunch of Nazi sympathizers. Well, it happened, and I probably wouldn’t have believed it except for the fact that I was there and saw an arena full of Americans going batshit for Rammstein.
The reasons for the band skipping over the US for so many years is pretty simple. Rammstein’s infamous stage show consists of large quantities of fire, explosions, props, and flaming props that explode. This requires that their shows take place in arenas, stadiums, and similarly sized venues. In Europe, Asia, and South America, this is not a problem, as the band has been selling out arenas in those places for quite some time. Bringing their stage show to America to play for a half empty arena would be a risky proposition, financially. Bringing their stage show to a large theater or club in America would be even riskier, possibly resulting in hundreds of deaths (search Google for “Great White, The Station, fire”).
Most Americans still think of Rammstein as the band responsible for “Du Hast“, the band’s lone hit on these shores in the late 90s. After that time period, America stopped paying attention and a funny thing happened; they got much better. The follow up albums “Mutter” and “Reise Reise” demonstrated much deeper and complex songwriting, as well as illustrating vocalist Til Lindemann’s fluency in languages other than the bands’ native German.
The set was heavy on the bands latest album, “Liebe Ist Fur Alle Da”, but they threw in some older gems. While I would’ve liked to have heard more songs that haven’t yet been played in the US, I’ll take what I can get from these guys. I was also thoroughly amused by the white foam shooting mechanical penis that made an appearance during “Pussy“. The band seemed to have been satisfied with their foray into the American market, as they just announced a US tour set to start in May.
Madison Square Garden Dec 11, 2010
Rammlied
B**********
Weidmann’s Heil
Keine Lust
Weisses Fleisch
Feuer Frei
Weiner Blut
Fruhling in Paris
Ich Tu Dir Weh
Du Riechst So Gut
Benzin
Links 2-3-4
Du Hast
Pussy
Encore 1
Sonne
Haifisch
Ich Will
Encore 2
Engel
Download: Rammstein: Feuer Frei (Live)
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Download: Rammstein: Haifisch (Live)
[jwplayer config=”CustomPlayerAudio” file=”http://thesoundofindie.com/archive/2011/20110223/Rammstein-Haifisch.mp3″]
