Rammstein is bringing the love to Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico!
The long wait is over, as the following tour dates are now confirmed:
German industrial metal band Rammstein confirmed they will tear it up in Colombia this year with a show at the Sopo events center just north of Bogota on December 3.
The six-piece "dance metal" group are famed for there over-the-top live acts complete with pyrotechnics, which has lead to fans saying: "other bands play, Rammstein burns."
with six studio and two albums, as well as three DVDs, selling more than twelve million copies, Rammstein have established themselves as one of the most successful, and controversial, metal bands of recent times.
Tickets are COP125,000 and COP250,000 and go on sale from August 7.
Rammstein drummer on the switch to Sonor and Sabian
Rammstein drummer Christoph Schneider has spoken about his switch from Tama to Sonor. In a new interview, the drummer also discussed his move from Meinl to Sabian. You can check out what he had to say below.
He chatted with MusikUniverse.net about overhauling his gear in the last few years, the German band's massive stage show and plans for the next few years.
You can see for yourself what Christoph had to say in the video below (he gets onto drums around the 4:00 mark)
This past Sunday, industrial rock gods Rammstein closed the 2010 edition of Quebec City's Festival D'Ete. The festival sold out for the first time in its 42 years of existence, and it doesn't look like organizers should expect anything different for next year.
Festival D'Ete is truly a world class happening and has become Canada's biggest annual celebration of music.
I took in a few days of the festivities and now believe this event deserves the title of Canada's Best Music Festival.
Here are 10 reasons why:
10. Size Matters
Everything about Festival D'Ete is super sized. For example:
• Their main stage, located on the Plains Of Abraham, is the biggest stage in Canada;
• The crowds are the largest for any Canadian festival, with 2010 audiences reaching 75,000 for Iron Maiden and over 100,000 for Black Eyed Peas;
• The main stage is surrounded with huge digital screens, so there's a perfect view no matter where you're situated on the Plains;
• The festival itself runs for 11 days.
9. Quebec City
For most Canadians, Quebec City is the place you went to on your eighth grade school trip. You got to stay in the Chateau Frontenac and the class bullies all bought knives at the local shops.
Coming back to the city with a slightly more mature perspective is a whole new experience. Quebec City is truly one of Canada's most picturesque places. The buildings and landscape offer a beauty with which no machete collection could ever compete.
8. Walking Distance
All of the festival's venues are within walking distance of each other. The longest stretch between sights is fifteen minutes. It's freakin' glorious to not have to rely on cabs, not to mention the money it saves.
7. Sound Quality
Festival organizers focus a great deal of time and energy on the sound quality of each show. World class engineers and sound systems are used for all outdoor performances.
A testament to their work was having Rammstein perform at this year's festival, as the band are notoriously anal about their live production.
After seeing Linkin Park perform at Festival D'Ete in 2008, Rammstein's management gave the band the thumbs up to come and participate this year.
6. The Locals
It's almost creepy how nice and relaxed everyone in Quebec City was during the festival. That's not just the organizers, but the locals themselves.
Everyone smiles and says hello.
When Iron Maiden finished their set on Friday night, the more than 75,000 in attendance calmly exited the Plains and took to the streets and local bars to continue the celebration. Those French are rather enigmatic.
The lesson:
Montreal Canadians + Playoff Series Win = Downtown riot
Metal shows + 75,000 Quebecers = Fun Friday nights
Conclusion: Music fans are cooler than jocks.
5. Blinking Lights
Each year when festival goers purchase their passes, they're also given a pin with a red blinking light on it. Once the sun goes down on the Plains Of Abraham, the area becomes illuminated with tens of thousands of these blinking lights. It's cooler than a polar bear's toenails.
4. French Accents
French accents are hot whether you're into guys or girls. It doesn't matter what they're saying because everything sounds sexy. "Bonjour! Bienvenue chez Subway." Meow.
3. Beer Drinkin'
Once you purchase a beer in the festival, you are free to drink it anywhere on the grounds. There are no beer gardens. It's open forum and it's god damn amazing.
If you've ever been to a show on Toronto Island and had to wait in a two-hour line just to buy beer tickets so you can go wait in another two hour line just to use said tickets, you will appreciate the freedom of the Festival D'Ete.
Take note, Ontario liquor licensing board: Canadians are capable of drinking responsibly outside of caged areas.
2. Price
Fifty bucks gets you an all-access pass for every show at the festival. That's less than the price of some one-day events.
What's even better is I didn't see one person get turned away from a show. Everyone with a festival pass walked right into the venues.
1. The Bands
A festival is only as good as the artists it showcases. Festival D'Ete brings in acts for all types of music fans.
Throughout the 11 days, the 2010 Edition of Festival D'Ete featured the likes of Arcade Fire, Rammstein, Iron Maiden, Billy Talent, Social Distortion, Rush, Santana and Black Eyed Peas on the main stage.
Venues all over the city hosted more intimate shows with Bedouin Soundclash, Caribou, Besnard Lakes, Born Ruffians, Holy Fuck, Poirier, Great Lake Swimmers, Kid Koala, Woodhands, Passion Pit, Cat Empire, Jill Barber, Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine and GBH.
Quebec's Festival D'Ete 2010 ran from July 8 to 18.
“We’re all like little children,” explains lead guitarist Richard Z Kruspe. “We never really want to grow up and we want to play with a lot of toys.”
Their favourite toy is fire. Lots of bands employ pyros, but nobody does fire like Rammstein. Frontman Till Lindemann is actually a qualified pyrotechnic and if there’s something they can burn while on stage then they’ll torch. Band members breathe fire, fireballs slam into the gantry, guitars throw flames, fireworks are shot from crossbows, and the band, their instruments, the stage and even fans are set alight. At one point keyboardist and regular whipping boy Flake Lorenz is chucked into a giant cooking pot and flame-fried with fireworks. He emerges galvanised and spends the rest of the set playing keyboards while jogging on a treadmill. The apocalypse has never looked so fun.
Rammstein’s outrageous stage show started in part because, in between prowling around stage emitting guttural chants and pounding his thigh like a demented primate, lead singer Till didn’t have a lot to do.
“A factor that came into our world was our singer when we started the band,” explains Richard. “He was not like a real singer that goes [sings] ‘Oh Yeah’ and stuff like that. He was really bored all the time so we used some fire trickery and out of that came the whole thing. It just became bigger and bigger.”
In terms of showmanship, Kiss are a big inspiration for Richard and the rest of Rammstein, but when it comes to an incendiary spectacle, these days Kiss would have trouble emulating the German pyromaniacs rather than the other way round. As Alice in Chains bassist Mike Inez says: “I’ve never seen anything like a Rammstein show in my life. I’ve seen Kiss in their heyday, but I’ve never seen more pyrotechnics on one stage in my life. It is over the top.”
Not that this doesn’t create a pressure of its own.
“Sometimes I wish I could play with bands like Pearl Jam, which have nothing,” says Richard wistfully. “It’s kind of a curse with Rammstein because it’s hard to do less because people are expecting a lot visually. At the end of the day, you are a musician, you want to play music, but you’re carrying the weight of fire and light and stuff and it’s just sometimes really heavy.”
And dangerous. Burned more times than it’s worth cataloguing, by now the band understand the risks, particularly when playing festivals, and can’t deviate too far from the set script they devise at the start of a tour.
“One of the sad things is that we’re pretty much doing the same thing. With all the fire on the stage everything has to be really organised because it is dangerous, especially if you’re playing outside,” says Richard. “First of all fire is uncontrollable and then you have the wind, which can blow in every direction so you have to be careful about where you’re going and where you’re moving.”
The stage show may be regimented, but the consistent controversy the band court ensures Rammstein maintain an air of the chaotic.
Arrests in the US for simulating sodomy on stage, accusations of far-right flirtations, lyrics that address sadomasochism, paedophilia, cannabilism, violent sex and necrophilia, and, of course, the odd explosive accident all contribute to the continuation of the Rammstein myth. In Germany, their latest album was originally only allowed to be sold ‘under the counter’ due to its artwork and subject matter. A recent court victory rectified this, though it’s unclear whether that extends to the limited-edition box set, which comes in a flight case featuring six prosthetic sex aids based on the band members’…well, members.
Amid the shock and the stagecraft it’s sometimes forgotten that the dildo enthusiasts can actually play. Even on the metal circuit it’s difficult to find a tighter band.
“You don’t have to be a super-hero guitar player to play in Rammstein,” says Richard modestly. “I try to make everything as simple as possible. That’s my religion about guitar riffs and guitar playing. It’s more about the tightness in Rammstein. You need to be really tight to play in the band.”
In the end you can write as much as you want about the rib-pounding riffs, the stage-wrecking set and the seamless showmanship, but you won’t be able to properly depict the gig. The only proper way to understand a Rammstein show is to go and feel the fire on your face and experience it live.
Rammstein make their only UK festival appearance of the year at Knebworth on Saturday 31st July. To be part of the live spectacle of the summer
Out front, the blissfully ignorant crowds were either taking shelter from the scorching sun under canvas-covered bar areas or getting down to some French rock n’ roll hardcore courtesy of Headcharger on Stage 2.
“You wanna dance? You gotta pay the f**king band!”, yelled cheeky singer Sebastien Pierre.
Next up Canadian thrashers Annihilator coaxed an impressive crowd out into the sunshine on the main stage with frontman Jeff Waters quickly exclaiming, “Hace mucho, mucho calor!” It was an understatement.
After Coheed And Cambria, Sacramento alt-metalists Deftones drew the biggest crowd so far on the main stage and did not disappoint, with ecstatic moshers defying the heat to form circle pits all the way to the back, while a gathering of rock royalty that included members of Megadeth, Soulfly and Alice In Chains pumped their fists in the air, up on the VIP viewing platform.
Soulfly then took the action up another gear altogether on Stage 2, with an astoundingly powerful set. The Cavalera brothers left the sweaty crowd begging for more, after dropping Sepultura classic Roots Bloody Roots, directing a full-on ‘wall of death’ in the audience and getting Max’s fifteen-year old son Igor up to smash the bejesus out of Joe Nunez’s drum kit for one number.
Reformed grunge legends Alice In Chains then restored a semblance of order on the main stage and, just like Faith No More last night, sounded better than they ever have, even in their heyday. After closing with a spine-tingling Rooster, singer William Duvall led the Spanish throng in a mass football chant of “Ole, ole, ole, ole” in anticipation of tomorrow’s World Cup Final against Holland.
Over on Stage 2, Megadeth thrilled fans with their light-hearted brand of thrash, Dave Mustaine in particularly jovial form, at one point announcing: ”This next song is about getting someone’s head in a vice and crushing it. Obviously it’s called Head-Crusher!”
Meanwhile, an enormous, menacing black curtain had descended over the front of the main stage, blocking from view the construction that was taking place behind it by an army of technicians.
At twenty past midnight on the dot and with no warning, an explosive boom erupted and the curtain fell to the floor, to reveal a German flag, covering the entire expanse of the stage. As primal screams of unadulterated excitement united the swelling crowd, this too fell to the floor to reveal the six members of Rammstein, split over two levels.
And so the greatest festival show of all time ignited once more in a blitz of pyrotechnics and strobe lighting.
If you’ve followed our coverage of this unique band at the most recent Sonispheres or read about their current world tour, you’ll already know about the flamethrowers, the keyboardist who gets cremated in a bath only to become reanimated and consigned to spend the rest of the show on a revolving treadmill, the fan who gets plucked out of the crowd and torched on-stage, the keyboardist – again – who sails out over the audience in a small boat, the big phallus that drenches the front rows in foam, the fire, fire, more fire and did we mention the fire?
We were expecting all that and, yes, it was even more spectacular than we’d imagined. What we hadn’t factored on was the gentle acoustic lullabye in the middle of the set, or that crazy keyboardist again (”Flake” – our new hero) donating his keyboard to the crowd. We were grateful for the handy chat-up line, shared in English during Pussy – “You’ve got a pussy, I have a dick. So what’s the problem, let’s do it quick.”
We’re still trying to rationalise the experience of this show which was like nothing we have ever seen before. Perhaps they will come later, but for now we simply don’t have the words to convey just what an extraordinarily mind-blowing live phenomenon Rammstein are, especially in the festival field.
Miss them at Knebworth at your peril; you will never see another show like it. And so the Sonisphere express rolls on. Next stop: The UK…
Photographer Marc Turner has just published his book LIFAD containing photographs from several concerts during the bands 2009/10 European tour. The 142 page book is available to buy now from blurb.com
