Rammstein play Nottingham Arena

It was a fight between fire and ice as Industrial Metal giants Rammstein rocked Nottingham's Ice Arena to its foundations last night.

The band emerged from an overhead metal walkway spurting smoke and flames and following a flame torch procession through the crowd to get to the stage, you knew this was going to be no ordinary night.

Following the dramatic entrance the spectacles grew even more extravagant through the two hour set. It transcended the dramatic to the bizarre and the downright ridiculous and never failed to entertain.

Pyro like you've never seen before shot forth throughout the show blasting intense heat that could be felt more than 30 feet from the stage, which left many faces on the front rows short of an eyebrow or two.

An early highlight of the show was during Mein Teil when frontman Till Lindeman, dressed as a psychopathic blood-spattered butcher, used a massive flamethrower to shoot and blow up keyboardist Christian "Flake" Lorenz who was bizarrely in a giant metal cauldron.

Flake survived the spectacular explosion and later surfed over the heads of the crowd in a black rubber dinghy making his way from one end of the arena to the other across a sea of hands while guitarists Richard Kruspe and Paul Landers kept it all together back on the main stage.

It's unlikely on paper but all songs being delivered in German and with little to no in-song chat, added to the feel of the night. It was quite a moment when the 10,000 strong arena sang Du Hast word for word and even the band slip out an involuntary smirk as they hear what seems like half of Nottingham roaring back in fluent German.

Part of the show was conducted in the middle of the arena on a smaller raised stage which the band crawled to, whilst chained, whipped and led like dogs.

At one point an eager fan climbed on to the gantry which joins the two stages but was rapidly chased off by security and dived off the top of it into the crowd below gaining a huge roar of approval from his fellow audience members. Shortly after this unexpected incident they played Buck Dich to a spectacle that really needs to be YouTubed to be fully appreciated.

In spite of all of the flamboyance and special effects, Rammstein have the musical back catalogue to support their standing and their thumping, powerful sounds deliver in spades.

The two hour set was perfectly formed and included highlights Mein Hertz Brent, Engel, Amerika, Ich Will and Pussy. The latter made its appearance to end the show and saw Lindeman riding a massive, phallus shaped cannon which ejaculated foam all over the first twenty rows or so of the crowd.

It's unusually hard to sum up a Rammstein show. Even if their brand of music doesn't appeal this band really have to be seen to be believed. Their massive stage production makes Lady Gaga look restrained and they are simply unrivalled in terms of pure entertainment value.

Five stars.