IT starts with a torch. A single beacon held aloft to signify the entrance of six men who spend the next two hours dominating your senses and redefining the word awesome.
A huge gangway descends over the crowd, enabling the boys from Berlin, bearing their own logo and the flag of St George, to stride confidently to the stage.
There's breathless anticipation as lead singer Till Lindemann counts us down into the head-banging ferocity of opening track Sonne.
From then on it's an almost unbelievable spectacle of music and fire that has made Rammstein the greatest exponents of industrial metal for nearly twenty years.
It's impossible to gauge how much work goes into designing and preparing the pyrotechnical wizardry of this show, but the pay-off is simply superb.
You name it, they've got it – from fireworks and flares to showers of sparks and face-mounted flamethrowers. It's by no means gimmickry or a sideshow to the songs. It's artistic and majestical, creating an atmosphere of burning passion and intensity that wholly enhances the music.
With six albums of classic tunes to plunder, it's a break-neck ride through most of their greatest hits and a showcase for individual and combined musical talent.
Lindemann is an effortlessly powerful vocalist, capable of both subtle phrasing and strong emotion, while behaving like a human sparkler.
Guitarists Richard Kruspe and Paul Landers are the riff-meisters, perfectly complimented by Ollie Riedel on bass, drummer "Doom" Schneider and keyboard maestro "Flake" Lorenz.
For the thousands of delighted fans who certainly didn't mind fudging their way through foreign lyrics, this was a truly incredible and immensely entertaining night.
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