Fire and fun with Rammstein

Nothing says “Mother’s Day” quite like a Rammstein concert.

Curiously, there were more than a fair share of matronly types and their silver-haired husbands among the estimated 14,000 strong at the Air Canada Centre on Sunday night, getting all fired up about the industrial grade German sextet that was making its first Toronto appearance in over a decade. And they were excited for good reason: Rammstein lived up to its extravagant reputation and put on one mother of a show, sublimely delivering deadpan theatrics, musical intensity and stunning visuals against a backdrop that was part mad scientist lair, partMetropolis, and employed enough pyro to put Metallica to shame.

Performing with their tongues planted firmly in cheek, the Berlin metallurgists showcased their excellent showmanship from the get-go: with the first blasts of “Rammlied,” guitarists Richard Kruspe and Paul Landers hacked their way through a wall with a pickaxe, while charismatic singer Till Lindemann scythed out his own circular entrance with a laser. Sporting a peculiar getup that included spiked boots, a red rubber butcher’s apron, black latex gloves and feathers sprouting out of his cap, Lindemann opened his mouth to sing — and a light from within illuminated it for the evening’s first impressive effect.

It wasn’t long after another number from Rammstein’s two-year-old album Liebe ist für alle da— the pounding “Bückstabü,” to be precise — that the heat began in earnest; flames erupting from the stage; explosive fireworks triggering more infernos, with Lindemann playing the role of conductor and raising his hand as if summoning them from the depths below. Although Lindemann’s deep, spirited tenor that was at times overwhelmed by the sheer volume of the throbbing electronics, searing guitars and pounding drums, he was always the one to watch: whether he was hunched over, head bobbing as he pounded his fist on his beefy right thigh (the musclebound microphone keeper obviously knows his way around a gym) or sporting a fireworks crossbow, the Rammstein singer was nothing short of riveting.

He also had something of a fun competitive foil in keyboardist Christian “Flake” Lorenz, who sometimes challenged Lindemann with either lousy dancing, “mock” fights or, during a portion of the “Haifisch” arrangement, manned a rubber raft and actually set sail into the mosh pit, held aloft by a sea of willing human hands. His keyboard playing more often than not served as a sonic segue between numbers, made all the more impressive with Lorenz performing many of his musical intricacies while walking in numerous directions on a few multidirectional treadmills.

That’s not to say the remaining Rammstein members were slouches on their instruments, with drummer Christoph Schneider and bass player Ollie Riedel battening down the hatches and keeping the rhythms locked as the band’s anchors. The 18-song set dated back to 1995’sHerzeleid — the album largely responsible for kicking off the Neue Deutsche Härte crossover sound — with “Du Riechst So Gut” — and also generously referenced the remaining five albums, including 1997’s cult fave Sehnsucht and its popular call-and-response number “Du Hast.”

It wasn’t all balls-to-the-wall metal tempered with occasional techno and electronica dance-groove beats and flourishes: there was the intermittent dynamic thrown into the mix, like the unexpected acoustic guitar deployed for the rare soft ballad “Frühling In Paris.” But those moments were rare.

It would be hard to pick just one highlight in a nearly two-hour show that was filled with them, and most involved fire, whether it was Lindemann dragging a gigantic gas station pump onstage for “Benzin,” and promptly setting a “fan” ablaze with his flame-thrower, or donning flame-thrower masks with guitarists Landers and Kruspe for “Feuer Freil,” and shooting 20-foot streams of fire over the audience, or mounting a pink phallus shaped cannon during the sardonic “Pussy” and spewing foam and tickertape all over surprised concertgoers.

It was all done in good fun, and left the audience begging for more. There was also the hope that fans wouldn’t have to await another 10 years before Rammstein returned to these parts. They’d love to rekindle the flame sooner than later.