Rammstein @ Manchester apollo 18th May 2002
We arrived late so thankfully I only managed to catch half of the set from Raging Speedhorn. They are a thrash death metal combo in the style of Napalm Death and Entombed, but not as good.. They were good musicians and played a tight set, but it was nothing new, or nothing that hasn,t been done better before. I found them very repetitive after a while and couldn`t wait for then to finish. Neither could the crowd I got the impression that the band also sensed this. One of their singers (or should I call him a grunter) kept antagonizing the crowd by saying "are we annoying you yet", erm yes now sod off! When you announce your last song and most of the audience cheer, it`s not a good sign.
The next band on were American Head Charge, who seemed to have been misinformed about the event and came onstage in fancy dress. Apparently they`re friends with Slipknot, which explains it all. Their music was very similar to Slipknot`s, they had the mike-pattenesque vocal style, with the occasional grunt, completely deranged keyboard players (I don`t think one of their keyboards was plugged in though!), and a naked guitarist. Apparently a key to success as the crowd were going berzerk. But the average mosh pit age was about 16 though. Most of us oldies hid upstairs on the balcony (including me I`m far too old for this bouncing around malarkey).
After being bored to tears by Raging Speedhorn, and mildly amused by American Head Charge my wait was over and Rammstein did not disappoint. They came on with a bang, and managed to scare me half to death. Now I knew about all the prosthetics (which got them banned from playing in the UK a few years ago) but no one warned me about the fire and explosions!
After most of the crowd had recovered from the shock they launched into "Links" and everyone went mad. The show was amazing and I was surprised they managed not to set fire to themselves. I think the award for bravery must go out to the two guitarists who had flaming face masks on.
But I did feel sorry for poor Flake (the keyboard player) who was abused for most of the night. Especially during Bück dich. First he was paraded around in a gimp mask, then spanked and finally abused by a prosthetic penis (I wonder what the application form for his job was like). Which was then turned on the crowd, they didn`t seem to mind it, much :) i think it was ejaculating peach schnapps
They launched into Du Hast which I was looking forward to, and after much crowd bouncynesss, more explosions, fire, and blinding lights the first set was over
For the encore Till came back on in flames with a rather fetching Borg hat : p They then played Sunna, and Stripped during which Oliver did a crowd surf on a dingy! they dropped him the first time, but he did manage to do a circuit of the whole mosh pit, class!. But I did feel sorry for the poor security guards by the end of the night, I felt like I was being baked at the top, they were stuck right by the flames all night, I`m surprised none got singed.
Well that had to be one of the most entertaining gigs I have been to for a long time, I would recommend checking them out next time their touring, even if your not into the music they put on a blinding show, which will scare you half to death, and don`t go at the front of the balcony or mosh pit without asbestos pants, you have been warned :)
Review by Evilgothicpixie