Rammstein… to describe what happened when they stepped on stage at the Starplex Pavilion in Dallas, Texas will in no way do the show justice. But, I will give it my best shot for those of you who were unable to see them live on their 4 date tour of the U.S.
Thousands of metal fans came out to see not just a show, but a modern day spectacle that could no doubt compete with the gladiator games of the Roman Empire 2,000 years ago. But this is 2017 and this was a spectacle built of metal that infused enough fire to burn down the entire Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex and gritty German built Industrial metal at a level that can only be described as bewildering. A Rammstein show is metal theater that uses pyro on a level no other band does or has before. That’s my opinion and was the view I had. Our view of the crowd from the pit was a sea of metal heads thrashing out to the one and only (or ever will be)… RAMMSTEIN!
So if you are new to Rammstein, here is a quick Rammstein guide. They are in a class all their own. Formed in 1994 Rammstein has remained the original 6 man arson team from the start. Till Lindemann, lead vocalist has brutal facial expressions to match his equally brutal metal vocals. That is part of what makes the band so awesome to see live.
The rest of the band includes guitarists Richard Z. Kruspe and Paul H. Landers (both entered the stage from the ceiling playing on descending platforms), bassist Oliver “Ollie” Riedel, drummer Christoph “Doom” Schneider and keyboardist Christian “Flake” Lorenz. The guys are no slackers. Using the keyboardist in a few “metalrific” skits during the songs added a splash of comedy to this metal masterpiece that is Rammstein. Rammstein are trailblazers for the European metal scene and they founded a sub-genre within German hard rock and metal that became known as Neue Deutsche Härte.
The only other band on the bill was opening act HELLYEAH. I have seen this band many, many times in a total of 10 different states, and I have always left a bigger fan than I did when I came into the show. Chad Gray, Vinnie Paul and the crew gave a performance that left me with goosebumps and made me appreciate the community that being a metal head is all about. The best part of the show is when he said to Dallas… “Look to the stranger ahead of you, beside you, behind you and give them a high five… shake their hand because we are all here for one reason and that is metal music.” To quote HELLYEAH’s song X from their album “Unden!able”… “We’re built to mosh, we’re built to slam, we’re built to f*cking rage! Born and bred a metalhead and that’s the end of this and if you’ve got a problem, sorry but I don’t give a shit.”
That pretty much sums up what went down in Dallas as we joined 20,000 or so fellow headbangers, all together as one family, for one magical metal fire fueled evening.
