Rammstein starting off concert season Fiery show in the Olympiastadion Berlin
As expected, the recently released, eighth studio album by Rammstein made it to number 1 in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. It is hardly surprising that both Rammstein concerts in the Olympiastadion Berlin, each with 67,000 visitors, were completely sold out.
On Saturday, June 4th, 2022 at 8:30 p.m. the time had finally come: after two postponements due to the pandemic, Rammstein returns to stage in front of their home audience in the Olympiastadion Berlin for the first time since 2019. Drummer Christoph Schneider opens the show with a powerful blow to the floor toms and an accompanying explosion. It’s clear to everyone in the audience: Rammstein is here and Rammstein means business. The show starts off with “Armee der Tristen” from the new album. In general, the show was a balanced mixture of new titles and old classics. Highlighting one song and calling it a “high point” wouldn’t do the whole thing justice. For “Puppe”, lead singer Till Lindemann quickly sets an oversized pram on fire in the middle of the stage, for “Mein Teil” it’s keyboardist Christian “Flake” Lorenz, who is made to sweat by Lindemann (equipped with a flamethrower) and for “Sonne” all four pillars erected in the audience throw flames for the first time. Immediately afterwards, Rammstein prove that they are not restricted to fire. Together with the opening act Duo Jatekok, all six band members – hardly noticed by the audience – stand on a small side stage and perform “Engel”, one of their world-famous songs, solely accompanied by Piano. This does not detract from the atmosphere in the Olympiastadion: the spectators pull out their smartphones, light up their flashlights and join in the. After a total of 21 songs, the Berliners say goodbye to the audience with “Adieu”.
The second show on Sunday, June 5th, 2022 shows no signs of wear and tear: there are bangs and burns, the sound is powerful, the LED lighting in the stadium roof is tuned to the music and the audience goes along for every song.
The band will be touring through Europe until early August before continuing their tour in Canada, the USA and Mexico. In the meantime, British pop-rock band Coldplay will be performing three shows as part of their “Music of the Spheres World Tour” at the Olympiastadion Berlin on July 10th, 12th and 13th, 2022.
Photo: © Marian Margraf