Photos and Review by Robert McDonald
Last Friday, the Rammstein North American Stadium Tour rolled into Foxborough, MA and set Gillette Stadium on fire. Due to the pandemic, the tour originally scheduled for 2020 to promote their 2019 self-titled album was initially postponed to 2021 and then again to 2022. The Foxborough date was the 5th stop and midpoint in the 8-stadium 3 country tour.
The show opened up with the playing of the Music for the Royal Fireworks as a massive screen displaying the band’s logo ascending above the main stage in the darkened stadium. As soon as the display reached its peak the stage was brightly lit and the crowd jumped to their feet cheering. A startling set of loud explosions occurred, followed by a technobeat as the 6 band members individually emerged from the smoke to take the stage. From that moment on, the band unleashed a 2.5 hour spectacle of industrial metal, pyrotechnics, and showmanship into the late summer air.
Rammstein’s music consists of driving bass lines, grinding guitar riffs, and Till Lindemann’s signature vocals. Their 20+ song setlist included “Heirate mich” and “Rammstein”, played live for the first time in 18 and 14 years, respectively.
Rammstein, known for their larger than life stage productions, thrilled the crowd with multiple fire-laden mini skits throughout the night. The first happened when Till pushed a large metal pram out on the stage and donned a live camera over his eye allowing the audience a voyeuristic view of the hideously deformed baby doll inside. During the chorus, the pram erupts in flames while black confetti is showered over the crowd before the flames extinguish and the pram is wheeled off the stage.
The fire and flames appeared multiple times through the night from the 3 towers of the main stage to a large flame thrower vehicle blasting a large cauldron brought to the stage containing Christian “Flake” Lorenz, the band’s keyboard player. During “Rammstein”, the first song of their second encore, Till donned a flame-throwing backpack shooting a 40 foot plume of flames around him while behind him guitarists Paul Landers and Richard Kruspe shot flames from their guitars.
Starting the night as a Rammstein noob, I, like the majority in attendance, didn’t understand any of the German song lyrics, but it turns out I didn’t need to. I found myself compelled by the power of their music and by the end I was blown away by one of the most spectacular shows I had ever experienced and left as a legitimate fan.