In the hours leading up to the kickoff of Rammstein’s North American stadium tour in Montreal, Canada on Sunday (August 21st), a severe thunderstorm warning was issued for the city and surrounding area.
The threat of heavy rains, potentially dangerous gusts of wind, oversized hail, intense lightning and pounding thunder were forecast throughout the day. And while there were flashes and bursts of all these elements throughout the afternoon, the weather report had it wrong. It was not the Earth’s atmosphere that was about to deliver on this powerful barometric disturbance. It was the German industrial-metal icons.
It’s not hard to imagine that their impending 2-million-watt assault on Montreal’s Parc Jean Drapeau and its home on St. Helen’s Island was about to cause such a seismic ripple across the city that it could be detected by radar. After all, Rammstein’s stadium spectacle (tickets available here), with its 200-foot-wide, 120-foot-tall, 300-ton fire-breathing stage, has been leveling venues and pummeling the band’s fanatical following across Europe since 2019.
Interrupted by the pandemic, the group and their Ramm-stage (seriously, this thing needs a name) returned to the road this spring for the second leg of their European tour. Finally — two years plus a day since their originally scheduled August 2020 arrival in Montreal — Rammstein’s deluge of sounds, stage antics and stadium spectacle on a scale never before attempted stormed the continent with the first of 12 North American concerts scheduled between now and October.
And frankly, no place deserved the honor of hosting this breaking of new ground than Montreal, Quebec, a historically metal-centric market with a reputation for helping break careers for American and European metal acts throughout the decades. Quebec immediately embraced Rammstein upon their mid-’90s emergence. The German act reciprocated, visiting as frequently as their overseas tour schedule permitted.
Gifting Montreal with the first-ever North American stadium tour show in all its glory was both a classy move and a savvy business decision. Competition for the entertainment dollar pulls music fans in as many directions as our attention spans. That goes double for a summer festival season programmed to feed our appetite for live music starved by over two years of social distancing and disappointments.
In Montreal alone, three consecutive weekends hosted three distinct music mega-festivals — including the internationally renowned Osheaga — at the same outdoor venue where Rammstein performed Sunday. And this can’t be overstated: as incredible as this summer’s festival lineups were, Rammstein indisputably stole the show, earning every single penny the audience invested to be a part of the band’s immersive experience.
The rains fell, the sky cleared, and by 6:30 p.m., Parc Jean Drapeau was swarming with tens of thousands of people ready for action. Dozens of beer tents surrounded the site, and at least six huge merch tents were set up to serve eager souvenir hunters lined up in numbers not seen even during the most alarming heights of pandemic toilet paper panic.
Just after 7:00 p.m., frequent collaborators and tour regulars Duo Játékok, performing on a small elevated stage in the center of the crowd, began to set a mood. The talented Parisian pianists are very clearly tasked to create calm before the blitzkrieg.
Their hour-long set of classical music built momentum while also taming an audience that was taking full advantage of the strategically positioned bars surrounding the grounds on a humid, post-rain evening. Duo Játékok was not only an entirely entertaining and unique opener, perfect to offset the impending decibel assault, but also a well-calculated risk management asset.
The towering stage itself is an imposing feature, a marvel of design that invites imaginative wonder by its mere presence. What is this thing capable of once fired up? In a sense, it opens for itself. Backdropped against the cityscape of Montreal’s urban skyline across the St. Lawrence river, it evokes imagery of German industrialism and the dystopian aesthetic of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis.
There is nothing nuanced about it, whatsoever. This will also prove to be true for Rammstein.
At this point, I’ll dip into the first person for a moment: I’ve never seen this band live and am only aware of them as a phenomenon, appreciating them from afar, albeit since their earliest days. I came here to see what this tour was about, and what happens at a show on a stage that requires nearly 300 touring crew members four days to assemble. I came to observe and experience what millions and millions of people swear by.
Anything a review of this show can reveal is, for all intents and purposes, a spoiler. It begins with Handel’s suite “Music for the Royal Fireworks” as frontman Till Lindeman emerges. The digitized Rammstein logo rises up the screen at the center tier of the stage. The enormous, satellite-like woofers crowning the self-congratulating rostrum of rock ‘n’ roll light up. Drummer Christoph Schneider takes his place.
Then, a warning shot. The first explosion of the night jump-scares 42,000 awed spectators. And Rammstein are before thee.
Initially, the decibel level is imposing. Soon it will seem to become balanced. But truly, it’s akin to seeing an airplane in the sky. You know it’s flying at tremendous speed but it appears to be floating by at an almost casual pace. It’s all about perspective. And before that aural perspective is lost in the fury of riffs, drums, synths, pyro, props and showmanship Rammstein will unbox, making it look effortless, it’s impossible to ignore that this sudden immersion into the sheer volume is beyond loud. It’s roaring.
As the proceedings took further flight, crowd anticipation morphed into a stunned, collective excitement as the metal deities on stage came to life. Each member of Rammstein plays their individual role in parallel time, visually and symphonically, as part of the greater whole. Their gravitas is concrete. The foundry that they’ve built for this tour can only fulfill its pillared output of flames, smoke, and voltage with these seasoned steel workers forging their wares.
Over the course of over two hours, there are times when the only grounding reminder that this is indeed a concert and not just a barrage of delicious sensory overload comes from the piercing guitars of Richard Kruspe and Paul Landers. The only thing transcending the high-concept entertainment package that Rammstein has designed and deployed is the pride they clearly take in its execution. This project is an oeuvre in every sense and the band is beyond dedicated to stamping every moment with excellence.
As mentioned, any attempt to dissect the unfolding of the entire affair veers into spoiler territory. Calling this Rammstein tour cinematic may sound like an easy way out. Maybe. But when all is said and done, there is quite literally a credit roll down the center screen. So I’ll let the spectator be the judge.
And it’s impossible to look away from what takes place at this concert. And even if you tried, the experience is so completely immersive that just being a member of the audience takes on a participatory consciousness of its own. Throughout the show, there is an overwhelming sense of communal joy. When it’s all over, that joy lingers.
As the Rammstein North American stadium tour continues across the US and to Mexico City, live music fans who enjoy having the boundaries of their expectations expanded would do well to make sure they don’t miss what will quite possibly be a once-in-a-lifetime concert experience and most definitely be an everlasting memory.
Tickets for the remaining dates on Rammstein’s North American tour are available via Ticketmaster, with more information at the band’s official website. See our photos of the Montreal show below, followed by the setlist.
Photo Gallery – Rammstein’s North American kickoff show in Montreal (click to enlarge and scroll through):
All photos by Eric Brisson (@sakuhabs).
Setlist:
Armee der Tristen
Zick Zack
Links 2-3-4
Sehnsucht
Zeig dich
Mein Herz brennt
Puppe
Zeit
Heirate mich
Deutschland
Radio
Mein Teil
Du hast
Sonne
Encore:
Engel (with Duo Abélard – Piano-Version)
Ausländer
Du riechst so gut
Pussy
Encore 2:
Rammstein
Ich will
Adieu
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Tagged: Alternative Music, Concert Photography, Concert Reviews, FEATURES, Hard Rock, Heavy Consequence, Heavy Metal, In Photos, Industrial Metal, music, music blog, Reviews