Olympiastadion, Berlin, Germany – July 15, 2023
Tension was high before the much anticipated shows in Rammstein’s home city, Berlin. Excitement was mixed with concern because of pre-announced protests. Though the first of the three “Heimspiel” [home game] concerts showed that neither protests nor pouring rain can stop fans from showing their support for the fiery band.
By Sez, KidArctica, and Admin
Rammstein at Olympiastadion Berlin is always special. Many a fan – some of the authors here included – has dubbed it the most beautiful stadium the band has played in. Opened in 1936, the Olympiastadion was built by Werner March specifically for the Olympic Summer Games the same year. Its timeless architecture has since stood the test of time. While its future was discussed because of the stadium’s legacy from the second world war, it was finally decided to renovate it. Renovations took place from 2000 to 2004 for a total of 242 million Euro, and Olympiastadion was chosen by FIFA as a venue for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Since then it has become the stadium with the highest all-seat capacity in Germany, with 74.475 seats, and it has hosted multiple high-profile events and concerts throughout the years.
However, what stands out when talking about the Rammstein Europe Stadion Tour especially, is that it feels like the stage and the whole show was designed with the Berlin Olympiastadion in mind. The stadium has a big gap at the east side, which is exactly where the stage is placed. This way, the middle stage tower perfectly fills the gap, and the roof almost looks like it is pointing to the stage on both sides. It’s truly a sight to behold. The stage placement within the stadium is pure perfection. The Olympiastadion is also the only place during the tour where the stadium’s own lighting setup is used extensively to support the stage light show. While the stadium lights have also been incorporated in Munich, they were nowhere near as prominent as in Berlin.
The band has taken several photos behind the stage, with the stage as a backdrop, and this year was no exception. Before the show, Christoph Schneider could be spotted in that area through the gaps in the stage, along with tour photographer Jens Koch, taking photos that we can only hope to get to see eventually! Now let’s get into the actual concert report though. First, as always, it’s time for rants about queuing and the entry.
As mentioned before, the Berlin shows are always regarded as something special – after all, Berlin is the band’s home city. Because of this, many fans consider Berlin to be the place where they really want to be in the front row. The fight for good spots in the front is harder than usual. With people lining up at ungodly hours, yet only being assigned queuing numbers in the tens or twenties, it became apparent that people were really willing to put in the work to get that spot they aimed for.
With Berlin, you never truly know what to expect in terms of queuing. We numbered ourselves again, as usual, mostly to organise ourselves within the queue before entry as we weren’t expecting security to go along with the fan-implemented system. Berlin uses a staggered entry system, meaning that people are let into an enclosed waiting area several hours before doors. This allows for tickets to be checked in advance and Feuerzone bracelets to be handed out, which – in theory – should make the actual entry smoother. However, Berlin is notoriously bad about communicating which entrances they are actually using for this procedure.
In 2022, people were initially told that the four double lanes on each side of the Olympic rings would be used for Feuerzone. After queueing on both sides from early morning, many fans were utterly devastated when security told them only shortly before the pre-entry that only the left side would be used for Feuerzone. There were no signs anywhere. This year, we had anticipated this and only lined up on the left side. However, we had no idea how many of the gates there would actually be used to let people into the waiting area. There was also no set time as to when this first entry was supposed to happen, so it came down to “make sure not to be out searching for a supermarket or a toilet some time around noon in case something suddenly happens and you’ll miss it and be screwed”.
A little before noon, security asked queuers to start packing up, and roughly one hour later, at 1 pm, pre-entry started with ticket and ID check. The seven double lanes on the right side of where we waited were opened up, but only four guards were assigned to handing out Feuerzone wristbands. At least one of them looked utterly overwhelmed, unable to do anything for quite a while, and this caused quite a delay as people desperately surrounded the others to try and get their wristband. Some people simply went past them to the stadium gates and only later got their wristbands, which turned out to be the smart thing to do.
Once inside the waiting area, we got informed that we wouldn’t be able to leave the area at all until entry. We thought someone had just pulled a prank on us, but they were actually serious about it. Thankfully, after some very vocal complaining and reasoning, we were allowed to leave the area and re-enter by showing our wristbands, which meant we did not have to pee on the floor. Phew.
Meanwhile, the people in the left side lanes were getting quite upset. Many of them had lined up long before many of those who got in through the right side. Fortunately, security decided to rectify the situation by dividing the waiting area in two with security tape, not allowing anyone to cross it. This meant that when they opened the left side lanes about half an hour later, the people who were first in line there got first in line also at the left side gates to the stadium area. As all the twelve gates would be opened at the same time, the system they used turned out to be quite fair. We will give the organisers credit for their good solution, even though we are pretty sure it was by coincidence, and not by planning.
The wait until the final entry went very smoothly, only the intense heat of one of the hottest days of the year (so far) put everyone’s resilience to the test. The stadium gates were opened shortly before 4 pm, with people being let in a few minutes past 4. Since tickets and IDs had already been checked at the pre-entry, there was only a body check upon entering the stadium grounds – or so we thought. Before you could go to the big stairs that would lead down to the pit, there was an additional set of gates everyone had to pass through, where they suddenly wanted to check the ticket and the ID again, which slowed people down and led to a lot of pushing around these gates.
After getting through, the procedure was much the same as in Munich earlier this year, which meant that people were accumulated at the top of the big stairs leading down to the stadium pit and then slowly walked down with security forming a barrier at the front. We were walked all the way across the length of the stadium, past the General Admission area, until just a few meters short of the Feuerzone gates. There, security scattered and the crowd went into insanity mode, with everyone’s eyes purely set on that barrier line in front of the stage. A few people managed to make it through immediately and what they found when they looked back from front row was a huge blob of people being held back by security at the Feuerzone gates – it almost looked as if they were starting to pile up on each other.
Eventually, security then let the rest of the people in and the crowd finally settled down in front of the stage. Yours truly, the local Blog Crew, managed to secure the aimed for spot in front row and the 3.5 hour wait in the 35°C heat inside of the stadium could begin. Thankfully, attending a Rammstein concert in a German city comes with the added benefit of people walking around Feuerzone selling drinks and ice cream, so we could refresh ourselves somewhat. Security also made sure to provide ample supplies of water for everyone who asked for it – without involving unhygienic buckets to just dip cups in. Nicely done!
During the wait inside the stadium, there is normally a Rammstein playlist going. When Wo bist du?, Stirb nicht vor mir, and Zerstören were played, we and several other front rowers sang so loudly that someone backstage peeped out from Paul’s side to take a video and give us a thumbs up!
Abélard started their usual set at 7:30 pm. Then something unexpected happened. While waiting for the band to begin their set, cheers suddenly erupted in the left first few rows of Feuerzone. As everyone stretched to see what was going on, we realised it was Paul Landers, who apparently had decided to pay front row a visit! Paul walked past the entire barricade, brushing his hands against the hundreds of extended hands of ecstatic fans. Little did we know this wouldn’t be the last time we would see Paul “slummin’ it with the crazy fans in front row” – but we will get to all of that in time, promise!
After that unforeseen, but very much appreciated Paul-encounter, at 8:33 pm, the center screen started rising to the familiar sound of Music for the Royal Fireworks – Rammstein were on! This time, the usual zoom-out from Till Lindemann‘s glowing mouth wasn’t shown. Instead, the screen immediately depicted the singer slowly descending in the elevator. The mood in the stadium was incredibly good, despite the truly terrible heat. The “Heimspiel” could begin.
As the rest of the band appeared on stage, Paul and Schneider could be seen sporting their new alternate outfits. Paul had painted his lower legs in a grey-ish tone to better fit the light colour scheme of the outfit. Schneider had dumped the red shirt underneath his top, probably to the delight to some fans. Instead, he seemed to have tied the upper ends of the neckline together loosely with a string so that the pyjama-esque top wouldn’t slide around too much.
The show itself didn’t hold too many surprises. Flake Lorenz took a small bell and put it on his head during the Puppe intro and Oliver Riedel engaged in another outro dance – it is always nice to see Olli being more active and energetic in a live show!
After Puppe came Angst – and with it a lyric change that truly nobody had seen coming. In the second chorus, Till suddenly changed the line “Alle haben Angst vorm schwarzen Mann” [everyone is afraid of the bogeyman] to “Alle haben Angst vor Lindemann” [everyone is afraid of Lindemann]. No doubt this is a reference to all the allegations and media reports of the last months. It is down to everyone’s personal opinion on whether to see such a change as tasteless or an act of plain self-irony. We definitely think it is the latter.
After the Mein Teil intro, where Paul and Richard Z. Kruspe take center stage together, Paul had some fun playing around with the volume control on Richard’s guitar, distorting the sound slightly and making Richard visibly amused. This time, the two guitarists did not kiss at this point like they did at multiple other concerts before. During the second verse, Paul decided to check if the broth Flake was cooking in was adequately seasoned, so he stuck his finger into it before putting the finger in his mouth to “taste it” afterwards. He seemed to think it was okay-ish at best, so we guess Till needs to brush up on his cooking skills. Before Till began cooking Flake with the first flamethrower, Paul joined Schneider up on the drum podium, where the drummer “sharpened” his drumsticks in preparation for the upcoming pyro madness. Richard joined them both after rocking out with Olli for a bit, and the three performed their Mein Teil dance together, or rather, Paul and Schneider tried to keep up with a very enthusiastic Richard. It has to be noted that Richard has seemed very energetic and in great mood recently, which is really really nice to see.
Some time after the Du hast cannon, Till could be seen with blood running down his chin – real blood. We don’t know the cause for this. Of course, a little blood will never stop Till from performing like nothing ever happened. Madlad.
We promised more of Paul coming down to interact with fans and we shall deliver – Sonne ended, and Paul jumped off the stage to hand out a guitar pick to none other than our very own Admin! Earlier in the show, he had been holding up a sign, wishing for a guitar pick from Paul as a birthday present. Yes, Admin celebrated his birthday that day in front row at a Rammstein show – pretty cool way to spend a birthday, we’d say.
As Engel started, everyone looked up to the sky in awe – the lights beaming up from the B-Stage were full of little sparkles! Many people genuinely wondered if this was a planned part of the show, until they suddenly realised that the “sparkles” ended up as big, fat raindrops on their heads about 10 seconds later. Often times, rain is not particularly welcome at concerts, however you could feel the entire stadium rejoicing as the rain brought some cooling after an insanely hot day. The rain started just before the line “Gott weiß, ich will kein Engel sein” in the second chorus. The timing couldn’t have been better, and the rain truly added to the atmosphere of the whole performance and left people amazed.
Schneider got hold of a crocheted Till doll during the boat ride, which he happily presented to the vocalist when getting off his boat. Richard packed his arms full of inflatable sharks, which apparently scared Till off, as he moved from the boat bridge to the stage before Richard arrived, leaving Richard to climb out of the boat all by himself. Richard proceeded to hand out sharks to Schneider and Flake before happily swinging the last two around, eventually stashing them away by pushing them through his stage entrance where someone surely could make sure they were safe.
After this, it was as if the audience had gotten a motivation boost. It continued raining fairly heavily for quite a while, but the atmosphere in the stadium was fantastic. People were jumping, singing, clapping, and just having an amazing time while being soaked, as did the band. The rain definitely added something to this particular show! Also, the song Rammstein instantly dried most people off again. Benefits of attending a Rammstein show!
After taking the knee for the audience, Till thanked them by saying “Wir sind wieder zuhause. Danke Berlin, dankeschön!” [We are home again. Thank you Berlin, thank you!] And with that, the first “Heimspiel” was done and had certainly made some lasting impressions on everyone who was there.
Before we end this blog post, there is a big sign-carrying elephant in the room that needs to be addressed – the demonstration. On this first of the three concert days, a demonstration against the shows was set to take place with several hundred protesters making their way to Olympiastadion to arrive there at around 4 pm. As we entered the stadium soon after that time, we could not see a lot of what was going on, but we were able to see the group of protesters walking up the long road leading up to the stadium before entry.
It is certainly a weird feeling to go to a Rammstein show when there are people loudly exclaiming how these shows should be cancelled and how nobody should support this band anymore. However, once you are in the stadium, and you slowly see the ranks filling up with people, then you hear the synchronised voices of about 70.000 people chanting the songs you hold so dear, you do realise: there’s so many of us that are here for the band. And there, inside of the stadium, you feel… home.
15.07.2023
- Rammlied
- Links 2-3-4
- Bestrafe mich
- Giftig
- Sehnsucht
- Mein Herz Brennt
- Puppe
- Angst
- Zeit
- Deutschland RMX
- Deutschland
- Radio
- Mein Teil
- Du hast
- Sonne
- Engel
(Piano version with Abélard) - Ausländer
- Du riechst so gut
- Ohne dich
- Rammstein
- Ich will
- Adieu
Admin is the founder and owner of RammWiki. Sez and KidArctica are RammWiki editors who have been part of the website for years, working in the background with edits and content. Fun Fact: Sez has specifically learned the reverse line in Giftig to be able to shout it along live.
Such great photos once again!
Berlin shows were so good! 🖤