Swedish Demolition Commando

After two fantastic concerts that the blog crew could personally attend, it is now time to hand over the reporting reins again for the next few shows. Starting this serious of guest reports off are Stephen Boyle, who was kind enough to share his experience from the Till Lindemann show in Stockholm, Sweden, as well as guest reporter Therese, who recounts the Malmö concert for us with some additional photos from guest photographer Tina.

Here is what Stephen had to say about the Stockholm show:

It was a very cold evening as I set off for my first Till Lindemann concert in Stockholm; -19 Celsius according to my car temperature gauge, so I was glad the wait outside was short. The venue itself, Hovet, is a good one with a capacity of around 9 000 people. There weren’t many standing in the queue, which was probably due to the cold temperature more than anything else, so getting in and to the front was relatively simple. I positioned myself at guitarist Emily Ruvidich’s side of the stage and waited.

Phantom Vision kicked the whole event off and were received warmly by the crowd, even though their music was new to many, certainly to me. It was enjoyable and their Gothic/Darkwave style sat well with the Stockholm crowd.

Next up was Aesthetic Perfection, who were excellent. Daniel Graves doing an amazing job of pumping the crowd up. Recent posts have hinted that the band are not used to playing in arenas, but that really wasn’t evident as they tore through their set, to the delight of the Stockholm crowd.

Then the wait was over and Till Lindemann took to the stage. The band appeared along the back of the stage, behind the drums. Silhouetted against the video screen as the intro to Zunge started. The band made their way down to the stage with Till taking up the centre and singing the soft intro, then the band exploded into the song in full. The guitar sound was incredible, and Emily Ruvidich flavoured the whole thing with an impressive riff played over the main song. The whole sound was big and heavy, and it was clear the band was fully into their groove as they moved from song to song with ease.

Allesfresser started and it was time for the cakes. I had it on good authority that I may be targeted for a cake, and sure enough, as Emily picked up her second cake she moved right towards my section of the crowd, called my name, and threw the cake. I am grateful for the 2 people who semi shielded me from the full force of the impact, but I did get covered, as did most of the people in front row from other band members, who were having so much fun launching the cakes at people. I was grateful for Blut and the water spray as I was able to use that to get most of the cake remnants off me, even though I was now damp.

The pace slowed for Tanzlehrerin, with Jes Paige accompanying Till and then later joined by Constance Day on keyboard. This is a beautiful song and the lighting around it gave an ethereal feel.

Platz Eins saw Till paraded around the outside of the standing area on a seat, carried by staff with Constance dancing around in front of him as the rest of the band wore flashing glasses and played from the stage. Danny Lohner played a great bass solo from the ego riser to end the song. Fish on was next, which saw Till, Jes, and Constance move around the stage, throwing fish into the crowd. Some people threw them back and they were duly returned to the crowd by the stage crew. Then the fish cannon came out. Jes and Constance loading it up and Till firing it over the heads of the people in front, at one point toying with everyone at the very front by pointing the cannon towards them before firing it high and over their heads again.

Knebel saw a very animated Jes Paige smash the acoustic guitar and hurl it to the side of the stage, rapidly followed by a mic stand. The mic stands were getting plenty of abuse tonight. During Praise Abort, Emily kicked one out of the way so she could get her foot on the monitor to play.

I have had too many concerts in my time, but this one will rank right up there as one of the very best I have ever attended. It was a whole experience visually and auditory as well as physically with the cakes, water and fish that were liberally fired into the crowd. Till’s vocals were on point and the band were super tight together. The guitarists being, for me, the focal point, personal bias aside.