Original Portuguese version at Backstage Forum.

RAMMSTEIN let their Portuguese fans down last year when they didn’t include our country in the first leg of the “Made In Germany” tour. But they’ve already been forgiven by whoever was at Pavilhão Atlântico this tuesday, experiencing one of the first shows of the fourth leg, “Wir halten das Tempo”, although the setlist was two songs shorter.

Joe Letz, drummer in COMBICHRIST and DJ in his free time, was the artist in charge of the warming up. Literally, as Letz‘s set was totally composed by RAMMSTEIN remixed tracks, becoming a kind of introduction for the German band gig. Also the giant screen in the background played images of several RAMMSTEIN videos, full of effects, while Pavilhão Atlântico turned into a rave – entitled to red glowsticks and everything, courtesy of Letz himself.

“I suck, uh?”, he asked at a given moment, inticing the crowd then to scream “fuck the DJ” over and over. They did so, but out of obedience, because the general reaction to his performance was being more than positive since the beginning. Just like when he said “just a few minutes more and then you’ll see your favorite band” the strong applause that was heard was related to the “favorite band” part and not because Letz was about to leave.

www.joeletz.com

A thick white smoke emerged from the stage even before the curtains were up, announcing the so-awaited gig, which began with “Ich tu dir Weh” – fireworks exploding at every drum beat of its intro. Till Lindemann, wrapped in a pink feather jacket, would come down in a platform, this also spilling a rain of fire.

For more than one hour and a half, in a full pyrotechnic and theatral show that made them famous, RAMMSTEIN introduced an 18-track best-of that delighted one of the most diversed crowds, both in styles and generations, that I’ve ever seen.

The mikes on fire of guitarists Paul Landers and Richard Kruspe during “Asche zu Asche”; the masks that Paul, Richard and Till wear close to the end of “Feuer frei!” in order to simulate they were spitting fire at each “bang bang”; the big pot where Till, dressed as a chef, cooks keyboard player Flake Lorenz in “Mein Teil” (remember that the song is inspired in cannibal Armin Meiwes); the piano version of “Mein Herz brennt”, just like the single from December 2012; the roadie that Till sets on fire in “Benzin”; drummer Doom Schneider commanding/orchestrating the march in the beginning of “Links 2-3-4”; the “weapon” with which Till fires four incandescent projectiles, that like a boomerang turn around, back to the stage, when they are halfway of the venue, ending in an explosion of fireworks just above the band during “Du hast”; Flake and Till elevated in a platform, where the singer pretends to sodomize the keyboard player in “Bück dich”; and the feeling with which all of them perform “Ohne dich”, saying goodbye to audience afterwards with bows and hands in fists over their hearts. A list of facts that no matter how many more details I add, I’ll never be able to make them justice.

It didn’t take them long to come back for the encore, where they played “Sonne”, “Ich will” and “Pussy” – in the latter Flake came to the front with the keyboard in his hands and Till showered the audience with foam from a pale-pink cannon, faking exactly what you’re thinking.

In the end, while Flake, back in the background, slowly played the last chords of “Pussy”, in a kind of farewell mode, the rest of the band got on their knees to say thank you. During the show, Till had asked the crowd to raise their hands in a mix of Portuguese and Spanish (“levantem as manos”) and I almost expected him to say “gracias”, but no: “We love you. Thank you. Obrigado“. As for the crowd, knowing German or not, the truth is that they sang along through and through, in another unforgettable concert – just like all the others that RAMMSTEIN performed in Lusitanian territory.

www.rammstein.de