Rammstein fires up Metaltown

Today it was enough to fry an egg on the Frihamnen pier. And that’s before you factor in 20 000 of your closest metalheads packed shoulder-to-shoulder, all dressed in black, sweating like kitchen staff at a Saturday lunch rush. Welcome to Metaltown 2010, where the sun wasn’t the only thing radiating heat.

The last year’s edition of Metaltown saw artists such as Marilyn Manson and Slipknot, but I was looking forward to this year, since it was time to finally be welcoming back the German fire brigade known as Rammstein. These aren’t a band so much as a science experiment in pyrotechnics and testosterone.

The last time Rammstein was in Gothenburg was on this very pier back in 2005. Back then, rain hammered the pier so relentlessly it felt like someone had opened the floodgates. Frontman Till Lindemann hurt his knee during the song Amerika, as keyboard player Flake accidentally ran into him while driving a Segway on stage. But neither injury or heavy rainfall could extinguish the fires that night.

Before the main act, the supporting roster played like appetizers at a barbecue joint that forgot the steak. John Garcia dusted off Kyuss classics on the small stage, Dark Tranquillity gave it all they had, and Sabaton tried to ignite the crowd with the enthusiasm of a kid with a sparkler. Cute, but not exactly napalm. Then the sun dipped, and the real fireworks began.

Scorching summer heat. A perfect day for wearing black.

A colossal German flag dropped like a curtain, revealing Till in a butcher’s robe red enough to make a bull blush. The first notes of Rammlied tore through the warm Nordic night, and just like that, the pier was transformed into a ritual. As expected there was a lot of songs from the latest album, Liebe ist für alle da, which unfortunately is not interesting at all.

Halfway through, the setlist veered into the classics. And then, like the best kind of comfort food, they closed with Sonne and Ich Will. Safe? Sure. Predictable? Maybe. Effective? Like a blowtorch to kindling.