Information
Date: July 3, 2001 and July 4, 2001
City: Las Vegas, NV, USA and Hollywood, CA, USA
Author: RammsteinNicCage
Pictures
Review
The first show I saw was in Las Vegas on July 3rd and the second show was in Hollywood on July 4th. At both shows, we got in line about three hours before the concert was supposed to start. In Vegas, Mikki, Joe, and I were wondering what would be played, what act would accompany those songs, and how different our show would be from the European shows. When the time finally came to let us in, I started getting really giddy. After they searched my bag (thank goodness for hiding places in my dress and for their poor security), I ran in to get a spot in front along the barrier in between Till and Richard so that I could get a good view of Flake. Then Mikki and Joe joined me and we waited for the opening band, Crossbreed, to play. I heard one of their songs already, so I was looking forward to this band. The lights finally dimmed and Crossbreed came on. Their music was really good and the singer was practically in the crowd the entire show. I got to hug him and Mikki tried to tweak his nipple. The crowd was really getting into Crossbreed's music, they were jumping all around and head banging almost like Rammstein were on stage. At the end of their performance at the Hollywood show, the lead singer jumped onto the barrier and had Joe supporting him. When their last song ended, he jumped into the crowd and ended up with his hands around Mikki's waste. I then grabbed a hold of him and pulled him slightly towards me to tell him that "I saw him in Vegas yesterday and that they fucking rocked" and he said thank you. He then yelled back to security that he was going to leave through the audience.
We then waited for Godhead to come on. I heard one of their songs too and I really liked it, so I had high hopes for them as well. Those hopes were dashed after about 20 seconds of hearing them perform. Most of their songs sounded too similar and blended together and there was absolutely no attempt at trying to involve the crowd in anything. I only saw one person even moving to their music. When they finally ended, the crowd was relieved because we didn't have to hear Godhead anymore (although the thought of having to see them again in Hollywood depressed Mikki, Joe, and I) and because Rammstein was next. We looked at all of the "toys" on stage to see if we could figure out what they did. We saw the familiar Asche zu Asche microphone stands, but everything else was new. Under the microphone stands were two clear barrels filled with water and fake body parts which was a very nice touch with the Mutter theme. There was a light above Flake's keyboard that looked like something a doctor or a dentist would have. There was also a ladder that had a black cloth draped over it and a big pipe sticking out of the side of it. I'm still baffled as to what the purpose of that thing was.
Anyway, after chanting "Rammstein! Rammstein! Rammstein!" for awhile, the lights finally dimmed and the crowd roared! The intro, 5/4 started playing. The first person to come out was Flake in a doctor's coat and he took his place behind his keyboard. Mikki, Joe, and I (and a few recruits in Hollywood) were chanting "FLAKE! FLAKE! FLAKE!" whenever he had a chance of hearing us. Then, Christoph came out in a cloth diaper and stumbled towards the ladder prop. He stood underneath it and a puff of smoke came out of it and he jumped backwards. He was then led to his instrument. Then Ollie came out, went to the prop, the smoke came out, and then he was led to his instrument. Then Paul came out, went to the prop, the smoke came out, and he was led to his instrument. In the Hollywood show, before Paul picks up his instrument, he spasms and falls to the ground writhing in front of Ollie. Then Richard came out and did the same as Ollie and Christoph.
After the intro ended, Christoph, Ollie, Richard, and Paul put their regular outfits on and Mein Herz Brennt started. The first few lines were whispered and Till wasn't visible, but when "mit diesem Herz" was sung, the light came on him and the crowd roared again. My favorite song on the album is also my favorite song live. There was a red light on Till's chest that would beat (blink) and then Till makes it look like he's grabbing it and then he raises his right arm and there's a red "heart" in it on fire. LOVED IT!!!
Links 2 3 4 came on next. Till was swinging his arms in beat with the marching sound... he looked kind of maniacal, it was hilarious. Everyone was screaming "YEAH!" right after "Links" was said. The best part of this song was when Richard got on the shoulders of the blonde security guard and was right in front of the crowd while playing a solo. This happened only in Hollywood though.
Then Feuer Frei! came on. This had a great pyro effect during it. Near the end of the song, Till came out with a mask on and everytime he said "bäng bäng" a large flame would shoot from his mouth, very nice. This also only happened in Hollywood.
The next song played was Rein Raus. Other than some pelvic thrusting from Till, this song was uneventful.
Next was Adios, Mikki's favorite. Ollie was playing bass on the right side of the stage and Flake was now on the left side of the stage beating on a drum and back on the right side, Richard's guitar caught on fire!!! There was a "toy" hooked up to the neck of the guitar that had flames on it. And again, this pyro effect was only in Hollywood.
After that came Mutter. Very beautiful song and Till was sucking his thumb like a little lost baby. How cute!
Then came Stripped... you can guess what happened in the crowd during that song. Till started off by sitting on the stage and this was one of the few times that he actually made eye contact with the crowd for an extended period.
After that was Zwitter. At the end of the song, Richard was changing guitars and he made it look like the roadie gave him the wrong guitar so he slammed it into the speaker next to him which then caught on fire. Then another roadie brought the fire extinguisher out... thank you so much for spraying ME with that crap too!
Next was Weißes Fleisch which was the same as it has been in previous tours, except that Flake's dance had changed. It looks like there was more thought and practice put into it... it was great!
Then came Sehnsucht. This was the same as previous times too except at the beginning, there were a few sets of 4 explosions in beat with the song. The great thing about this song though happened in Vegas.... The crowd knew all of the lyrics and were able to keep singing after Till slammed the mic on the ground, but in Hollywood, they didn't know the lyrics very well so it didn't really work out there.
Asche zu Asche, Du hast, and Wollt ihr das Bett in Flamen sehen? were the same as in previous tours except that in du hast, Till didn't throw the mic into the air after the echoing part. Also, Wollt ihr wasn't played in Vegas.
This is when Rammstein left the stage for some time so that we could lose our voices more while chanting "Rammstein! Rammstein! Rammstein!" and "Flake! Flake! Flake!" over and over again waiting for an encore.
When they finally came out, they played the song Rammstein. The act for this show was the same as in previous tours during the Vegas show, but the Hollywood show had a little "scare." First off, the laser wasn't working or wasn't on in his goggles. Then, when he took the coat off, his pants leg caught on fire and the flame was crawling up his leg onto his "delicate area" and then up the rest of his body. He fell, writhing in pain and a roadie came out and smothered him with a blanket. Then Till got up with his face looking scarred from the fire and then he took his mask off and the crowd was relieved that it was just part of the act.
Then the beautiful Sonne came on. I'm not sure why, but they cut out the last verse of the song, that was VERY disappointing. They played the video version with the "Symphony of Sounds" sample in the middle. Sometime during the song when Till sang "Hier kommt die Sonne," four pillars of flame rose up. Another great song!
The next song was Ich Will. Nothing very spectacular during this song either except the sing-a-long parts.
In Vegas, that was the end of the show. In Hollywood though... Flake kept his promise!!!!!!!! He sang Pet Cemetary for us!!!!! Ok, here's the story behind this. After the Vegas show, we headed into the Mandalay Bay hotel/casino where the House of Blues is and looked for a spot to get drinks. We headed for the bar, and Mikki's shoulders were being turned by Joe and she was like, "Stop that!" but as her eyes followed, there's a red haired Flake sitting right in front of us and what do we do? We started yelling "Why didn't you sing, we screamed and screamed for you and you didn't sing." Mikki, Joe, and I were the people chanting/screaming "Flake! Flake! Flake!" every chance we had hoping to encourage him to sing Pet Sematary. I finally realized that we were being extremely rude since Flake was talking with a couple of people (Sorry Flake!!!) and so I led Mikki off. Flake did one of those "grin and nod" things though, so maybe in our half croaking squeaks (from screaming so much) he didn't understand us... new plan, Joe writes a message, auf Deutsch, asking for Flake to sing Pet Sematary in Hollywood. Joe gives it to him and Flake said "Tomorrow? I promise." So, when Pet Sematary started, Mikki and I went completely crazy, grabbed each other's hand, and started jumping for joy and shrieking. We were in complete awe for the next couple of minutes while he was singing, still not believing that he actually kept his promise. When Till came out to sing with Flake, they held the mic out to the crowd during the words "Pet Cemetary." This was my favorite part of the Hollywood show and left me dazed for the rest of the night.
Now for some miscellaneous items.... The audience in Vegas was a lot better than the Hollywood audience. They knew the lyrics to most of the songs and there wasn't much pushing and shoving at all. In Hollywood though, very few people could sing along with all of the songs and my ribcage was bruised all over. I think the reason for the crowd singing more in Vegas is that there were probably more "road-trippers" in the Vegas show and they would probably be more devoted fans.
One problem that I had at the shows was that there was not much eye contact from Till with the crowd, that was kind of disappointing. Ollie made up for it though... he had the BIGGEST smile on his face whenever he came up front from his hiding spot in the back. He looked so happy that it made me happy!
Also, while in the casino, Paul came into the bar area too. Joe and I were off harassing Paul (sorry for interrupting your conversation with that other person too!). Joe got an autograph and I asked to have my picture taken with him. So, Paul gladly stood up (he's soooo nice!) and we posed for the pic, but the flash didn't go off. Paul pointed to the camera and said in a thick accent "No flash" and it sounded so cute! So, Joe was trying to figure out how to work the flash and then I got frustrated and said "oh, for the love of christ!" and started walking towards Joe to turn the flash on when he finally got it himself. I turned around and grinned at Paul who looked a little stunned. This pic is my absolute favorite!
The next day in Hollywood after the concert, I got a picture with the "elusive Ollie" and with Christoph. Christoph was swarmed by about 20 fans all of a sudden and he said "I do not want to sign all dese." I love broken english!!! But, some moron kept calling Christoph, Till. We know who you guys really are!!! Then Flake came out and we thanked him so much for singing Pet Sematary. He said it was "no big deal." We let him know that it WAS a big deal keeping a promise like that. Whenever I tell people this story, before I get up to the part saying that he does sing it, everyone has a look of disappointment on their face because they figured that Flake didn't keep his promise. But he did!!! You're awesome Flake!!! Then, after sitting outside by the tour buses for about three hours, all of the roadies had left and all of the other fans had left except for Joe, Mikki, Rick (who we drove to the Hollywood show), and I, we finally decided at about 3:15am to leave. I got into Mikki's car and was in the process of taking off my boots which add about three inches to my height. I had one of them off and was about to take the second one off when Paul came out of the tour bus and walked over to us, just to talk to US!!! Did I mention that he was soooo nice?????? How likely is it that a rock star would come out to greet fans that have been sitting outside for hours waiting for them? When he saw me, he remembered me from the casino in Vegas, he was like "oh, it's you, what happened to your leg?" I had a massive limp since I only had one boot on, so I put the other one back on so that I didn't look like a complete moron. While I was explaining why I was limping, he said "you sing too much" since my voice was totally shot... I was squeeking like mad! I told him "the lyrics are too good." Then, Paul gave us some autographs and took a few more pictures with us. And I got two more hugs from him!!! Isn't he so damn nice? Well, that's it and I can't wait to see them again!