Rammstein at Sonisphere (2010)

If somebody asked me who the best band at Sonisphere 2010 would be, my answer would have come in a heartbeat; Iron Maiden. From being one of my favourites bands to being known for their amazing stage presence and incredible shows, there was surely no way for me to be wrong. At least, that’s what I thought.

The British heavy metal band was certainly not a disappointment, putting on a show that Knebworth would remember for years to come, yet I couldn’t help but feel that they were overshadowed by German metal band, Rammstein, who’d headlined on the same stage just one night earlier.

When I first heard about Rammstein, I simply did not see the attraction; I saw no reason why I would like a heavy metal band whose lyrics I wouldn’t even be able to understand. It wasn’t until only a couple of weeks before the festival that I even bothered to listen to the band at all. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised by the industrial, oddly catchy metal music that poured from the speakers of my laptop.

Still, this did little to hinder Iron Maiden’s chances at being possibly the best concert that I would ever see. It wasn’t until I saw them live that I realised just how amazing Rammstein really is as a band. The chemistry between the members was incredible as they tore through the set list, the audience singing along with them on the more famous of their songs, such as Waidmanns Heil, Rammlied and Sonne. For songs with predominantly German lyrics, the audience did well to sing along to all that they could.

Not only was the musical aspect of the show flawless, but Rammstein did all that they could to make the show as astonishing, which was rather easily done with their 22 tonnes of pyrotechnics that came shooting out of the stage at various points throughout the concert.

As if this weren’t enough, the band’s keyboardist known as ‘Flake’, crowd surfed over thousands of fans in a blow up boat, picking up a union jack along the way, as well as some brave fan who managed to somehow climb onto the boat for only a few moments, before being thrown back off into the sea of people.

Despite some technical problems causing Rammstein’s show to finish rather abruptly and with another half hour to go, there was not one bad word to be said about neither the band nor the show as the horde of people made their way back to the campsite, the show having already hyped them up for the nights events that most would not remember by the time they awoke.