Rammstein, Combichrist at Terra Vibe (2010)

Terra Vibe (Malakasa, Greece)

Rammstein, Combichrist

Just a few days after the night that we will be talking about for a […]

By Harry Papadopoulos

• June 28, 2010

Just a few days after the night that we will be talking about for a long time, and I'm talking about Sonisphere Festival, the time has come for another big night. RAMMSTEIN came to Greece for the first time at the peak of their carrier (so far at least). So at around 19:00 o' clock me and my friends arrived at Terra Vibe, grabbed some bottles of water and some beer for me and start looking for a good spot.

At around 20:00 COMBICHRIST came on stage. Just to solve any misunderstandings: Metalheads that don't like electro sounds and beats, please move on to the next paragraph now for your own good. For everyone else, COMBICHRIST, with their EBM with growling vocals and two drummers, well to be exact one drummer and one with percussion in front of him, tried to warm up the crowd. They did it as far as the industrial fans were concerned, and some others like me that for a reason beyond logic liked their music, but for the metalheads those 40 minutes was like hell. Their set was very small, with only five, if I remember correctly, songs. They played their big hits "Let Your Body Beat" and "Blut Royale" and they closed their small set with "What The Fuck Is Wrong With You?". It was a good appearance, though I prefer them in a small dark club and not in an open field with the sun still above us. Oh, and I was waiting to play "Sex, Drogen Und Industrial". Never mind…

Time was quarter to nine, and we knew that we will be waiting for about 45 minutes to watch RAMMSTEIN for the first time in Greece. So, we took the good spot to watch the gig – beer kiosk and back route a lot of times.But even though the sextet is always on time, here in Greece the usual delay made an appearance. Time was passing by, but all we could see was a tent in front of the scene. Almost 12,000 fans were starting being inpatient, having all the right at their side. But at around 22:00 everybody forgot everything. For an hour and a half the fans of RAMMSTEIN, and not those trendy boys and girls that came because they only know "Du Hast", were in ecstasy. First track was "Rammlied" where Till Lindemann came on stage wearing a red dress, if I saw well through the smoke. Without a break they continued with "B*******". Everybody had his spot and followed the choreography. Things were happening too fast on stage, with all the fireworks and flames so I can't remember if Till gave a "lava bath" to Flake before or after "Keine Lust", one of my favorite songs. The highlights of that night were when the two guitarists were spiting flames during playing "Feuer Frei" and when Till set on fire a "fan" who showed up on stage during "Benzin". It's worth to mention that Flake jumped on inflatable boat over the crowd and that during "Pussy" Till sang the chorus in Greek while throwing foam on the crowd with a peculiar shaped cannon!

Here I'd like to say one or two things about the "fans" that came to Terra Vibe. Unfortunately, since this was not the first time I'm seeing something like that, the crowd was leisured. There were times, when I went a bit to the back, that I was the only one singing, headbanging and "living" the gig. Excuses like "The band didn't come close to their fans" or "With this kind of a show someone needs a bit of time to get in it" don't have any place. You were watching a huge band. You have to be more active than just standing there and mumbling just the lyrics of "Du Hast", "Sonne" (second beloved song) or "Pussy". RAMMSTEIN were never a band that will come close to the fans. And just that Till said "Hands in the air" in Greek was something I couldn't even think about.

Of course there were some songs that shined with their absence like "Engel", "Weißes Fleisch ", "Reise, Reise" or "Amerika", but we just can't have everything. This hour and a half passed so fast that we all thought it lasted only for 10-15 minutes. For the Greek standards and for all of us watching them for the first time, it was a great live performance. For those that saw them outside Greece, it wasn't bad but it wasn't as good as in other countries. And with the first tickets at 35€, I was expecting more people. So, it was time to get back home, with a big smile in our faces and with the hope that we will see them again soon under the melody of "Sonne" in a "sirtaki" (Greek traditional music) cover! I really have to find that in audio!

RAMMSTEIN setlist: