Getting to the gig was no real problem – outside our hotel ran three tram routes – and amazingly enough, one route ran direct to the T-Mobile Arena! The venue is huge – the national ice hockey arena, no less – so by the time we got there most of the 10,000 people were already in there. Support act Exilia (Italian metal, kinda a cross between Tarrie B/My Ruin, Luxt and the Guano Apes in my book) were actually a lot better than they are on record, and seemed to be pretty well known there going on the reaction from the crowd.

Rammstein though were the band everyone was there for, and they really didn’t disappoint. Straight in with Reise, Reise, with Till appearing from behind a sliding door underneath the riser (that went across the entire stage, complete with a lift either side for the guitarists in the main to switch between the two levels). Follow that with Links 2 3 4 and you have one especially bouncy crowd. The set was noticeably skewed toward the last two albums, so some old favourites are missing (for me, Asche zu Asche and Bück dich in particular), but the return of Du Riescht So Gut – complete with longbow and lots of sparks – made up for that. Centrepiece of the set was the quite extraordinary theatre of Mein Teil – comprising Till in a chef’s outfit, complete with knife as a radio mic (!), cooking Flake (who is in a gimp suit) in a gigantic cauldron! Oh, and then he sets the cauldron alight with a flamethrower before Flake escapes and is chased around the stage! Moskau and then Amerika (the latter of which closed the main set) sounded surprisingly weak live, although the confetti cannons at the end of the latter were impressive. Sehnsucht was also kept in the set, and sounded absolutely immense. Normal finish too at the end now, with Stripped and Oliver’s usual dinghy surfing to the back…!