Rammstein: Paris

Therapy Germany. Slavoj Žižek says that one of the main reasons for Rammstein's mass popularity is their übermensch stylization, strong gestures, firm step, combined with their constant undermining of these very elements. They allow us to fall back after a long time into a form of expression, which at any time before had quite problematic connotations in connection with the rise and stylization of Nazism, yet the passion to succumb to it is somehow a subconscious part of every human being. Rammstein have given people the opportunity to indulge in it again, but without those problematic connotations, although the band has never resisted any controversy; on the contrary, they have benefited from it throughout their existence. Thus, Rammstein concerts are perhaps the only ones nowadays that can exploit the monumental potential of the ten-thousand-capacity stadium arenas in which they perform, because the mass of fans is part of the whole concept. Concert footage thus mostly sensibly avoids shots of individual attendees, but captures them as a noisy amorphous mass, obediently repeating the gestures the band wants them to make. It works equally well with the arena space, which for a very long time defies any notion of its size, height, orientation, or whether the hall is closed or open. What emerges is a wondrous illusion of the Rammstein world, full of fire, blood, movement and dystopia, from which nothing is able to lead. Rammstein is not just a band – it is an entire artistic audiovisual concept that cannot be replaced and can never be fully seen. This combination of nazi-queer-trance-technophile-autocratic-macho-sado-mass-burlesque charade would be a shame to miss. (30.06.2017)