In September 2023, I received an email saying that Rammstein were bring back their famous European stadium tour for what sounds like ‘one last time with feeling’! I had though that 2023 was going to be the wrap up of the tour – Till and some of the other band members had various creative solo plans all on the go, and to be honest, how much longer do guys pushing 60 want to be performing songs they wrote 30+ years ago. The 2023 tour ended up surrounded by a fair bit of controversy so perhaps they wanted to go out on a bang without any salacious scandal hanging over them – whatever the reason, as soon as I saw they were touring in 2024, I started machinating to figure out how to get not just Angus, but BigSal and SurLee there too!
It took about two days of research to decide which stadium would be our best option – nothing outdoor in a park setting, covered seating if possible, and preferably a smaller stadium than the 100,000+ seating at Lyon in 2022. After much googling and translating, I decided on Klagenfurt am Wörthersee. Well located, smallish stadium (all the same fire power, itty bitty space!).
Then the tickets were released and the German ticketing website was painful! It wouldn’t let me choose tickets in any particular section of the stadium and would only offer me 5 seats ‘best available’ and every time you went out and back in again it would give you 5 different seats in a different part of the arena. 🙁 Having seen a very similar show in 2022 from the corporate boxes on the west side of Lyon stadium, I was really keen to get a front on view, with enough elevation to be well over the top of any beer tents or raised sound booths etc. I kept coming back to the website until FINALLY it offered up some seats that matched the criteria … then the countdown was on!
Sadly Stephola was unable to come with us, so her ticket went to waste, but after some logistical dramas for our BigSal & SurLee, the four of us managed to rendezvous in Villach and make our way to Klagenfurt for the concert! To say I was excited to share this experience with these guys is a huge understatement.
Creating memories, people! That’s what travel is all about!
Perfect! Just right of centre, and not too obstructed by the central flammage tower. 😀
Four random Aussies in a huge crown of German and Austrians. 🙂
I think it was right after this pretzel that BigSal ‘friended’ a strange Nazi who was sitting right in front of us… his English was as broken as my German, but we had a short conversation where I managed to impart that we were from Australia, and he asked to ‘friend’ her on FB. Which they did – because why not? A few minutes later, she saw a selfie he had taken with her tagged on FB, and he had called her a ‘Comrade from Australia who was here to protest the ban on some super right-wing neo-Nazi magazine!’ Man, did that escalate quickly. Needless to say, mental notes to ‘unfriend and block’ him were made immediately!
The concert was amazing. The playlist was different enough from when I saw them a couple of years ago, but still with all the major highlights and their greatest hits. Additionally the smaller stadium call was a good one! Klagenfurt with it’s <50k people in it had far better sound quality and less distorted volume than the Lyon show, which was an awesome bonus… also, I was right about the flammage – all they high impact, burning-your-eyebrows pyrotechnics in a much smaller space was just so much more in your face!
We were having a much better time than the people behind us! 😛
Du Hast… with the flaming arrows.
Concert landscape photography!
No Rammstein gig is complete without the ol’ penis foam cannon. lol.
I’ve been thinking a lot recently about how many truly memorable days I have had in my life, and so many really great memories I have also feel heavily clouded in pain. But this concert? With these amazing people? Well, fuck not even the 152 steps I walked up and then back down to get here (thanks for counting Angus!) on a severely torn meniscus will dampen my memories of this! So much pain, but I’d do it again tomorrow!
Did I mention that we were in the Austrian alps but it was 32C that day? Thankfully as soon as the sun passed over it was much cooler – but the locals weren’t having it at all.
BEST. DAY. EVER! I will never forget this.
Big thank you to these guys, for joining in on one of my ridiculous flights of fancy.
^ This was our view as we waiting in line for a solid 30-40 minutes to get out of the car park. This and drunken locals staggering and yahooing, swaying and peeing on the side of the roads. lol. Didn’t care! Too hyped!
A few days later, I saw this from the Rammstein FB page… the smiley is where we were seated. <3
