Some of you may or may not know that on Wednesday the 3rd of February, I was in Birmingham. I was in Birmingham, for the purpose of seeing a German band by the name of Rammstein. But before I get ahead of myself, I'm going to subject you few readers to my day in detail.
My day starts, rather annoyingly, at 0500 hours. After a grand total of four hours sleep, I was raised from slumber to make my way to the airport for the unholy flight time I'd booked. Fortunately for me, my father was graceful enough to grant me a lift to the Airport, so I'd get there on time, and not have to call a taxi. After the forty minute drive, and the annoyingly long wait at check-in, I was able to go straight onto the plane, which was a plus, however, my sleepiness, was detracting from that.
The flight itself was stuffy and uncomfortable, but thankfully over quicker than I expected, so I was able to make my way through baggage claim and outside to the chilly morning in Birmingham. After a longer than desired wait, I managed to get a bus into town and quickly made for the nearest Subway, before heading into one of the three "malls" Birmingham's City Centre has to offer. Eventually, the HMV I was looking at opened, and like a moth to a flame, I was drawn in. Just to clarify something for you, the HMV where i live is tiny, so the chance to be able to have a look at a store that branches onto four floors was something I could not pass up.
After having a look around, I finally found the shirts, and decided on two tees I've been after for a long while, shown here and here. I also bought a limited edition version of Cannibal Corpse's newest album, that came with a comic book. After this, there really wasn't much else I wanted, so I went for a wander around the City, going wherever my legs took me, whilst also on the hunt for comic book shops. Along the way, I came across a shop I wish we had where I live. It sold second hand Vinyl and Cd's. In the end, I settled on a Punk CD, and went just a little further on to another shop I could have spent hours in, were it not for the more pressing matters I had to attend to.
After searching the time, and receiving a call from my friend I was due to meet later on, I decided upon lunch, and promptly headed for the nearest place I could. Relishing the chance to finally sit down, I took my time with it, and thought to myself just how bad a state my feet would be in by the end of the night, but, let's not get too far ahead of ourselves just yet.
After my lunch, I managed to meet up with my friend, and we headed off in the direction of a pub to sit, drink, talk and chill out for a while. It was whilst in this pub, that I figured out where my hotel was, and, after leaving the pub, that was where we headed. For those who know me, you'll also know that hills are not something I enjoy too much. For those that don't, hills are something I don't enjoy too much. Anyway, the walk up to my hotel was going uphill, but, I mustered on, and, eventually, we arrived. After check in, and a quick stop for putting on some deodorant, we headed off towards the gig (after me having to quickly head back up the road again to retrieve my gig ticket.....) and eventually met up with some of the people we were meeting for the gig at the Train Station, before heading off on the incredibly packed train to the NEC.
After arriving, and after my realising my poor feet didn't have much longer, we walked (I struggled) on to the actual arena itself, then headed straight inside, and straight for the merch booth, where we all eventually got what we wanted to get, before finding a table to sit at, and relaxing for a while, in the (vain, as it turned out) hopes of avoiding the opening act. During our sit down, we met other people me and my friends knew, one of whom was staying with us for the duration of the gig, the other who left to go in with their family after a brief (too brief, I thought) chat.
When we finally decided to go (struggle) in to the arena hall, we found a spot, right behind the sound booth, and then realised that we hadn't missed the support act at all, and in fact, were still too early for the main show. The support band themselves were alright, but, as I wasn't particularly in the mood for more Dance orientated music, I wasn't too into it. Finally, and possibly thankfully, they finished after a short set, and now, we had the main event.
The time had come. The number two band on my list of three bands I HAVE to see before I or they die/split up were coming on stage. The whole arena went dark, the atmosphere was electric, the crowd went silent, then let out a huge cheer, and then..... and then, the music started. Rammstein had arrived. The band entered through the new backdrop in typical Rammstein fashion, the best saved for last as the singer, Till Lindemann who entered through the backdrop by carving through it with a soldering knife. As the vocals for the first song started up, I was amazingly excited, and could not help but sing along with Till, keeping in my own mind that after four lines would come the first of many proper crowd participation parts. Sure enough, it arrived, and all of the thousands of people there were in one voice as the phrase "RAMM......STEIN!!!" rang out. The gig hard finally started, and everyone here was glad for it.
What followed was one of the best shows I have ever been privileged to see, with a mass of pyro effects, elaborate stage props, the band being on fire, literally, at one point, and figuratively and the entire crowd giving it their all throughout the explosive (again, literally and figuratively) set. The entire gig was amazing, apart from a small spell of three songs where I had to sit out, due to dehydration, but was back again in time for Du Hast, and immediately made a beeline for where my friends were, as I knew that was where one of the main pyros of the set was going to go off, and go off it did, to much elation. My favourite moment of the entire gig however, was the final song, Engel. Sure, there were other highlights, including the bottom of the stage being "on fire", multiple baby dolls hung from the rafters of the stage with lasers coming out of their eyes, "fire breathing" escapades, thanks to the masks worn during Feuer Frei!, the keyboardist, Flake, going out onto the crowd in a rubber dinghy and a hilarious moment during the end of the first single of their newest album (remaining nameless so as not to offend anyone) where the use of a rather naughtily shaped cannon ejected foam onto some of the crowd.
No, as good as all of that was, for me, the highlight was the massive wings Till was wearing for Engel, watching in awe as the wings shot fire from their tips. Unfortunately, as Till himself puts it, and as I mean it metaphorically in this instance, "Love is like a flower, even the most beautiful kind dies.", and so, begrudgingly, even despite my foot pain, we left the arena, all of us remaining discussing how great we thought the gig was, our personal highlights, and other things, and we made our way to the train, getting back to the Station we left from, and then heading our own ways, apart from one friend, who helped me find a bus to get back to my hotel.
Eventually I got back to my hotel, and after requesting a wake-up call for 0615, I went to my room, and undressed, looking for the first time at my poor, aching feet. I knew there'd be a price to pay for walking around all day and going to a gig whilst hardly taking time to rest, and, sure enough, I had blisters. Trying to forget about my now throbbing feet, I got under the covers and tried to get as much sleep as possible, before the inevitable all-too-early wake-up call. Rushing to get things packed away and myself dressed, I managed to, only five minutes later than planned, checked out, then jogged towards the bus stop, just managing to catch the bus into town. A short walk on my aching feet got me to the station, and after next to no wait, I was on a train, and Airport bound.
The rest of this tale is easy enough to figure out yourself, short of the best damn glass of Orange Juice I've ever had in my life to go alongside the best damn Bacon and Sausage sandwich in my life, and I arrived back home, and promptly had an early night.
Thus ends my tale of travel/gig review, and I hope you enjoyed reading it, as much as I enjoyed recalling it.
