So, after watching it straight after I reached home yesterday, I shall give you an extensive review by yours truly, comparing to Rammstein's previous Live DVD attempt - Live Aus Berlin.

Firstly, the DVD interface looks really neat, it's so 3-D interactive, with the still grayscale shots of the France concert as background. The whole Moscow Oylmpics theme worked really well, it has got be the most unique theme I have ever came across for a Music DVD, full of cultural atmosphere as well.

So, you are greeted with a swarm of R+ fans in the France arena chanting "Rammstein! Rammstein", luring you - the hungry Rammstein Singaporean Fan into the television, damn.

I have seen Reise, Reise on the Preview DVD in Rosenrot, so I shall give that a miss.

Links 234, the song I have been dying to see live. It lived up to my (high) expectations to be as energetic (ain't all R+ songs so? lol) the album version. Link Zwei! Drei! Vier! Links! You chant along with Mister Till. Just pure gold.

Keine Lust is next. Hopeful to see some fat R+ members teetering on the stage just like how the music video is, I was wronged. Great performance nonetheless, although Till Lindermann's vocals seemed to be lacking in power, which will prevalent in most cases now, considering he's nearing 50 years old.

FEUER FREI! Bang! Bang! is the thing that will literally BANG into your every face. Fiery, agressive and oh so, Mutter-ish, as it reminded me, the face-flamethrowers would blast your head off, seriously. Call it no holds barred Rammstein, complete with manical pryo-lusts and killer guitar riffs.

Asche Zu Asche - Oh, my sweet, good old classic off their debut album, Herzeleid, managed to retain its ferocity in performance, meaning Richard and Oliver still sings "Asche!" , "Asche zu Asche! Staub zu Staub!" into microphones that are lit up by swallowing flames in good old R+ fashion. Yes, Flake still does that weird little one-armed dance in the keyboard solo. Cute as ever, Flake. Ich kommt wieder! Im zehn Tagen! Hah!

Oh! Morgenstern! I have never in my wildest dreams thought they'd want to do a live rendition of that (obscure) song off their Reise, Reise album. Decent performance, gave me a fresh impression of the song once again, as I usually skip this song in the studio album. Rammstein, Du! Du bist meine Morgernstern! Lol.

„Suche gut gebauten 18-30jährigen zum Schlachten“
Der Metzgermeister

You know what that means! It means it's Mein Teil time! Bloody mouthed Till Lindermann comes out of the door, scraping the knife against the giant cauldron which hides poor Flake, the latter unaware of his impending fate to be Mein Teil-ed! Mischievous, deviant song, very apt-ly pulled off, gets me grinning all the time I watch it. As the bridge approaches, I do prepare for a good flame grilling time, as Till launches off his handheld flamethrower towards the base of the pot, causing Flake to be cooked half rare, with smoke emitting from him as well. Greatest entertainment ever.

Stein Um Stein, another song I have never thought they do perform live. Giving a really fresh idea of the song again, however, unlike Morgenstern, this live rendition proved itself to be much more superior than the studio version. Great to have that in their arsenal.

Los! This is really something. Reminds me deeply of Live Aus Berlin's Wilder Wein, Richard and Oliver playing acoustic guitars and Christopher playing a 3-piece drum set on the lower stage, it's just so Wilder Wein! Surprise came as Till started playing the harmonica, really awesome performance. Exceeded all of my expectations instantaneously. And, Flake has a new dance in his reportire, this one involves weird jumps and touching his ankles in mid-air. Interesting, Flake. Then, the electrification of Los sounded plain fucking awesome. Bringing the entire crowd to their climax. Heavy as hell, unlike the original predecessor. 10/5 immediately.

Du riechst So Gut! Something that an old school Rammstein fan will be waiting eagerly for. No, in Volkerball, it doesn't involve gingerkids mouthing " ist nur eine schmale Brücke
die Ufer sind Vernunft und Trieb", but it still uses the good old flaming bow, just like in Live Aus Berlin. Pure highness you will experience in this song, you just want to melt into the song itself. Cos, Du riechst so gut, gleich hab Ich dich! Richard and Oliver still play the solo side by side, but they omitted the finger-pointing weird thing now, replacing with a flame-emitting arm jacket. Just a sniff (pun!) of what Herzeleid was like. =)

Benzin! The only track of Rosenrot played live. Living up to my expectations, the performance was a strong one, bringing out the essence of what the music video evoked. I was half expecting a fire truck or something though. Lol. Gibt mir Benzin, JAAAAAAA! Im Benzin! Benzin! Ich brauch Benzin! You will find yourself yelling.

Du Hast! Classic, famous song off Sehnsucht album. The keyboards will draw you in. Expectations are sky high for this, being their world-wide known song yet. "Willst du bis der Tod euch scheidet. treu ihr sein für alle Tage." Started off really well, but there's a slight but obvious defect in the bridge, Flake apparently, screwed up the keyboard part, so it sounded tad weird. Lol. Flake gave an non-chalant look at Till. Lol. Omitting the telephone part as well, they used a thing to shoot out orange sparks across the arena.

Another hard-hitting hit - Sehnsucht comes into your already bruised face now! Perfect performance of Sehnsucht, in my opinion. Just that Till's vocals sounded abit tired and unfocused. Everything was as tight as the asshole of Pamela Anderson. Just second-perfect. It's one beat faster than the studio version though, which made it sound even more impressive. AHH! Rammstein, Ich bin sehnsucht fuer diene konkert im Singapur! Kommt! 20/5 at first look, serious!

I wonder how those German boys carry on with such intense performances, I am already tired of typing.. lol.

Amerika next! A song that I've been curious to watch live. Flake comes in on a scotter. The back lights lit up in red and blue. USA flag. Reminded me of Klavier in Live Aus Berlin. I was expecting MacDonalds and Coke to be everywhere on stage, but no. I was thinking too much, perhaps. Earlier on, there's a handwritten sign that says, "Fucking Mickey Maus." flashing across the screen, too. Too bad, Till didn't incoporated it into the performance. Superb performance generally. Till said something in French in the end, I think it's "Thank you" or something.

Rammstein. Title song. Was, again, expecting a giant fan to be gyrating, but nope. Second disappointment. Till didn't wear the trademark flaming coat and their laser-light glasses! =( That outfit defined the song. Now, he dons a pair of huge mechanic arms that emits out flames at the tips, cool still, but not enough. Song was decently performed. The flames emitted in the end reminded me of Wollt Ihr das Bett im Flammen sehen? in Live Aus Berlin though.

Sonne! Another great hit off Mutter. Great performance, as usual. Bringing the crowd to their full potential, I could almost feel the saturation of band-fans bond. How I wished I was there. Damn. =(

Ich Will, from Mutter again. Dark-sounding song, the first song of R+ I have heard. Fucking good performance, the band evoked the whole essence of the song really well. Again, the crowd went drug-high on the visual and audiotory pleasures of the performance. Ich will eure Energie! Lol.

Ohne Dich. Now, I am really interested how they'd pull off such a melodic and emotional song. Not failing my hopes, R+ gave it all out, splurging all the needed emotions to the crowd to turn them all hysterical. The Seemann of the Second Wave, I say. Paul now replaces Flake in the holy mission to take a boat ride out on the pit.

Stripped. Wow. I believe this is the first ever time they are doing it live. It's really interesting to see the heavily-accented Till Lindermann to sing in English. Not a bad performance, just weird. Lol.

Albeit the lack of power in Till Lindermann's vocals as compared to the job he did on Live Aus Berlin some 8 years ago and the lack of props, Voelkerball did its best to satisfy my re-ignited passion for R+. I would hope to see performances of Mutter, Der Meister, Weisses Fleish, Engel again though. The fact that they didn't use any extra vocals is abit disappointing as well, seeing how well the performance of Bobo in Engel Live Aus Berlin went. I miss it, somehow. Although they played it in the credit portion of the DVD.

My comments! If you want to see a Rammstein performance at their peak performance ability and with school old (sometimes, better) R+ songs, get Live Aus Berlin instead. Volkerball DVD is meant for seasoned fans, and this acts more of tribute to them than a DVD to promote their music. The pictures used in Volkerball are more fan-geared as well.

I, the self proclaimed R+ fan of Singapore, gives Volkerball 9.5 R+(s)! I'm generally happy with it. Although I regretted not getting the Special Edition which consisted of another DVD with 120 minutes worth of interviews and documentaries. [kills myself] I was particularly attracted by Flake's dress sense, he wore a freaking foral dress in the Russia - Mosaku's clip. Oh my hell. And, they smashes the glasses after drinking the wine. How eloquent! Me likes.

The Rammstein Family that I own!

Now, I pray to Odin for Rammstein to pay Singapore a visit.

The Resurrected R+ fanatic,
LingNemesis
1st Feb 2007 C.E.

Labels: Volkerball. FINALLY

¶ 11:14 pm