Fans from far and wide have flocked to Cardiff's city centre to watch German heavy metal band Rammstein perform at the Principality Stadium. The hard rock band, who bring out all the stops in their show, is heading to Cardiff for one epic night on Thursday, June 30.
Known for their very impressive stage displays, including fire and pyrotechnics, the German Neue Deutsche Härte band is performing in the Principality Stadium. The concert had been a long time coming - it was initially set to take place in June, 2020 but got cancelled due to coronavirus pandemic, with a concert expected to take place a year later in 2021 also cancelled.
It's been reported that their recent show in Coventry could be heard up to 11 miles away, meaning other parts of Cardiff may also be able to enjoy the show. But for the people that were attending the concert in the stadium, it was clear that the event meant a lot to them for many reasons. We spoke to a few of them as they arrived in the Welsh capital and asked about their thoughts and feelings about the highly anticipated concert.
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'It’s not just about the music, but about the experience'
Alex Hewitt and Kitty Lambert are friends from Hull, Yorkshire. The two had travelled down to Dorset to stay with Kitty's dad before heading to Cardiff on Thursday. Although a trek, the two friends were "very excited" to watch their favourite band perform.
"I actually went to the Coventry concert and I'm going to this one tonight," Kitty told WalesOnline. "The Coventry concert was really good. I’m standing for this one, I don’t know how it will turn out as I haven’t stood up in a Rammstein concert for years. It’ll be interesting. I was brought up listening to them because my dad was such a huge fan.
"They are the best band I’ve ever seen live - it’s not just about the music, but about the experience. You’ll sometimes hear people say that in the past they’ve been to their concert just because a family member or a friend needed someone to go with them, and they absolutely loved it - they might not be fan of the music, but they absolutely loved the experience. My mum doesn’t like mental, but she’ll still come to the concerts."
But for Alex, this was her first time seeing Rammstein performing live. "I have been a fan since 2018, so I’m quite new," she said.
"For people that don't know anything about Rammstein, I would say it’s German industrial heavy metal music. The only thing I can compare it to is if you were to put your mobile phone into a washing machine, sang over the top of it and autotuned it a little bit - that’s what it sounds like!"
'I’ve been waiting 10 years for a Rammstein gig'
Alex and Kitty are not the only ones to travel far, as Jack Dylan and Aisha Rossi have travelled from the Irish capital of Dublin, while Alex Adeyemi has travelled from Edinburgh. Stood in a queue for merchandise in the shadows of the stadium, the trio have just met and are said to enjoying the day already.
"The original concert we were supposed to go to was in Belfast, but that one got cancelled," she said. "We are so excited for this, we’ve been dying for it.
"We are staying in Cardiff for the whole weekend, we might use tomorrow to recover from the gig and then explore Cardiff. This is the first time we’ve been here. I’ve seen a couple of videos online of their live concerts and I know that they are absolutely nuts, I can't get my head around how mad it’s all actually going to be."
Alex added: "I’ve been waiting for this concert since 2019, and told myself come hell or come high water, I’ve been waiting 10 years for a Rammstein gig - I am definitely going.
"So that’s why I am here. Part of why so many are in Cardiff from what I’ve heard is because all tickets are sold out, so there are a lot of German fans here as well."
'For me personally it's about the lyrics'
One of those fans was Luis, who had travelled to Germany to London and then to Cardiff. For Luis, the lyrics were just as important as the band's music and performance.
He said: "For non-German speakers, I think it’s mostly about the riffs and the style, but for me personally it's about the lyrics. And in German, they have four or five layers - Til Lindemann is a genius.
"He writes so well and touches on many social-political matters. One of the song is about cannibalism - there was an incident in Germany about 20 years ago during the war in Afghanistan. All the media in Germany were obsessing over this cannibalism story and nobody cared for the war for one whole week. The band was angry about that and wrote a song about it, asking why we weren’t focusing on the war. To talk about stuff like that is so important in this day and age, and it is so cool that they’ve used their platform to do that."
'They put on a really good show, I can’t wait'
Couple Lynne Sears and Paul Dafoe have travelled from Plymouth to watch the band. Lynne said: "I heard about Rammstein through Paul about eight years ago. We like all kinds of music, we are completely diverse - rock, dance, techno.
"You don’t hear music like this on speakers. When you hear live music, it’s just a different experience - it goes right through you."
Paul agreed and added: "I have loved Rammstein since their formation: I just love how they perform, it’s going to be one hell of a show with all the pyrotechnics and fire. I saw them last time about five years ago in Manchester.
"That was so special because of all the songs you could sing a long to - they might be in German, but I know all the words to their songs. They put on a really good show, I can’t wait."
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