LOUDER THAN LIFE:
The last feelings of hope left my body when I saw the lineup schedule for the festival on Saturday morning.
Despite the frantic speculation online in the prior 12 hours, Slayer would not be performing this weekend. For many, myself included, this was a deathblow to the festival. Trudging through the mud and rain, Saturday’s lineup left a lot to be desired. Sure CKY and Chevelle were fun. Hemorage is also one of my new favorite bands (check em’ out if you want some furious thrash/hardcore crossover music). But there was a whole lot of bullshit mixed in between those sets.
Getting a sermon from Skillet definitely made Slayer’s absence even more glaring.
When the weekend began feeling like a true waste, a hero took to one of the two main stages. Till Lindemann - legendary frontman of Germany’s premiere industrial metal troupe Rammstein - brought his solo act to Louder than Life as part of their first North American tour. For me, it wasn’t just the highlight of the weekend. Lindemann and his band of bondage gear clad miscreants put on the best set I’ve seen in the three years I’ve been coming to the festival.
Lindemann’s band - made up of guitarists Jes Page and Emily Ruvidich, bass player Danny Lohner, drummer Joe Letz, and keyboardist/pole dancer Constance Day - are electric on stage. While they still played the heavy and electronic tinged industrial metal that Rammstein is known for, Lindemann’s solo act is a different animal entirely.
There are no flames or explosions to be had here. It was more akin to watching a German Expressionist film during an orgy. If his 40ish years in the music industry and his many controversies over the years hadn’t already made it abundantly clear, Till likes to fuck. He REALLY likes to fuck.
Abstract art and fetish porn appear on a video monitor behind the band. At one point a montage of vagina close-ups flash across the screen as our leather clad frontman leads the audience in a chant.
Songs like “Fat” and “Golden Shower” - both originally performed and written with the now defunct project titled LINDEMANN - hit the crowd with the full weight of a lube-drenched sex doll. Unlike his music with Rammstein, a good deal of this set was sung in English.
“Your flabby butthole, a soggy cave. I put in my parts and let them bathe,” Lindemann moans with a look of utter sincerity on his face.
While the crowd initially seemed shocked by the gratuitous nature of the show, they were quickly won over. It didn’t take long for the audience to sing along with Till and the rest of the band.
This is music you can headbang to. Dance to. And yes, as it’s lyricist likely intentioned, fuck to. Maybe all of those things at once. It threads the line between being humorous and provocative.
While the band was initially set to take the stage on Friday, they agreed to stick around and perform despite the cancellation. For me personally, that decision saved the weekend. Come back again soon, Till, you horny magnificent bastard.