Sweat + Buckles = Friends?

Part III

So the first time around working with Rammstein there was a run of shows, I think they were on the ninth show in a row and tensions were running high. It was getting harder for the energy on stage to be pure, by about the fifth show even Paul found it difficult to be his usual cheerful, silly and cheeky self on stage. Arguments seemed to be the only way anyone conversed with each other at the time and it was usually sparked over silly little things. Maybe someone would leave a cup in the sink on the tour bus or they would be late to breakfast and then an argument began to brew.
Only once did an argument happen out in public. Richard had been making snippy comments for hours now and most of them had been directed at Paul, eventually Paul abandoned his strategy of peacefully ignoring Richard and threw a punch. Between Schneider and I we got it under control and tempers went back to just barely flying beneath boiling point.

Then one night, I think it was the seventh show in that nine-in-a-row stint, everything that could go wrong seemed to do just that. Microphones wouldn't work, amps malfunctioned, even some pyro's failed.
Now anyone who is anyone will tell you, Till does not like it when things go wrong. Not one little bit and usually he can handle it with minimal tantrums. Maybe he will throw things or go backstage and shout for a minute, occasionally he has been known to break things whilst in a fit of rage. This particular night I had sensed that much would be broken and many staff would be have to be let go of before Till felt better.

At this stage, it still looked to be in with a chance of being an okay show. Why do I sound so optimistic? Well because I've seen shows go worse, maybe nothing works and it has to be cancelled or they go on angry at one and another for whatever reason and it affects their performance in subtle ways, ways that an audience may not see but will only serve to annoy each band mate further. Of course, someone pulling the strings of the universe must have saw my optimism and laughed because just as the intro to Du Hast began to play I got a bad feeling but I couldn't think why.

The reason for that bad feeling soon became evident. The pyro effect that is supposed to happen, doesn't. It continues to not happen, and Till is furious. The first pyro failure earlier in the show had been subtle and the audience would have no way of ever knowing that it failed. This one though, everyone in the crowd knew it had failed, they knew the song and the accompanying effects well enough.

Still though, they play the song, like the professionals they are.

Till's temper does not abate in the time between the failure and the final bows after the encore. Barely out of view of the crowd still cheering for them and he lets some of that rage boil over and he kicks a trolley containing wires and speakers with enough force to topple it and likely break the sensitive equipment that had been atop it. Times such as these, it is easier just to allow him his outbursts. He never takes it too far, but crew all go into hiding from him. His bandmates just head in a different direction from him, letting him blow off the steam.

A hand on my shoulder and I turn to see Schneider, "C'mon, let him be." He told me.

So I go with them, letting Till do whatever he needs to to let out his frustrations. I can hear him yelling and kicking things all the way back to Richard's dressing room. It was one of those rare occasions where the band had no need to be immediately huddled out of the venue since they were in the same venue the next night.

"I think that shambles of a show deserves a cigarette." Richard grumbled.

"You can't smoke in the venue Richard." I reminded him.

"Ah, christ. I bet it's raining outside too and people are probably waiting around the stage door to try and get a photo or autograph. I can't be arsed with it tonight, I'll smoke later."