Download Festival 2016: Rammstein Review

Industrial metal in the rain? Perfect.

Jen O Neill Rammstein Download Festival
Jen O Neill

Rating:

Theres something morbidly fitting about listening to powerful industrial rock in a deluge with pyro-technics defying the weather Gods, and you get both in spades from German legends Rammstein.

It might only seem like five minutes since they headlined Donington (Download has a very real problem in that there arent any rock acts rising to the headline status at the minute), but their booking seems to fit the rest of the line-up. They never let anyone down, theyre solidly entertaining and theyre great showmen - in that context they fit with both Sabbath and Maiden.

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Sadly, some of their sound was a little lost further back thanks to the wind, but at least the rain calmed down a bit by the time they played. And theres just no getting past the appeal of seeing Du Hast live in the company of non-German speakers shouting out butchered versions of the lyrics.

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The set was missing the big fireworks display ending, admittedly, but they were actually probably the best of the headliners and they earned their spot admirably.

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