Vasquez Rehearsal Gig Report

Vasquez was fortunate enough to attend a rehearsal show, and has written a comprehensive report about what went on:

The show started in darkness. Paul and Richard was standing behind black polysteryne screens. They started to chop their way through the screens with big axes which was very effective since it was backlit and the light started to shine through the holes they were making. Meanwhile in the middle. Till was blowtorching his way through the middle. Like in Aliens at the beginning when they find Ripley in the shuttle and they blowtorch a hole through the ship to get in.
The set looked like an industrial mix of Alien, Metropolis and Frankenstein.
Paul and Richard broke through and stepped through the holes they've made. Then the big middle hatch was also broken through and this big piece fell down and formed a ramp. Till marched robotically through the hole wearing a red leather butcher's apron and a red feather collar. he had a light in his mouth and a hairnet on his head. Weird, creepy and wonderful.
He marched up to the front where there was a very unusual microphone. Not slighly bent, but on a spring so he could pull it towards him.
Paul had a bare chest and black trousers with chains and Richard was wearing a long leather coat in a military style. Richard did not look well. He looked tired, white and puffy with silly geled hair. Looked like it had been glued to his forehead.
Till looked magnificient!!! He certainly has been working out. His arm muscles were bulging and his stomach was flat. He started the intro to Rammlied still with that weird light in his mouth. The backdrop fell down, and Oli appeared wearing a cowl, and black smeared make up over his torso. On the walkway next to the drums were Flakes keyboards. He was wearing a glittery disco suit, which i loved and White make up. He also had a very cool beatles hair cut. He had 2 keyboards between some frankenstein electricity poles that sparks were flying from. He also had a treadmill that he was walking on. Don't ask me why. It is not like he needs to loose weight, but it certainly was cool.
The lights were enormous like big jet engines. They were moving up and down. They also had smaller satellites with neon lights on them.
It sounded good, but it was not 100 percent tight. the timing was a bit off.

They proceeded with B*****. Till had now taken off his feathers, apron and light in the mouth. He was wearing a black vest with buckles and zips that showed off his gorgeous torso.

I can't remember the exact song order but they played Weisses Fleisch where Flake did his dance with fire works flying off his suit, Waidmanns Heil, Seemann, Liebe ist fur alle da, which I don't like. It is the only song on the album that I always skip.
On Fruhling for Paris Oli had removed his cowl and he sat down to play accoustic guitar by a little light bulb.
Then the effects started seriously. Of course Feuer Frei with the traditional flamethrowers on their faces. Richards did not work. He was not really with it all night. He looked distant from the rest of them, he didn't have any contact with the audience, and he also looked fat. The others took their shirts off, but he never did.
Their was an elevator that took Till up and down off the stage. He disappeared, and the we could hear the grammophone intro to Wiener Blut. He came up from the floor on the lift, looking very retarded crawling on his knees. The lift also had an old fashioned grammophone, a sofa and reading light.
When the song started hundreds of twisted dolls hanging on strings were lowered from the ceiling. Some of them had lasers shining from their eyes.
It was vey creepy and atmospheric.
Then came my favourite moment in the show. They started playing Ich Tu dir weh, and Flake started having a go at Till.
They had a bit of a pretend fight and Till threw Flake over his shoulders and threw him in a metal bath. He then elevated up in the air at least 20 feet on a very thin and not very safe looking column. He had a milk urn in his hand. He poured the contents of the urn in the bath. It was a shower of sparks. Fire works were also going off all over the stage.
Then it was time for Pussy. There weren't that many people there and certainly not that many girls standing at the front, so Till came up to me and Pandy and sang that song personally to us.

Then it was time for encore. Sonne!!! That I love. Haifisch that went down very well live, Benzin with a petrol tank that blew fire. A stunt man looking like a fan jumped up on stage, and Till sat him on fire. The guy was still jumping around headbanging while he was burning. They finally put the flames out, and they all pretended like it was a mistake and that the guy was seriously hurt. Well of course he wasn't and he jumped up and ran away. They finished with Engel.

All in all it was a great show, but it was a little bit disconnected. I think it will be better with a proper big audience. They also did some slight mistakes the timing was a little bit off. I will give it 3 stars out of 5. But I think it will improve and get a lot better. Stage set and visually it was a 5.

After the show we went to the after show party with Olis friend that had taken us to the gig. Had a very nice evening. Oli aksed me what they could change in the show, and I gave him my honest opinion. 4 years ago I met Schneider when I did an interview for a swedish magazine, and he recognised me, so I spent most of the night talking to him. Such a nice guy. What a great night.

My thanks go to Vasquez for the report, and Sinnlos from Affenknecht, who was kind enough to gain permission to reproduce this from Vasquez on my behalf.

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