Announcing tours is usually an unspectacular process. The reports from the major booking agencies are currently ticking in about the confirmed travel plans of their major international acts. The pre-purchase often begins many months before the first riff is played.
If you like, the tickets now purchased for summer 2024 are an interest-free loan from the fans to the bands and their organizational environment. And now that there is some interest again, the advance payment amounts can also bring in a fun additional return.
In the case of Rammstein, who announced on Wednesday (October 11th) without providing much information that they (after all) wanted to tour Europe’s stadiums again next year, things look a little different. It is known that advance sales are scheduled to start on October 18th. One more week and then the Berlin baller rockers’ cleverly managed money storage should fill up again in no time.
The dpa press agency was at least able to report that the series of performances “should be as extensive” as in the third European round. Most recently, Lindemann and colleagues played a good two dozen concerts in 16 European stadiums from May to August. So far. So good.
But there was something there?
But there was something there? That’s right: “The tour was recently overshadowed by allegations” was what many portals said. Even the FAZ, not exactly a house media for tough rockers, reported the tour plans soberly and also pointed out from the intelligence service that there had been allegations, especially against Till Lindemann. In the “Stern” online service it reads like this: “Women had described situations on the Internet or in media reports that they sometimes found frightening. Young women were selected during concerts and asked if they wanted to come to the after-show party. According to some women’s accounts, sexual acts also took place.”
Despite a (somewhat belated) cover story in “Spiegel” and another sex-cause revelation in the Hamburg news magazine, from the perspective of the judiciary, the matter ended like the Hornberg shooting. Or also: Nothing happened apart from expenses and hefty legal fees.
After all, Till Lindemann skillfully rejected all allegations against him.
The public prosecutors in Berlin and Lithuania also saw it that way and stopped further investigations. After evaluating the available evidence, there was no reliable evidence that Lindemann “performed sexual acts on women against their will,” the Berlin public prosecutor’s office recently said.
So it’s just a normal tour announcement from a 60-something band that wants to cash in once again? Nobody says anything against Taylor Swift’s multi-hundred-million-dollar sales. With Swift, the tenor is: The woman is clever. She even manages to turn her concert film into a WOW event.
Meanwhile, at Rammstein, firmly held opinions collide in the comment columns from mainstream to underground: Some say, “Till didn’t do anything,” so what’s the point? The others say that where there is smoke, there was fire, and therefore Rammstein should at least be boycotted.
The band itself? Except for cryptic statements on private social media channels, people practice the art of silence. “Our Lips Are Sealed” was once a lyric from the UK band Fun Boy Three.
Rammstein are the masters of sealed lips.
While these lines are being written, the Rammstein “Fuck-You-All” wheel is turned one more revolution: the second division metropolis of Gelsenkirchen becomes the hub once again (Taylor Swift will also be holding court there in 2024, in “Emscher-Florenz”) of pop music:
Rammstein against Schalke twice in a row. Plus Dresden. Not at Dynamo, but open air next to the trade fair there. Then a Durjardin!