photos by Max Bravo Observation by Alex Zander
Don’t tell me I didn’t tell you so. I DID! If you missed it you missed it. Obviously the venue which has a total capacity of 5,000 was sold out if not nearly sold out. The Aragon which is walking distance from the MK ULTRA HQ/Casa Diablo/ASSMAN Bar and Grill and Max and I knocked out a podcast and approached the venue which was all the way around this Uptown block and up and other street. Max and I were not in the mood to stand so we went to Fat Cat and had some good bar food (as if that truly exists) and drinks and then as we walked to the venue with the line still slowly moving I saw an old friend from Columbus OH my pal Mel Grubb who I worked with in a theater group and later as a rave DJ in the very early 90’s. (I hadn’t seen Mel since the late 90’s at a club call Outland in Columbus) That’s how far people were coming for the show. I had been anticipating a night of powerful music and perversion. I love the music of RAMMSTEIN and especially the vocalists and theatrics of the singer Till Lindemann. Come on, everyone knows this. However ever since hearing the song “Golden Shower”I have been dying to see the solo act which has managed to create the greatest controversy of any band in recent years:
https://metalinjection.net/metal-crimes/rammstein-frontman-till-lindemann-arrested-in-russia
I did not know about the fish cannon yet. That would be the bonus. I think he topped Carnivore and WASP with this contraption.
I first should address the fact that the band wih the biggest fucking buzz in our scene TWIN TEMPLE would be playing in between acts. THIS WAS A FUCKING SHOW and Max was right down there into the schenagians to film it. I love working with a badass photographer like Max Bravo. I’ve never had so many people rave about this group like they do TT in ages.
According to Wikipedia:
“Twin Temple was formed by the married couple. Alexandra and Zachary James. Being fans of American rock and roll of the 1950s and 1960s, and bands such as The Platters, Roy Orbison, and Buddy Holly, they wanted to incorporate their practice of witchcraft with this musical era and culture.“
As a virgin to their performance and still gushing with excitement for the main event the duo has been described as
“.….with musical note appliques, began performing a ritual by tossing fluid from a cup onto the audience. The ritual continued as both approached the makeshift alter and held swords in the air. It was all very serious until they broke into the ’60s-tinged “Sex Magick.” The crowd went wild, dancing, holding up devil horns, and singing along with the song.”
“….The blasphemous 60s party continued with songs like “I Am A Witch” and “Burn Your Bible.” James’ voice is phenomenal with its power and tone—and this was live—no autotune. Pure talent. The band’s musicianship was fantastic, and they got kudos for donning a sax player, which gave the songs the savoir-faire.”
Luckily my old friend and publicist Monica let us know a day before the show that the band would be taking part of the show to the floor so the “photo pit” would be pushed back. Hell, that didn’t stop Bravo. He was there with the action and you can see photos and video in our photo gallery.
It was almost time for the main event and I was in one of the VIP boxes with many of my media / industry friends. This thing is pretty high up. And the place was packed and it was getting warm on this early autumn evening.
The music lover and perv in me was getting psyched.
The lights dimmed and they took to the massive Aragon stage. Lineman’s image and baritone vocals that grabs you by the nether region to elicit your attention. At least it does for me. What can I say I’m a bit of a freak and about 4900 patrons certainly feel the same. Till Lindemann and his band took the stage and immediately launched into a devastating rendition of “Zunge.” That’s all it took. The capacity crowd were already satisfied and craving more drooling like a pack of Ivan Pavlov’s dogs.
The lineup which I was unaware of consisted of NIN and Combichrist alum Danny Lohner on Bass and Joe Letz on Drums as well as Jes Paige: Guitar Emily Ruvidich: Guitar and Constance Day: Keyboards.
The show just kept hitting you one song after another each with its own theatrical accompaniment A lot like old Alice Cooper in the 70’s. It was Vaudevillian, intense, sexually deviant and above all FUN!
I got to see “Golden Shower” live (you get to sing along with the slur CUNT) and was bummed that they didn’t do “Pussy” but they made up for it with “Fish On”. HOLY FUCKING INSANITY.
They were launching raw fish from cannons that were loaded up by the gals and launched by the man himself, the fabled basket weaver Till Lindemann. It was truly one of the funniest fucking things I have ever seen. A raw fish hit the lady sitting next to me all the way up and the VIP as she caught one on her face. I was literally in tears. I asked permission to take her photo.
The 16 song set of an awesomely bizarre performance was brilliant and thoroughly entertaining. Of course I’m doing math the entire time what does this show cost and how much are they actually making. They put a fuck load of work into the production of this show. That’s AZ.
A stripper pole for the keyboardist, cakes flying all over and a fish fired from a cannon.
Any other act is going to have a hard time topping this show. And I should say with a crowd as huge as this one. Everyone seemed to have fun and there were no incidents. I guess everyone just had a good time watching the spectacle on stage.
Thanks to Max Bravo. Daniel Deuce, Rodney Pawlick and Monica Seide-Evenson who has been with me for pretty much my entire career. Stay Tuned for the photographic evidence in our photo gallery. (we take more pix than most sites so please give us time)
MK ULTRA’s Detroit Jason Kenski with his “fish of the day”
SETLIST
Zunge
Schweiss
Fat
Altes Fleisch
Allesfresser
Golden Shower
Sport frei
Blut
Praise Abort
Platz Eins
Fish On
Du hast kein Herz
Skills in Pills
Encore:
Knebel
Entre dos tierras
Ich hasse Kinder