"Fire is inspirational." - Richard Pryor
The summer of 2020 was set to be epic. Numerous bands had scheduled large-scale tours and I grew more excited as I secured tickets for some of my favorite live bands including Nightwish and MÃ ¶tley Crue. Anchoring the lineup of concerts was a rare North American appearance by the German band Rammstein. I had never had the opportunity to see this band live and looked forward to experiencing them in the setting of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, probably the only facility in the city that was large enough to hold their legendary spectaculars.
The excitement for these concerts was slowly dashed as it became more apparent that COVID-19 was not going to be contained. As cases in the United States continued to increase show after show was postponed. One-year delays eventually turned into two years.
The repeated postponements finally came to an end for me on February 4, 2022, as the instrumental band Russian Circles took the stage opening for System Of A Down at the Banc of California Stadium. As I experienced the return of live music I could feel myself get a little emotional.
While System of a Down and Korn put on good shows that night, there was a surreal experience to the evening. The tone was set by the fact that Faith No More was missing from the bill as its singer continued to struggle with the emotional fallout of the pandemic. It also felt strange to be in a large crowd after two years of isolation with my family group.
Next in my concert lineup was an evening with the band Nightwish at the Wiltern. This marked a return to indoor concert going which felt even stranger than the large outdoor crowds. It was great to be experiencing live music, but it still felt surreal and a little dangerous.
The Midnight Oil show at the Palladium in June almost felt like a return to normalcy. These tickets had been purchased just a few months before and it was the first show post-lockdown that had not been postponed. Perhaps not coincidentally, I ended up testing positive for COVID-19 about five days after this night out.
As the MÃ ¶tley Crue show approached I let myself get excited. The Crue has a reputation as amazing live performers and the band had promised an "epic" show to match the stadiums on their tour. My expectations were quickly dashed as the band failed at all aspects of their show from the quality of the sound to the intensity of the performance. It was easily one of the worst shows that I had ever seen.
The anticipointment of the MÃ ¶tley Crue show was still fresh in my mind as the Rammstein date approached. Still, the excitement was creeping in as I made my way on the Red Line towards Union Station. After dinner amongst Dodger fans at Philippe's, my sister and I headed towards the Coliseum.
How is it that a structure that has been in place for 100 years does not have the traffic infrastructure needed to handle the crowds headed to its events? It took us over an hour to make the five-mile trip from downtown, including the time to find the lot where my sister had purchased prepaid parking. While the ticket specified that we should park in the "Blue Lot," there were no signs to direct us to park, never mind telling us the color of these lots.
Pre-stressed by our Los Angeles traffic experience, we made our way toward the stadium, beckoned by the Olympic torch that had been lit for the event. It was a nice touch for a band known for the liberal use of pyro.
As we took our seats (without the assistance of any ushers), we were immediately taken in by the immensity of the stage. It was several stories tall and looked like it was pulled directly out of a post-apocalyptic science fiction novel. Extending out into the field were independent sound towers. A small stage stood off to one side of the field unconnected to its much bigger brother. It was here that the opening act appeared.
I had read that the opener for the show was a duo of classical pianists named Duo Jatekok. They were described as a sort of palate cleanser before the intensity of the main act. I was, however, surprised that they exclusively performed Rammstein covers. The night was off to an interesting start.
Shortly after the openers concluded the house lights went black and a classical march started playing from the PA. A digital Rammstein "flag" was raised on the highest lighting tower. It felt like a scene out of a right-wing rally if instead of expecting chants of "lock her up" and "build the wall" you were expecting to be entertained with songs about sexual exploits and other lyrics sung in a language you could not understand.
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