There are boys in military trousers, women in checkered shirts and neo-Nazi shaves in the vicinity of the Cívitas Metropolitano stadium, the Atlético de Madrid field.
– I don't know, nothing has come out of the trial yet.
- But there are more than ten victims, which is no small thing.
- Yes, that's true - he leans on one of the stairs at the entrance to the stadium -. But hey, since we have the tickets...
A few hours before the start of the Rammstein concert, there is more talk of the alleged sexual abuse committed by the vocalist, Till Lindemann, than of the baroque ritual he will perform in the bowels of Atlético de Madrid.
This Friday, June 23, the iconic industrial metal band originally from Berlin, stopped in Madrid to carry out the first and only show in Spain of their European tour, a spectacular display of dates in the stadiums of the main capitals of the Old A continent that, despite this, is seeing itself more than understood by the very serious accusations of sexual abuse and chemical submission against the singer.
In a joint report by the German media NDR and Süddeutsche Zeitung published at the end of May, more than a dozen women denounced Lindemann, leader and singer of the group, of having non-consensual practices and sexual relations with them. According to the publications, Lindemann would have devised with Alena Makeeva, Rammstein's former casting director, a macabre method of recruiting women for the band leader's after-concert parties, in which they were drugged to subdue and sexually abuse them.
Despite the fact that only repercussions from the media shooting have reached Spain, in Germany the issue has become national and has caused, among other things, that the publisher of Lindemann's poetry books terminates the contract with the singer, that Universal Music Group paralyze the promotion of the group's latest album and collect signatures to stop its performances in public venues around the country.
The shock caused has been so great that, in many cities, feminist groups have demonstrated against the artists' shows as a sign of protest; however, everything seems to be a bit the same in Madrid. You can hear a lot of comments around the venue, but there is no action in front of the Metropolitano.
Once inside, it looks like any other macro metal concert: average age around 45, drunks lying on the grass before the concert even starts, and thousands and thousands and thousands of people packed together like cigarettes in red packets.
About the concert, we can talk about the music, which at times seems like heavy metal and at times it seems like a military march with reminiscences that make you a little nervous; and the show, a jumble, funny at the beginning and repetitive at the end, of fireworks, explosions, flames and all kinds of slightly strange performances (for example, they burn a baby carriage live).
After the concert ended, at half past one, the 51,000 attendees, who knows how many with their eyebrows burned by so much fire and explosion, left the Metropolitano. When they bought the tickets, they still knew nothing of the alleged existence of a plot that captured women to drug and abuse them.
