Rammstein Guitarist: Ghost is “Not a Stadium Band”

There’s really only a handful of hard rock and heavy metal bands that are popular enough to fill a stadium these days, and most of them are, for lack of a better world, old. Like, bully for Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, and Iron Maiden, abut the youngest member of any of those bands who actually matters (e.g., not Melissa Reese) is in their fifties. Even bands as successful as Mötley Crüe, Def Leppard, Slipknot, Korn, and System of a Down have to combine forces or be part of a larger bill to sell that many tickets (and, again, most of the members of those bands are eligible for AARP memberships).

So who’s gonna step up and fill these bands’ collective shoes when they’re all gone? Richard Kruspe, guitarist for Rammstein — who can themselves headline stadiums — predicts that it’s gonna be… er… nobody.

Speaking recently with Summa Inferno, Kruspe calls Metallica and his own band “dinosaurs” before proclaiming, “The time for bands that can fill stadiums is about to run out.”

The interviewer then points out that Ghost are getting mighty popular, to which Kruspe replies, “Yes, but [they do] not fill a stadium” and reiterating that the days of rock bands being that popular are certainly going to end.

This is the kind of statement that tends to piss off a certain type of fan, I think because said certain type of fan reads it as “metal is going to die.” Whether that much larger statement is true or not is a whole debate unto itself… but Kruspe’s actual point — that there simply aren’t that many Metallicas left — is undeniable. Who knows what the next ten years could hold, but eleven years into Ghost’s career, it does seem unlikely that they’ll be headlining their own version of Summer Sanitarium or Knotfest or whatever circa 2031.

So we can’t really argue about that. But what we can argue about is why this is the case and if there’s anything that can be done about it.

Regarding the latter issue, I’d say “probably not.” There simply isn’t any young band out there right now whose career has even begun to hint at such a vast level of success.

Regarding the former issue, I think it’s a mixture of all the usual bullshit: things change, certain forms of art go in and out of favor with the masses, modern technology has made it much easier to find niche bands so the market is more divided, and, oh yeah, us metalheads aren’t always the most forward-thinking bunch. Sergeant D. tried to warn us all about this weakness eight years ago, and evidently, we didn’t listen. We’ve no one to blame but ourselves.

Rammstein are tentatively scheduled to released a new album sometime in the first half of 2022. Here are all of their upcoming live dates, be they at stadiums or arenas:

Europe:

May 20 Leipzig Red Bull Arena [tickets]
May 21 Leipzig Red Bull Arena [tickets]
May 25 Klagenfurt Wörthersee Stadion [tickets]
May 30 Zurich Stadion Letzigrund [tickets]
May 31 Zurich Stadion Letzigrund [tickets]
June 4 Berlin Olympiastadion [tickets]
June 5 Berlin Olympiastadion [tickets]
June 10 Stuttgart Cannstatter Wasen [tickets]
June 11 Stuttgart, Cannstatter Wasen [tickets]
June 14 Hamburg Volksparkstadion [tickets]
June 15 Hamburg Volksparkstadion [tickets]
June 18 Düsseldorf Merkur Spiel-Arena [tickets]
June 19 Düsseldorf Merkur Spiel-Arena [tickets]
June 22 Aarhus Ceres Park [tickets]
June 26 Coventry Ricoh Arena [tickets]
June 30 Cardiff Principality Stadium [tickets]
July 4 Nijmegen Goffertpark [tickets]
July 8 Lyon Groupama Stadium [tickets]
July 9 Lyon Groupama Stadium [tickets]
July 12 Turin Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino [tickets]
July 16 Warsaw PGE Narodowy [tickets]
July 20 Tallinn Song Festival Grounds [tickets]
July 24 Oslo Bjerke Travbane [tickets]
July 29 Gothenburg Ullevi Stadium [tickets]
July 30 Gothenburg Ullevi Stadium [tickets]
August 3 Ostend Park De Nieuwe Koers [tickets]

North America:

Sunday, August 21, 2022 – Montreal, QC – Parc Jean-Drapeau [tickets]
Saturday, August 27, 2022 – Minneapolis, MN – U.S. Bank Stadium [tickets]
Wednesday, August 31, 2022 – Philadelphia, PA – Lincoln Financial Field [tickets]
Saturday, September 3, 2022 – Chicago, IL – Soldier Field [tickets]
Tuesday, September 6, 2022 – East Rutherford, NJ – MetLife Stadium [tickets]
Friday, September 9, 2022 – Foxborough, MA – Gillette Stadium [tickets]
Saturday, September 17, 2022 – San Antonio, TX – Alamodome [tickets]
Friday, September 23, 2022 – Los Angeles, CA – Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum [tickets]
Saturday, September 24, 2022 – Los Angeles, CA – Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum*** [tickets]
Saturday, October 1, 2022 – Mexico City, MX – Foro Sol [tickets]
Sunday, October 2, 2022 – Mexico City, MX – Foro Sol [tickets]
Tuesday, October 4, 2022 – Mexico City, MX – Foro Sol [tickets]

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