Date: 10/25/2023
Mood: amused
Listening to: Aegekai ni Dakarete - Iida Kaori
adventures in bootlegs #1
That's right this is my "look at Paul do this thing in the VHS tape" page. Because people are missing out on some good content. Every time any camera operator stops filming Till... it's a miracle of a tape with the most amazing stuff I swear by it.
For now...this is what it is. Click the tour dates to see the text except the small stuff I didn't put inside the cut. (True Livejournal style, I made it look like a read-more cut that site used.)
1999.06.20 - SF, California
For context of the '99 tapes, this is what he looks like in this era. His hair was growing out and he color coordinated himself. We thrive for it with one of his best vests in the Sehnsucht era.
Paul vibing to Tier and idk but I'm enjoying it. It's just me...
Look at Olli do this in Bestrafe mich!
Here he is having a fun moment in Asche's intro from this same show.
Someone gets on stage during Asche and immediately gets chased off lmao. They all play it off really good and don't react despite it being so obvious. Especially Till who was touched.
For some reason in DRSG, Richard and Till get really, really bromance and shirtless caress each other two times. I just need people to see this who aren't me.
My fave example is when Paul fucks around with lifting his vest in DRSG's bridge and idk what it means. But it's got me in a chokehold for years over it. This is exactly what I mean by 5 seconds of a video living in my head. This was the example I had in my mind when I wrote the sentence. It's so cute...
He was clearly gesturing to someone and doing this action after smiling at them. What does it MEAN? I am obsessed with it.
In DRSG's ending Paul predicts the future. Look at this!
He really said,
in 1999!!!!! (He did this in 1998 too.)
By the way, he did this because he knew he was taking the silver drop D guitar off to get the maroon for Du hast. Sorry I ruined the magical moment!
He also playfully or angrily (I wish I knew..) hits/pushes Till in the Du hast bridge. He is unbothered and ignores him to get his water and then flings water at Paul. It looks like Paul was agitated Till did something during the phone stunt, but it's hard to tell.
Shirtless encore Paul existed in Heirate mich and I just.... not in 1999! Why do you make me cope this way.
He doing Things in Laichzeit that gives 96-97 vibes throughout the whole thing. Real nice. Reminds me why I love this really dumb song.
Nobody understands my thirst for 1999 Paul because there's barely any stage images of this man in 1999. He only exists in the fantastical world of bootlegs. Look I love his 1998. Nobody can remove me from 1998 Paul especially with his white pants arc, but honestly? My fave portion of Sehnsucht is all of 1997 and all of 1999 so grossly specifically. His 1999 is criminally underrated and I'm convinced it's because the photos are so sparse. 1997 just got this vibe I can't articulate that I'm in love with, but 1999 is so hard to put to words. He looked too good with dark hair and it was growing out long since late 98. And he had like side swept bangs. We don't talk enough about him with longer dark hair.
In Laichzeit's interlude, Till starts singing "eins, zwo, eins, zwo, eins, zwo, drei, vier" Very weird though. No idea what that was.
One of my fave old Rammstein things is when they ended Laichzeit with the slow outro which led the guitarists to slowly backing into each other so they could do the intro to Wollt ihr in one flow. That's my fave of the era.
Paul rotating in Wollt ihr and then later... that.
Not damn shirtless Paul content from damn 1999. Why.
Singing Rammstein chants out of sync because he wants to. What a legend. I titled the mp4 clip "Rammstein, but My Way".
1999.06.06 - Montreal, Canada
Paul takes his vest off within three songs of this show. He didn't even make it to the encore. He took it off during Flake's dance break in WF.
He giving me 1996's VHS concert vibes which was also the start of the concert three songs deep.
Der Meister start: clothed
Der Meister ending: shirtless
Look at Richard lick Paul's shoulder in the intro to Asche lmao. We have multi-angles of this.
Paul smiles over seeing it from the corner of his eye. He's just gonna taste like salty sweat. It looks like Reesh barely touched him though if you go frame by frame like a weirdo. Don't tell 1999 Paul and Richard what happens in 2019. Let them live in their ignorance, stilted relations, anger and awkwardness.
For every valid and true reason on this planet, Paul brushes his long 1999 hair in the middle of the second verse of DRSG
LOOK AT THIS!!! NOW.
He like, pulls a brush or comb out of his POCKET!? What else he hiding in those pants we don't know about? I didn't even realize he had a functional back pocket on those pants. I always figured stage outfits are just aesthetic designed and not functional clothes. His pockets are real pockets...
He going a bit wild in DRSG again like he used to. He always gets a bit deep into this song during old performances of it.
Earlier he also walked to Schneider for seemingly no reason, hopped down to spin around a whole bunch on one leg. Paul walking to hang out with Schneider on stage is my fave genre. He does this in many eras! Very normal for him ever since he and Schneider became friendly during Sehnsucht in real-time. By the time you get to Mutter era, their friendship becomes public obvious.
Honestly, this DRSG has Paul walking all over the place repeatedly. He and Reesh even swap places so bizarrely to what you're used to.
Look, my bizarre kink is when Paul puts his guitar to the side to gesture his way through the Du hast first verse. In modern times, the entire crowd sings the verses. You all know this part. It's famous today when done live and Paul still does some arm gestures through it (but differently than here). Once this song gained popularity, the guitarists concocted this way they played it for several years with gestures that are clearly things they choreographed and talked about doing with each other. In verse two, they both do the same gesture for the crowd call synchronized near their ears.
Look at this man now:
Paul is excellent at gesture articulating with his hands. He does this in interviews a lot as some kind of base instinct. Once you know he gestures with his hands a lot, you're never gonna forget and unsee it.
Here's a modern version.
Reesh's goes for Till's shoulder too. Someone stop him. Or don't.
Paul and Reesh share a mic at the end of Du hast and this is some modern Stadium Tour Mein herz brennt level content from 1999. Love it. And they swap places again like the end of DRSG.
I told you, there is no part of me that doesn't love the Laichzeit and Wollt ihr transition. It was perfect and when they dropped Laichzeit from the set, it actually made transitions to Wollt ihr weird.
Sometimes when they do this explosion stunt timing, it doesn't always look good because someone or something de-syncs. Or the camera recorder misses it. This was perfect!!
Paul falls over at the end of the show on the floor. Amazing performance! Till literally walks past him without a single ounce of concern. He really is my fave person on stage, I told you. He does the best random bullshit ever.
1998.10.23 - St. Louis, MO (Family Values Tour)
Paul goes a little wild in Tier like.... okay...?
The best 1998 Family Values Tour bootleg of Paul is 1998.10.30 Uniondale, NY.
You have to see the WHOLE thing. All forty minutes. He is absolutely 10/10 the whole way through it. There is not a single moment on stage he isn't doing something entertaining as hell. He's going hard af in this for no reason.
He is entertaining as heck in Sehnsucht, Bestrafe mich, and in Asche he plays around with Olli during that song. This is definitely a must watch entirely.
1998.10.04 - Minneapolis, MN (Family Values Tour)
I have very little to say about this show except you need to see Sehnsucht when some butt head throws toilet paper on the stage. First of all, this is objectively funny. Second of all, this is also dangerous because of the fire at that moment. Feels like they aimed for the fire on the right but hit the drums instead because they overshot the force of the throw. And did it intentionally trying to ignite it. Americans are a plague when club and stage fires are some of the most dangerous things and had many high profile cases in the 90s in the US over this danger. Schneider's drum kit actually saved this from being worse.
But I want to set the stage for you. Imagine you're me. It's like 2013 or something and you're watching this bootleg for the first time in your life. Your age is 21. It's like 2am and all you drink is diet Pepsi for some absurd young brain reason and you're high as hell on caffeine content from it. This moment in Sehnsucht is the funniest thing ever put into a video. I laughed so hard I was crying for at least 15 minutes. Even today, making this post, I laughed several times rewatching it. This is the actual bullshit that can only happen in 1998 and in the USA. At a show with people who are into Limp Bizkit and Korn. I swear to the gods, only here in this pristine moment of the stars aligning in 98 could this happen.