Paul Landers LIFAD/MiG Photo Origins 2009–2013

Date: 08/09/2025

Mood: recovering

Listening to: Where the Dark Things Are - Kerli

Research summary

This page documents photo origin and context research for Paul Landers images from the Rammstein LIFAD and Made in Germany era. It focuses on hotel backgrounds, airport footage, tour date usage, and clothing/jewelry clues.

Main era: 2009-2013
Focus: Paul Landers with fan photos, hotel photos, airport videos, and location corrections
Research methods: tour dates, clothing clues, jewelry, hotel interiors, and video footage

For broader visual tour identification, see my LIFAD vs MiG guide. For the larger image dump from this era, see rare LIFAD/MiG photos.

I started to buckle down on making the gallery organized. I never had a need to do this with my photo collection before as it was meant only for myself. I started digging into images to align their sources. This took me down the LIFAD / MiG era rabbit hole. I am here to share my findings with the class. Because I quickly realized information about photos is vanishing. The 2009-13 time period of R+ is poorly documented despite being highly digital. I am out here studying airport and hotel photos like am a private investigator CSI with "zoom, enhance, check the doorknob, walls and building scaffolding, triangulate the coordinates" levels.

This is largely due to the closing of fansites and the way forums vanished with information pertaining images written down. Nothing has been properly archived in the Wayback Machine. The wipe of Rosenrot.ca was detrimental. I have tried to compile my research here so it lives a few more years in a search engine. You are welcome! I cannot tell you about your mysterious Till photo you have. Yet maybe my Paul research will help someone else figure it out using the overlapped similar backgrounds as stemming from the same moment or location. I did my best work I could overlapping tour dates (rammwiki.net) and consulting the sacred texts (tripadvisor.com).

If you ever wondered, "what is the context for this Paul jpg??", I am trying very very hard to help.

Dating Clues

Why I date some photos to 2010

From late 2009 (probably October) to approximately August 2010, he wore a black earring. Or two. On stage too. If you ever see him with a black earring on our right (his left) ear, that's 2010. If you see on the left (his right), that he has NO earring - that means he's wearing a black one on a single side. It wasn't symmetrical.

Paul Landers with an asymmetrical black earring in LIFAD era with a fan — 2010 dating clue: black earring worn on his left ear during this period.

Paul Landers at Royal Bar in Russia with a visible black earring in 2010 — 2010 dating clue: black earring worn on his left ear during this period.

Why I date some photos to 2013

Imagine you're him on tour traveling from home. What do you pack in your bag? No, seriously. Answer the question. You'd pack clothes. Okay, well you can't bring your whole closet can you? Now imagine you're on tour for like ~2 months on and off for weeks and weeks. Guess what happens? You repeat your clothes. You keep having your fancy hotel dry clean and wash your shirts. Your bag space is limited. So you probably packed ~5 shirts and maybe ~5 pants at most. Maybe two of those pants are actually shorts because it's summer. You'll bring one leather coat, one pair of sunglasses, and one beanie. Alright, now you're thinking like Paul. You feel me?

He ends up wearing the same clothes in fan selfies constantly. 2013 has remarkable traits of: red button shirt, white button shirt, dark navy blue button shirt, light grey shirt. Also, in 2013 he changes from three bracelets to two bracelets.

Corrections

Manchester, UK — February 2, 2012

Verdict: This set is Manchester, not Liverpool, and the date is February 2, 2012.

Wrong label: March 2 or Liverpool.
Why that fails: The tour schedule places the band elsewhere in Russia and Latvia on March 2.
Location clue: The street background matches Manchester. Which is a location of a show that day.

Paul Landers, Christoph Schneider, and Oliver Riedel outside in Manchester, UK, February 2012 street — Manchester hotel/street photo set from two outings of the band. Including Schneider, Olli, Richard, and Flake.

Paul Landers, Christoph Schneider, Richard Kruspe, and Flake Lorenz outside in Manchester, UK, February 2012 hotel — Manchester hotel/street photo set from two outings of the band. Including Schneider, Olli, Richard, and Flake.

Unknown 2012

Verdict: Far more likely to be 2012.

Wrong label: 2010/04/09
Why that fails: There is literally no show on or near April 9th, nor September 4th for the entire tour cycle of both LIFAD and MiG.

Paul Landers casually with a fan after a concert circa 2012 — Silver earring and silver confetti from Amerika's stunt point to Made in Germany from 2012.

Bree's notes:

This woman's camera is incorrectly dated and setup. I was very peeved by this photo because of the black earring lore. This is silver. Her friend's camera is 100% wrong. I wanted to find a more possible date of origin. At least a range. My thought was the month and year may be off by a year or two. Many digital cameras would lag years like this if they didn't have batteries inside them for a time. Putting this at like March or May 2011 or 2012 which would make more sense for both tour cycles. She clearly did attend a concert because on her arm is silver confetti she collected. It's not a random moment of meeting Paul. She is dressed for a show, so.

If her camera is off by a month, this makes the more likely answer one of these choices:

May 8th/9th 2011 - Toronto, Canada
March 8th/9th 2012 - Belgium
May 8th 2012 - Minnesota, USA
May 10th 2012 - Winnipeg, Canada

Because of her silver confetti, I was thinking that could only come from Amerika on the set list. That would only make it the 2012 shows in that case.

Hotel Research

I have spent weeks deciphering hotels in the background with a higher than usual amount. When I did this, it helped organize folders way better.

Identified LIFAD/MiG era hotel photo locations
Date	Country	Hotel	City	Evidence
2010.02	Belarus	Crowne Plaza	Minsk	flag and wall text
2010.02	Russia	Ararat Park	Moscow	video
2010.03	Ukraine	Unknown	Unknown	Unsolved
2010.11	Argentina	Faena Hotel	Buenos Aires	brick wall F and archway entry match. video
2010.11	Chile	W	Santiago	video / photo
2010.12	Colombia	Radisson	Bogota	video
2010.12	Mexico	W	Mexico City	video / video
2012.02	Russia	The Ritz-Carlton	Moscow	video
2012.03	UK	Great John Street	Manchester	wall with hotel name
2013.04	Italy	Grand Majestic	Bologna	Italian text
2013.06	Finland	Hotel Kamp	Helsinki	restaurant connected to hotel visible
2013.06	Poland	Intercontinental Warsaw	Warsaw	furniture upholstery is the same
2013.06	Russia	Renaissance Hotel	Samara	wall text / Cyrillic
2013.07	France	Grand Hotel De La Reine	Nancy	video
2013.07	Italy	Astoria Hotel	Udine	text on wall

Bree's notes:

I tried "5 star hotels" in every city they played the tour legs lol. After twice, I caught onto the Marriott and started seeking out their 5/4 star hotels in the cities played. W, Renaissance, and Ritz-Carlton are all Marriott.

This photo from the Ritz-Carlton is one of my all time faves.

Why? God, I wish I knew. It's slightly blurry in motion. Maybe I just like his side profile. Maybe I'm damaged over a man in his late 40s. Maybe both.

What did I learn?
Every hotel is probably a luxury 5-star hotel. The rooms and amenities are nice.
Average price per night was $300-500 USD... per person.
Management often picks hotels associated to Marriott. They may get bulk rates or something.
2010 = black scarf with floral pattern, grey bird beanie, multi-colored scarf, J. Lindeberg coat
2010 = summer clothes = probably NA or SA where it was warm
2012 + late 2011 = blue scarf, big over coat

What did I gain? Oh my godddd, I could write the most descriptive, accurate, and detailed fanfic about a hotel with Paul ever conceived in the history of anything. I have looked at every hotel's room suites and dining area out of blind curiosity. The best hotels in my opinion are Ararat and the Ritz-Carlton for most appealing to my taste of where I'd want him located. Yay Russian hotels. They just have the most appealing suites and bedding fabric looks soft to me and fluffy. I also liked the Ararat's bathrooms. The Ritz-Carlton was impeccably nice looking in general that I'd want to live there lol. The most aesthetically pleasing is the 2013 Italian one of the Grand Majestic. Wow, that place is gorgeous!! It looks like a girl's fantasy dream of a princess house. It tingles my inner little girl looking at it. I guess it's like the IRL version of the Animal Crossing Princess and Rococo furniture sets from New Leaf!

I love hotels and cities. I love big cities. (Chicago born girl at heart.) I love the bustle and aesthetic. Hotels are my hobby and when I was very young, my dream shortly was to work at an airport... (insane I know). Looking up all the hotels he stayed at satiated so many internal fantasy desires and voyeurism in my mind to accompany the outside photos. Loved it. 10/10 experience. I really could write the fic lmao.

Airport Research

2010.12 Colombia

Gallery album: 2010.12
Evidence: video

Paul Landers, Flake Lorenz, and Christoph Schneider at a Colombian airport in December 2010

Paul Landers with a fan at a Colombian airport in December 2010

2010.12 Argentina

Gallery album: 2010.12
Evidence: video (arrival) / video (departure)
Notes: Yes, the fandom famous child on the floor photo is from Argentina! It will never not be funny.

Paul Landers walking through an airport in Argentina in December 2010

Paul Landers and Till Lindemann exiting an airport in Argentina in December 2010

2010.11 Chile

Gallery album: 2010.11
Evidence: video

Paul Landers and Oliver Riedel walking through an airport in Chile in November 2010

Random Photo Lore & Dates

2010.02 XXXX Bar

Gallery album: 2010.02
Notes: I have positively identified these photos to the XXXX Bar in Saint Petersburg Russia. Random women dressed like this was normal for the bar based on the socmed. There ya go ladies. Context. Needed context. The men there were Richard, Till, Schneider, and Paul. Reesh was hardly photographed with Paul so I don't have them. Till was not in any Paul images so...

2010.02 Royal Bar

Gallery album: 2010.02
Notes: This same range of time also had these three appear at another Russian event at a bar. My theory is, some of them were publicity pushed to appear at these events. I suspect it was an agreement with Russian local authorities or promoters. This does not happen often during this tour cycle. This is not a proper after party thing in either appearance. It appears to be taken between February 25th to Mar 1st when they were in Russia. The Royal Bar ones are Feb 27th. I would think XXXX was the 26th or 25th. In this time of Moscow, they also did the fan photos.

2010.11 Chile concert venue

Gallery album: 2010.11

2010.11 Chile (streets)

Gallery album: 2010.11
Notes: I have confirmed the street sign in the background matches the sign's designs of the road the hotel is on. Same country.

2010.06 Austria - Club Pi

Gallery album: 2010.06
Notes: Suspected to be some place called Club Pi. The site is a defunct nightlife website that is primarily about Austria's scene. I suspect this is from June 2010 due to them playing a festival show that month. The images meet criteria for spring/summer 2010.

2013.06 Shiryaevo Samara Volga Russia

Gallery album: 2013.06
Notes: I have found a prevalent issue with these photos being misunderstood by anyone who is unfamiliar with the area. They mistakenly get labeled Ukraine and Shiryaevo a lot; which is a real place too. But these are Shiryaevo Samara in Russia. At the Volga river. Welcome to misinterpretation hell. Because if you just say, "Shiryaevo" you end up in Ukraine via Google. I found random instances of them mistakenly labeled Ukraine as a result. After doing deep digging on the photos and background, I have correctly promised they are Shiryaevo, Samara, Russia which is where Rock on Volga was held.