Rammstein allegations spotlight concert safety for women

Rammstein's Europe Stadium Tour is being overshadowed by accusations of sexual assault against singer Till Lindemann. Starting Wednesday, the band will give four sold-out concerts in the southern German city of Munich at the Olympiastadion.

Three more concerts are planned in July for Berlin. So far, there is no talk of canceling the concerts or even stopping the tour, as long as the public prosecutor's office does not officially investigate Rammstein. The band has now itself hired a law firm to investigate the allegations.

In the meantime, German lawmakers have also become involved and are calling for an enhanced security concept at the Rammstein concerts as well as for other major events. There will be no after-show parties at the upcoming Rammstein concerts.

Also out is the so-called "Row Zero" — the area between the stage and the audience where selected fans celebrate and are invited to party afterward. From this zone Till Lindemann — according to the as yet unconfirmed allegations — is said to have "helped himself" to sex backstage.

German Federal Minister for Family Affairs Lisa Paus has also demanded more protection for women at concerts from the music industry.

The fallout continued on Tuesday when Alena Makeeva, a Russian woman accused of recruiting women to engage in sexual acts with Lindemann, was banned from all further concerts.

Makeeva was described as the band's "casting director" and had been working for them since 2019, according to German newspaper Die Welt.

Swedish festival gains unwanted notoriety

In 2017, the Swedish Bravalla Festival was in the spotlight after several sexual assaults were reported — including three rapes. A 15-year-old girl was even allegedly abused in the crowd. The year before, five rapes were reported.

The exact numbers of violations is difficult to say, given that many women still do not dare to report the perpetrators out of shame, despite efforts to remove the stigma with the #MeToo movement.

In June 2018, festival organizer FKP Scorpio confirmed that all future events had been shelved.

'Dark figure' studies attempt to find real numbers

In response to the incidents in Sweden, so-called dark figure studies were carried out that made it possible to ascertain the number of assaults actually committed more precisely.

In 2018, for example, the British polling institute YouGov surveyed more than 1,000 female and male festivalgoers about their experiences.

The results showed that one-fifth of all visitors, regardless of gender, had already been harassed. Among women under 40, the figure was as high as 43%.

Only 2% of those affected reported the incident to the police — hence the "dark figure" studies, which attempt to uncover numbers more accurately, as many are afraid that they will not be believed, that they will not be taken seriously or that the incident will be played down.

Safe spaces and code words

Glastonbury, where the largest festival in England with over 200,000 visitors takes place, has offered a women's section in front of the stages since 2016. Organizers describe this sanctuary as an "intersectional, queer, trans, and disability-friendly space." It is open to, and run exclusively by, people who identify as women. This "sisterhood" is well-used.

In 2017, Hamburg-based FKP Scorpio, one of the largest festival organizers in Europe, came up with a simple but effective mechanism — people in such trouble can contact festival staff using the code word "Panama." These can be stand operators, paramedics, police officers or people working in security.

If the word or phrase "Which way to Panama?" is uttered, the person is immediately removed from the situation, without their having to give reasons, and taken to a protected zone. When there, it is up to the person to decide whether or not to report a crime.

All festivals organized by FKP Scorpio, such as "Hurricane", "Southside", "Deichbrand" or "M'era Luna," use the "Panama" code. At the Cologne reggae festival "Summerjam," the code word is "Edelgard" — a term combining antiquated words for noble and guard in German.

The "Panama" system has caught on and is now used at many large events, in clubs and at major soccer matches.

To make fans feel even safer, many event organizers rely on so-called "awareness teams" or "A-teams". They move around the entire event site in a recognizable manner to give fans food for thought about sexism, homophobia and racism. And, of course, they are direct points of contact when problems arise.

Female presence can also help protect

Wacken Open Air relies on a large female presence in its security team. Almost half of the staff are women — right down to the head of security, Heidrun Vogler. She believes that a large female presence in this area, in particular, will make men more inhibited.

"At the end of the day, the field in front of the stages is cleared," Vogler explained to the women's magazine Emma.

"There are about 60% men and 40% women on duty, asking drunken men and women to leave the festival grounds," she says. "The men tend to listen to a woman who says: 'Come on, tomorrow is another day!' They think it's great that there's a woman working as security and then they leave."

'That's not metal'

Crimes like sexual assaults clash with the ideas of freedom, happiness, togetherness and escape from everyday life that should go hand-in-hand with music festivals, where it is hoped people go simply to "let their hair down."

Alcohol? Sure. Sleep? Barely. Partying? Of course. No showers for days on end? It's part and parcel of the event. Unhealthy food, you bet!

But when people do harm to others, it goes beyond the limits of what is acceptable, even amid such an atmosphere. In Wacken, they say: "That's not metal."

This article has been adapted from German.