Author: Rok Klemše
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Ljubljana / Cvetličarna MediaPark / Slovenia
Concert date: 14.03.2011
Attendance: 600
Ticket price: 25,00€
Swedish power metal sensation Sabaton, whose popularity has been climbing steeply over the last few years, had already played here once, a little bashfully. This time they took the Cvetličarna stage as headliners for the first time, as part of their World War Tour 2011.
Credit where it’s due: the promoters invited a local band as the first opener, Postojna’s Divine Illusion, who also fit the musical package pretty well. Divine Illusion weren’t spooked by a somewhat bigger crowd than they’re used to, and in a solid half hour they confidently played nothing but their own songs from the EP Genetic. It’s commendable that the guys went that route, because their original material is more than good enough, and the move may have won them a few more fans, since the crowd, at least to me, didn’t look like the type that regularly goes to gigs by local bands.
There’s no arguing with Sabaton’s taste in music this time, because they brought along the legendary French heavy metal band Nightmare, who came sliding in from Grenoble, France, as their support act. The band can boast a thirty-year career, which, despite a twelve-year gap in the middle (1987-1999), is enriched by seven excellent studio albums packed with punchy heavy/power metal. It was a real treat to finally hear a quality opener, since our eardrums are usually assaulted before the headliners by musical freaks who, with a few rare exceptions, should have stayed in their garages for the rest of their careers. Nightmare, luckily, were a completely different story, and in three quarters of an hour they properly warmed up the already sizable crowd gathered below the stage. The energetic, charismatic frontman Joe Amore did a more than successful job of animating and egging on the audience, who followed him enthusiastically, and the short frontman used every centimeter of the stage dynamically. But even the liveliest clowning doesn’t do a band any good if the right voice doesn’t come roaring out of the throat, and Joe more than delivered with a volcanic vocal worthy of the biggest names in heavy metal. You can clearly hear that Joe grew up on the voices of greats like Ronnie James Dio, Geoff Tate, Bruce Dickinson and Biff Byford. To his phenomenal range, which stretches from epic Dio-worthy melodies, through slightly dirty rock lines reminiscent of Biff, all the way to high-screaming “air-raid” sirens of the Dickinson type, he added the gruffness and rawness of growler Chris Boltendahl. With his unique and fantastic voice he came across as an uncompromising general to his instrumental army, which fired off and cut through varied, crushing power metal lines that found exactly the right spot. Nightmare made smart use of their allotted time and took us through every album in their discography, with an emphasis on their latest record, Insurrection (2009). The set peaked with a phenomenally executed tribute to the late Dio, a fantastic rendition of the classic Holy Diver, in which Amore especially shone and proved he’s a vocalist cut from the right cloth! Nightmare were a seriously good and extremely pleasant surprise, since we only rarely get an opener this good, and with a confident and truly energetic show they surely did themselves a big favor and won over a good number of Slovenian fans.
But only one band mattered that night, which was crystal clear the moment you looked around the hall, because it was hard to find a shirt that didn’t have the Sabaton logo splashed across it. It’s hard to believe the band has expanded its fan base so much in just a few years. Remember, in 2007 Sabaton played as the opener for Grave Digger and Therion, and few of us knew the band back then. Today, four years later, Sabaton can boast an extensive worldwide tour and an enviable number of loyal fans, who are obviously still quite young. If those fans stick with the band going forward, Sabaton have nothing to fear. And after the show it’s obvious why that is, because you won’t easily find a more energetic and positive concert. The crowd, squeezed up against the stage, went nuts as soon as Europe’s classic The Final Countdown boomed out of the speakers, which has long served as the band’s intro. And when Sabaton, dressed in camouflage uniforms, march onto the stage, the audience completely loses it. The guys, with satisfied, broad smiles on their faces, pour gas into the tanks, strap on their bayonets and plunge mercilessly into the storm of World War II. Sabaton tell epic stories of the bloody battles of the Second (and First) World War, which is rather unusual as far as power metal goes, and that theme is the band’s main charm. The lyrics, a fine tribute to the men who left their lives on battlefields around the world, are the brilliant foundation for music that’s rich, full, infectiously melodic and aggressive when it needs to be. With charisma and a high-energy approach, Sabaton instantly fill the crowd with contagious energy, which ripples off the stage mostly from the vocal cords of charismatic frontman Joakim Broden. The audience adds its own roaring vocals to the epic, soaring, instantly memorable choruses, and explosions go off one after another. The fans eat out of the band’s hand as they serve up vengeance-chilled power metal crushers like Cliffs of Gallipoli, Attero Dominatus, Panzer Battalion and others. Not a single song gets overlooked, and the fans sing the war verses almost fanatically along with Joakim. The likably cheeky Joakim also does great in the banter between songs, and the instrumental foundation behind his throaty vocals is extremely solid. What’s more, the band outdid itself this time: drummer Daniel Mullback tore his Achilles tendon just a day before the Ljubljana show, and Nightmare’s drummer David Amore bravely stepped in, with only a day to learn the material. And he did it with distinction, hitting the fills like Stukas and kicking the bass drums like a B-52 bomber. Sabaton also introduced a temporary fresh force on guitar, as the lines were blasted out by Frederic Leclercq, who is otherwise the bassist of Nintendo-metal merchants Dragonforce. Fired up by the energetic crowd, the band squeezed out even more, finishing with the crushing classic Primo Victoria and the fun, cheeky tribute to metal, Metal Medley, with the Metal Machine and Metal Crüe pair, during which the rowdy Joakim even threw his ripped pants into the crowd and showed off his thighs. Sometimes, instead of evil, roaring growls and hymns to Satan, something a bit lighter hits the spot too, and that’s exactly what Sabaton are: one big party. And if the kids start listening to metal with them and maybe even learn something about the heroism of recent history from those great lyrics, all the better.
photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Setlist
SABATON: The Final Countdown / March To War (taped intro) 1. Ghost Division 2. Uprising 3. White Death 4. Cliffs of Gallipoli 5. 40:1 6. Rise Of Evil 7. Attero Dominatus 8. The Price of a Mile 9. Saboteurs 10. Panzer Battalion —encore— 11. Coat Of Arms 12. Primo Victoria 13. Metal Medley NIGHTMARE: 1. A Thrill Of Death 2. The Gospel Of Judas 3. Eternal Winter 4. Messenger Of Faith 5. Holy Diver 6. Wicked White Demon 7. Cosmovision 8. Legions Of The Rising Sun 9. Trust A Crowd
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