Author: Sebastijan Videc
Photos: Jerneja Jerak
Venue: Tvornica Kulture, Zagreb, Croatia
Concert date: 02.02.2015
Ten years and over a thousand shows. Not many bands can boast numbers like that, but Sabaton can. With that many gigs under their belt, it’s no wonder they’re regular guests on our stages as well as Zagreb’s. The tank division under General Joakim’s command tirelessly tramples stages all over the world and picks up more followers year after year. Infectious melodies and rhythms, combined with lyrics about the heroics of individuals caught in the storms of war, have rocketed this band into the top tier of the most popular metal acts in just a few years. And on Monday at Tvornica kulture in Zagreb, it was no different.
For this tour, the Swedish war machine obviously decided to spruce up the stage a bit and brought along not one but two bands with female vocals. First to take the stage were Finland’s Battle Beast. The young lineup won the Wacken festival’s contest for unsigned bands in 2010 and released their first album ‘Steel’ in Finland the following year. That same year Nuclear Blast noticed them and took care of the worldwide release. 2012 also brought a change of singer; Nitte Vallo left the band because of family troubles, and blonde Noora Louhimo took over behind the mic. And how does a female voice work in power metal? Brilliantly! The hall was pretty empty when the show started, but within a few minutes their music had filled it up nicely. Battle Beast play really catchy metal that goes straight to your ears and doesn’t leave anyone cold. The music may not be the most technically demanding, but it wears the strong influences of their idols on its sleeve, from Iron Maiden and Judas Priest to more modern bands, and with the keyboards even a bit of Sabaton. The performance was energetic despite the tiny amount of space on stage – every war demands sacrifices, and since Sabaton haul a drum tank around with them, the support acts are literally squeezed onto the stage. The Finns made the most of their half-hour set, and the positive energy in the hall was the cherry on top. A band to keep an eye on in the future!
The temperature in the hall hadn’t really dropped yet when the Netherlands’ Delain took their slice of the stage. The symphonic metallers sound a lot like their countrymen Within Temptaion, which is no surprise given that co-founder Martijn Westerholt is a former member of that band. The band’s miles on the road showed, because they delivered their set without compromise. Towering Otto Schimmelpenninck van der Oije made sure the sound was nice and full with crushing bass and the occasional growl, while Martijn added atmosphere on keyboards. On this tour, fans missed guitarist Timo Somers. His spot was filled by young Merel Bechtold, not even 23 yet, who normally earns her living in yet another Dutch symphonic metal band, MaYaN, founded by Mark Jansen (Epica). They say poison comes in small bottles, and tiny Merel proved it – with a Bo-El seven-string through Engl amps she crushed her way through her interpretation of Timo’s creations, which neither he nor any other seasoned guitarist would be ashamed of. That leaves us with the lovely Charlotte, who raised the temperature especially among the male half of the audience. In a semi-transparent top and no bra, she let imaginations run wild, and you had to wonder how much of the crowd was actually listening to the music. It peaked with the farewell before the last song, when the sturdy Croats started chanting »Get your t*ts out so we can play!« Despite all that, Charlotte showed that her »lungs« deliver a voice that may not be as high as Within Temptaion’s or Nightwish’s, but is still delicate enough to make a lovely contrast to the low-tuned guitars. The crowd, meanwhile, was totally in a trance and nicely warmed up for the stars of the night.
For Sabaton, Monday’s show was already their fifth in the Croatian capital. The start held no surprises – when the sheets dropped off the huge tank drum rig and the opening bars of their countrymen’s mega-hit The Final Countdown blasted out of the speakers, the packed Tvornica went wild; the whole hall sang along with Europe, and when that morphed into the instrumental intro March to War, the air got as tense as the moment before an assault on fortified enemy positions. The classic opener Ghost Division put the hall on its feet right away and proved once again that the band is still at its peak – both musically and live. To be honest, it’s hard to find as much positivity and as many smiles as radiate from their stage. And of course Joakim’s jokes between songs were back too – although this time his tiny penis and calls for one more beer weren’t front and center. Croatian, Polish and Swedish flags waved over this crowd of loyal »soldiers«, and they had plenty of Slovenian company, too, in last year’s Metaldays shirts. By the fifth song we already had the first vote, with the crowd clearly voting for Gott Mit Uns to be played in Swedish, and later A Lifetime of War followed in the same language (it outvoted Carolyn’s Prayer). Chris had the honor of singing the first verse on the former, and in general he, Thobbe and Pär all pitched in eagerly on backing vocals. One of the highlights of the night came when, after one of the songs, the audience spontaneously started singing the melody of Swedish Pagans, a bonus track from the album The Art of War, and the band had no choice but to play it. As I mentioned earlier, the fun didn’t let up either. Joakim claimed he’s a master guitar player and that Michael Jackson had picked him as his touring guitarist, but sadly death got there first, so he had to settle for a career as a singer. When a roadie brought him a guitar, he played the intro to Beat It, after which Chris challenged him with a wild solo and Thobbe sent him back to school with a solo of his own. Then Joakim started noodling through Iron Maiden, but the joke ended with the band launching into Resist And Bite, and while both guitarists played the solo parts in thirds, Joakim had the honor of playing rhythm guitar. When the song ended, Joakim kicked off the Seek&Destroy riff, but a roadie with huge garden shears snipped the strings on his guitar and shoved a microphone into his hands – to roaring laughter on and below the stage, naturally. The guys also decided to play at least one song from every album, which meant we got 7734 from the rarely played album Metalizer. Otherwise the setlist held no big surprises, with the bulk of the songs coming from the current Heroes and the previous Carolus Rex. When the final notes of Metal Crüe faded away, the hall completely exploded, and it looked like the guys said goodbye to the fanatical and fantastic crowd with heavy hearts.
Setlist
Battle Beast
1. Far Far Away
2. Black Ninja
3. Touch in the Night
4. Madness
5. Iron Hand
6. Out of Control
Delain
1. Mother Machine
2. Get the Devil Out of Me
3. Army of Dolls
4. Go Away
5. Pristine
6. Sleepwalkers Dream
7. Stardust
8. Not Enough
9. We Are The Others
Sabaton
The Final Countdown (intro)
March to War (intro)
1. Ghost Division
2. To Hell And Back
3. Carolus Rex
4. Soldier of 3 Armies
6. Gott Mit Uns
7. The Art of War
8. 7734
9. Swedish Pagans
10. Resist And Bite
11. 40:1
12. A Lifetime of War
13. Far From the Fame
14. Coat of Arms
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15. Night Witches
16. Primo Victoria
17. Metal Crüe
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