By: Andrew Rawlinson
Sabaton | website | facebook |
Support: Korpiklaani | website
Waterfront, Norwich | November 28, 2014
The Swedish panzer battalion thunders into Norwich for the opening night of the ‘Battle Of Britain’ tour and, with the backup of fellow Nordic allies, it promises to be a riotous bonanza of heavy metal excellence!
Despite being 6:30pm on a Friday night, a healthy crowd is already present to greet Faroe Islands rockers Tyr . After suffering a false start caused by technical issues, the band are evidently up for it as they open with a thundering ‘Blood of Heroes’ that has the front rows fist pumping with abandon. Thankfully Tyr are no longer the dull plodders from my last encounter with the band in 2008. Instead, they are now energetic and engaging as they quite rightly stick with the anthemic up-tempo metal numbers form the ‘Valkyrja’ and ‘By the Light of the Northern Star’ albums , finishing with ‘By the Sword in My Hand’. They seem frustrated they couldn’t play longer, but mission accomplished in winning over the crowd.
All three bands have brought a metric shit ton of merch with them that takes up the entire back of the venue from the entrance to the bar – one neat trick to push the crowd forward towards the stage I guess!
Finnish folk metal act Korpiklaani should by rights be megastars in the metal world as they have the songs and the image. But their curious and haphazard live show continues to hold them back, and tonight is no exception. The expectant crowd laps up the opening folk laced numbers of ‘Ruumiinmultaa’ and ‘Metsamies’ leading into a barnstormingly jaunty ‘Juodaan Viinaa’ that has the crowd going bonkers… they then ruin this momentum by running through several mid paced ‘serious’ metal numbers. After a new song is played (introduced comically by frontman Jonne Järvelä who continuously stumbles over his words until the violinist politely asks him to “Shut up and Sing!”) they drop in the winning combo of ‘Vodka’ and ‘Ratua’ that reignites the atmosphere. Fun none the less but could and should have been so much more, also interestingly no ‘fan favorites’ such as ‘Happy Little Boozer’, ‘Beer Beer’ etc.
“Sabaton! Sabaton! Sabaton! Sabaton!….”
Sabaton on the other hand have the live show nailed to a t, and are reaping the rewards. The crowd chants of their name become increasingly loud and determined until the opening refrains of ‘The Final Countdown’ has them singing along to the words and riffs. The Swedish war machine blast straight out the blocks with the customary set opener ‘Ghost Division’, followed up by new album track ‘To Hell and Back’. Band and crowd are in fine form, the former firing on all cylinders and sounding monstrous while the latter are singing back word for word loudly and head banging for all there worth (yes, me included obviously!)
As well as the anthemic heavy metal anthems played at full throttle, another part of a Sabaton show is stage banter from frontman Joakim Brodén – a master of working a crowd. Tonight he regales an amusing anecdote about the difference between English and American pub banter before launching into crowd favorite ‘40:1’
Set List diplomacy is also a reoccurring feature of their headline shows, as we are given a choice over whether to hear ‘Soldier Of Three Armies’ or Smoking Snakes’ (cheer for this song, cheer if you want that song.) But the band seem genuinely taken aback when we instead demand to have both… so they play both! No such luck later on in the set when given a choice of three songs (‘White Death’, ‘Screaming Eagles’ or ‘Uprising’) that see’s ‘Screaming Eagles’ victorious despite a very passionate demand for White Death from the group behind me! Also, before playing ‘Gott Mit Uns’ from ‘Carolus Rex’, they ask if we want to hear it in English or Swedish – Swedish wins by a landslide.
Earlier in the set Joakim states they are playing songs from every album, including the lesser known ‘Metallizer’. They run through ‘7744’ (which handily is a bonus song on Heroes, so no awkward silence from the crowd here), which is followed up by a crushing rendition of ‘Attero Dominatus’. After this, Joakim himself picks up a guitar for ‘Resist and Bite’ and engages in an extended ‘guitar off’ with fellow guitarists Chris Rörland and Thobbe Englund. They frantically play solos and Joakim responds with Metallica and Iron Maiden riffs (the joke being he can’t solos).
The afore mentioned Screaming Eagles finishes the main set, and after a short encore break they blitz though a furious ‘Night Witches’ and a bouncing ‘Swedish Pagans’ before the customary rousing epic ‘Primo Victoria’ sees everyone jumping like lemons. After a brief chat and drum solo, the gloriously silly ‘Metal Crue’ delivers the coup de grâce on another righteously enjoyable display by a band the never fails!
“Sabaton! Sabaton! Sabaton! Sabaton!….”
Set List
Ghost Division
To Hell And Back
Carolus Rex
40:1
Got Mit Uns
Soldier Of 3 Armies
Smoking Snakes
Art Of War
7744
Attero Dominatus
Resist & Bite
Screaming Eagles
———————–
Night Witches
Swedish Pagans
Primo Victoria
Metal Crue
