Sabaton - Corporation, Sheffield - 11th November 2012 (Live Review)
Wednesday, 14 November 2012
Written by Alec Chillingworth
There’s something romantically ironic about Sabaton playing in Sheffield tonight; the fact that a band who’ve written seven albums about war are performing on Remembrance Day could seem like a somewhat distasteful choice by some. To the rest of us, however, it’s an illustrious celebration of all things cheesy.
Wisdom aren’t mucking about, taking to the stage just about ten minutes after doors open. Playing to a mostly-empty crowd should be a stupidly embarrassing ordeal, but front man Gabor Nagy shows no sign of deterrence, throwing shapes all over the place and shredding air-guitar licks like someone from a Guitar Hero game. Wisdom’s meat and potatoes approach to power metal appropriately whets the appetite of the now-full audience; a cheeky rendition of Iron Maiden’s classic track 'Wasted Years' bags them the first sing-along of the night.
Any reservations held against the various folk instruments dotted across the stage are thrown right onto the cold streets of Sheffield as soon as Eluveitie tear into their first song. Their mixture of traditional Celtic music and brutally melodic Gothenburg-tinged metal goes down a treat tonight, pummelling anything and everything foolish enough to stand in its way. Crowd participation is at a ridiculous level during this gem of a set, especially when you consider that the majority of their lyrics are written in the now-defunct Gaulish language. Hurdy gurdy player Anna Murphy beams from ear to ear, almost as if she can’t fathom the stupendous reaction erupting from the heaving mosh pit materialising front of her. Towards the end of Eluveitie’s reign of the stage, the crowd are told to show new guitarist Rafael Salzmann what ‘a REAL metal crowd looks like.’ Predictably, the crowd complies. Rafael now knows what a REAL metal crowd looks like.
The gauntlet has been thrown down. The bar has been raised. Can Sabaton possibly hope to compete? Don’t be silly; of course they can. In a stroke of pure genius/idiocy (depending on whether you have a sense of humour or not), Europe’s 'The Final Countdown' screams from the venue’s PA system, inciting a mass sing-along even before the band have arrived. But this is nothing compared to the madness that is about to unfold.
The inevitable moment comes; the thunderous drum beat signals the beginning of fan favourite 'Ghost Division', causing the audience to collectively lose their minds for their Swedish heroes. Front man Joakim Brodén literally sprints onto the stage, his infectiously high levels of charisma sending fans into a power metal-fuelled frenzy. Every song is greeted with rapturous applause from the baying punters; the levels of intensity from both band and crowd don’t let up for a single second. New cuts from latest opus 'Carolus Rex' are aired tonight, the grandiose title-track in particular sounding even more majestic in the live environment. The Swedes also pay tribute to fallen soldiers around the world to coincide with Remembrance Day, delivering a touching speech before launching into the twin assault of '40:1' and 'Cliffs of Gallipoli'.
Sabaton’s love for their music and fans just can’t be knocked. The crowd bellows chants of ‘Sa-ba-ton!’ after every single song, leaving the band looking genuinely humbled. Joakim constantly praises and exchanges banter with the crowd, even giving them the power to choose chunks of the set list.
Questions were raised earlier this year when two thirds of the line-up were dropped, leaving only Joakim and bassist Pär Sundström as the sole original members. Worries about the new additions were completely abolished tonight. The transition has been seamless; new guitarist Thobbe Englund playfully chases Joakim up and down the stage as if they’ve been playing music together for years. Enthusiasm simply seeps from this band, enabling tunes such as 'Primo Victoria' and 'Attero Dominatus' to sound even more skull-crushingly huge than humanly possible.
To pick out faults with tonight’s set would be similar to telling a child that their painting is awful. You just shouldn’t do it. The undeniable size of the characters within the band completely over-shadows the fact that they are still missing a keyboard player, their set running completely unhindered. And when you finish your gig with the gloriously cheesy anthem that is 'Metal Crüe', who in their right mind would dare question you?
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Wisdom aren’t mucking about, taking to the stage just about ten minutes after doors open. Playing to a mostly-empty crowd should be a stupidly embarrassing ordeal, but front man Gabor Nagy shows no sign of deterrence, throwing shapes all over the place and shredding air-guitar licks like someone from a Guitar Hero game. Wisdom’s meat and potatoes approach to power metal appropriately whets the appetite of the now-full audience; a cheeky rendition of Iron Maiden’s classic track 'Wasted Years' bags them the first sing-along of the night.
