இவ Ice Vajal :: Music Land :: Metal World | ||
Bands :: A-Z / S / Sabaton / |
- Sabaton, Alestorm & Thaurorod -
- October 15th 2010 - Wolverhampton (GB), Slade Rooms -
© Claudia Ehrhardt
Photos were taken at RockHard 2010. |
The first band of the night were Finnish prog-power metallers, Thaurorod. They played about 6 songs, and despite a small audience put on quite a good show. There were those moshers in the audience though that one just knew weren't being serious - silly moshers! To be fair though, the music was monotonous and rhythmic, therefore good for moshing to. |
- Sabaton & Alestorm - October 11th 2010 - Manchester (GB), Academy 2 -
Before I start the review proper I have some advice to give to any visitors to Manchester - don't get a taxi anywhere because you will be ripped off! Time for a quick beer and a look at the merch before Sabaton started. Now, I'm used to merch being overpriced at gigs and to be honest usually I'll pay the £18 for a T-shirt anyway. However, never before have I seen a T-shirt increase in price at a gig before. The special edition Sabaton UK tour shirt began the night at £18 and yet next time I checked it was £20...for a standard print, regular T-shirt. Absolutely ridiculous! I don't know why this happened but whoever decided to put the price up halfway through the gig needs to be sacked. The shirt was expensive already and the extra £2 meant you lost a sale. Anyway, didn't ruin my night as it just meant more beer money! So, the main event. Mighty Swedish purveyors of war-flavored power metal Sabaton have generally always had a good reception from UK audiences and this proved to be no exception as they had sold out Academy 2... no mean feat! The sound of Europe's The Final Countdown leapt through the speakers geeing up the already buoyant crowd who proceeded to sing along at the top of their voices to the cheesy classic! No sooner had the final bars filtered away than Sabaton blasted onto the stage. They erupted into Ghost Division and the crowd went wild, much to the delight of the band! From Sabaton's first note the crowd were hooked. What Alestorm had started SabatonSabaton took to the next level with fists raised right to the rear of the packed Academy and crowd surfers launching themselves like human grenades. Sabaton's set was primarily made up of material from their two recent landmark albums, The Art Of War and Coat Of Arms. Much to my delight they played The Final Solution, my favorite song from Coat Of Arms and one that I didn't think they would play live due to its touchy subject matter and slower pace. Singer Joakim Brodén explained that the band were wary about playing the song, especially in Germany, but that it had been met with enthusiasm by everyone so far. It made me happy anyway! They tore through 40:1, Coat Of Arms and more, the crowd singing along with them to the great delight of the band who told us they would be clapping us at the end of the show! They got a huge response when they played the Battle of Britain song Aces In Exile and then followed it up with the Falklands song Back In Control which they had promised to play on their previous tour with Dragonforce but didn't. The crowd lapped it up! Sabaton played three songs in their encore. The Art Of War was followed by the amazing Primo Victoria and then a metal medley comprised of Metal Machine and Metal Crue. This brought the show to a close and the audience trickled slowly out, each and every one knowing they had just witnessed an awesome spectacle! Without doubt one of the best gigs I've been to for a long time. Both bands were absolutely superb and hopefully it won't be too long before Manchester is invaded by trenches and mead again! |