Sabaton

Live at The City National Grove

Anaheim, CA

May 11th, 2017

Review and photos by Travis Baumann

Sabaton return to Southern California once more. Hands down, one of the best live bands I have ever encountered, Sabaton bring an energy to the stage that is unrivaled.

Hailing from Sweden, Sabaton have cornered the industry on historic based heavy metal. Utilizing trappings from the power metal sub-genre, they manage to stand out from all peers, both in sound and in lyrical subject matter.

Pulling both heroic and despotic inspiration from across the globe's many conflicts through out time, Sabaton prove to be masters of song creation as well as packaging these important historic moments in a highly listenable form.

Currently Sabaton are touring in support of their latest album, "The Last Stand". While experimenting in some areas, they manage to deliver a piece of musical art that is 100% Sabaton and compelling to old and new fans.

Sabaton falls in rank behind mastermind and lead singer, Joakim Brodén, front and center. His vocal ability and larger than life personality instantly win over crowds. Cofounder Pär Sundström joins him on bass guitar along with Chris Rörland and Tommy Johansson handling the tandem guitar barrage and Hannes van Dahl on drums (Shout out to Hannes, he just became a dad with Floor from Nightwish/ ReVamp/ After Forever fame back in March!).

This is my sixth time seeing these guys live, the first being back in 2011. These guys have come a long way in six years, they have an enormous following, and rightfully so. Fans of all ages pack the venues they perform in and the sing-a longs they inspire are unparalleled.

They started off the set with an old favorite, "Ghost Division". Signature Sabaton involves bombastic music, powerful lyrics, and a chorus with all the members joining in for a male choir effect that is really powerful. Rallying the warrior in all of us, these tales of heroism in the face of unspeakable odds are what inspires both the band and the fans the most.

Second up for the night, they did "The Art of War" based on the ancient text by Sun Tzu that comes from the album of the same name. For the third piece, they hit one of my favorite songs from the new album with "Blood of Bannockburn". This song starts off with blazing bag pipes and immediately gets the blood flowing: "Join the Scottish revolution. Freedom must be won by blood. Now we call for revolution, play the pipes and cry out loud!"

Heading back into their past releases they gave us the awesome "Attero Dominatus". This song relays the spring of 1945 with the fall of the reich and Berlin burning as the Russians advanced.

The title track from the new album, "The Last Stand" was coming next. It tells of the Papal Swiss Guards in 1527 giving their lives protecting the holy line on the "steps of heaven" in the siege and sacking of Rome.

At this point, Joakim went to address the crowd but a large section of the audience started singing the chorus for "Swedish Pagans". Joakim shook his head and pulled up one of the set lists taped to the stage in front of him and said, "What do you think you are doing? I don't see that song on this list!"

The crowd started singing even louder. "What? You think you can just come to a Sabaton show and start singing songs and expect us to play them?" The entire hall shouted "YES!" and doubled their efforts (and decibel level). Pär grabbed the set list out of his hands and tore it up inspiring a tremendous roar from the crowd. Joakim said, "You guys in California are fucking crazy. Well Swedish Pagans it is!" and they played the request, everyone singing along.

"Now we go back to the set list, and I don't want to hear anymore requests!" he said with a smile. They played "40:1" from "The Art of War" as follow up and moved on to another crowd favorite, "Sparta" from their latest release.

This song is the same story that is retold by the graphic novel and movie "300" which involves the heroic and tragic last stand of 300 Spartans against an overwhelming Persian horde led by Xerxes. Despite the loss of all 300 including their king Leonidas, they held back the invaders long enough for the other armies of that region to mobilize and put an end to their dire plot of conquest.

Moving from ancient Mediterranean conflicts to World War II, they played "Screaming Eagles". Sabaton proceeded to follow that up with one of my favorite songs ever, "Carolus Rex". This song tells the story of the teenage king of Sweden in 1697. It has hymn-like qualities and gives me goose bumps every time I see them do it live.

Joakim addressed the crowd again saying, "Since you like to pick the songs we play so much, would you like to hear "Poltava" or "Gott Mit Uns"?" The crowd pretty much unanimously chose the latter. He said, "Alright, would you like to hear the English version or the Swedish version?" Again unanimously the crowd cried for the Swedish.

"Resist and Bite" from their second to last release, "Heroes" was up next, the crowd was not slowing down for a second and neither was the band. They followed that up with the amazing "Lost Battalion" and finished up the main set with another favorite from the new album, "Winged Hussars". This is the tale of the elite Polish calvary and their heroic assault in the Battle of Vienna in 1683, breaking the Ottoman siege.

They did not spend much time back stage as the time was growing long. They all ran back out as the bombastic introduction for "Night Witches" pounded throughout the venue.

One of their most popular songs from earlier in their career tells the story of D-Day and the horrendous effort the Allies made to breach the Axis' beach-head. "Primo Victoria" has this amazing story to tell and the audience was bounding up and down as they sang along: "Through the gates of hell as we make our way to heaven - through the Nazi lines. Primo Victoria! On the 6th of June, on the shores of western Europe 1944. D-Day is upon us."

They were still going strong and gave us another new song with "Shiroyama" which relates the last stand of the Samurai and the end of Bushido. Seventeen songs and they still were not done!

With one final song to unleash, the simple yet haunting whistling intro let everyone know that "To Hell and Back" would be the grand finale for the night. It was an amazing show, full of historic battles, tales of heroism and tragedy as well as some good natured laughter and smiles that are all a signature part of a Sabaton concert.

I cannot recommend these guys enough, they are simply awesome and you will inadvertently learn a lot about history while banging your head.

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