Sabaton

Live at the Wiltern Theater

Los Angeles, CA

February 9th, 2018

Review and photos by Travis Baumann

Sabaton return to Los Angeles on "The Last Tour" which thankfully is in regards to their newest album title, "The Last Stand" and not some farewell tour that is so popular at the moment.

Sabaton have made a world wide name for themselves by producing some of the most energetic and powerful metal music infused with an amazing historical aspect.

Their sound is definitely of the power metal variety but where conventional power metal acts tend to veer towards fantasy inspirations, Sabaton weave tales of actual global events ranging from ancient Sparta and Feudal Japan through the Scottish Revolution and on to The Great War and subsequent global conflicts.

Each song is in turn a history lesson when you listen to the lyrics, but the form of delivery invokes fists in the air, bodies bouncing, and heads banging, all the while relaying aspects of human nature and its propensity for destruction. The overall message however, is that time and again, heroism prevails.

The band consists of master mind and vocalist, Joakim Brodén along with fellow founding member, Pär Sundström on bass guitar. Joining these two veterans are Chris Rörland and Tommy Johansson laying out the dual guitar assault, and Hannes van Dahl on drums.

They started off the set with a favorite opener of theirs, "Ghost Division" from their 2008 release, "The Art of War". This high energy song set the tone and pace for the rest of the night.

Joakim was quick to point out that they have been touring quite a bit over the last few years and that they did not want to just keep repeating the same set list so they were going to spice it up with a number of songs that they don't normally include.

For their second song they did the inspiring "Uprising" about the Polish Underground during World War II.  I don't remember them doing this song since they toured for the album, "Coat of Arms" from which it is featured.

The bagpipes blazing gave way to the moving "Blood of Bannockburn" rallying the Scotsmen of the different clans to join together in revolution.

The band had to pause at points for the crowd's chanting "Sabaton! Sabaton!" was relentless. Joakim remarked at how good it was to be back in Los Angeles. This was their second stop on the tour and he said that the previous night in Arizona had no where near this energy or enthusiasm.

They continued the set with two more lesser played but excellent selections with "Cliffs of Gallipoli" and "The Lion From the North", coming from "The Art of War" and "Carolus Rex" albums respectably.

At this point, the audience broke out into song, singing the chorus for "Swedish Pagans". It is a well known fact that Joakim hates this song and it is never included on their set lists, however, without fail, the audience is adamant in singing this song until he breaks down. Tommy on guitar joined in with the audience further provoking Joakim's displeasure but in the end, they interrupted their planned set list for the fan favorite.

Joakim said to the crowd, "Since you are so determined to make requests of the band, do you want to hear the next one in English, or in Swedish?" By measure of cheering, the Swedish language won and they did "Gott mit Uns".

The next song was one of the highlights of the night. It is a somber but beautiful song relaying the horrors of the Third Reich and their inhumane genocide known as "The Final Solution". This song should be required listening to everyone in the world to understand what the Jewish people went through and man-kind's inclination towards evil. The chorus is beyond moving; "When freedom burns, The final solution. Dreams fade away and all hope turns to dust. When millions burn, the curtain has fallen.  Lost to the world as they perish in flames."

They followed that up with two back to back from the "Heroes" album with "Resist and Bite" and "Night Witches. Both of these songs tell the tale of separate heroic efforts during World War II. The former being a tale of the Belgian Chasseurs Ardennais unit who fought overwhelming odds against the German invaders and the latter the story of an all female piloted Russian bomber regiment that would put their planes into idle and glide through the night to bomb their targets. The whooshing sound brought to mind witches on broomsticks so they were known as the "Nachthexen" or Night Witches.

Playing another favorite from their latest release they chose the anthemic, "Winged Hussars" followed by the title track from this album, "The Last Stand". Already having played an impressive set of songs, they hit upon my very favorite of theirs, the quasi-hymnal, "Carolus Rex" from the album of the same name.

They were not done yet, however, they concluded the main set with "Sparta" which had the entire audience singing along. A quick refresher and the band was back to the stage for the encore.

One of their all time biggest fan favorite songs tells the heroic tale of D-Day and how the tide was turned on the shores of Western Europe, breaking the Nazi's strangle-hold. The acts of sacrifice by the United States soldiers would eventually lead to the fall of the Third Reich and the return of freedom to Europe. "Primo Victoria" masterfully relays this in a heart-pumping manner that gives me goose bumps every time I see it live.

"Shiroyama" followed, singing of the last stand of the Samurai and the death of Bushido as the march of time washes over the world.

They finished the set with "To Hell and Back", a fitting end to a massive night. I was really happy with the song selection on this tour, I got to hear a lot of my favorites from all over their back catalog as well as some songs that I have either never seen live or not in quite a few years.

Sabaton are easily one of my top bands to see live, this being the eighth time seeing them. I am not sure I have seen any other band this many times and I already anticipate the next opportunity!

Click the banner above

to return the navigation page of the

Virtual Night Angel

website