Sabaton Concert

On Monday night Cara & I went out on a date to a heavy metal concert: Sabaton! If you are a regular reader of this blog you are already aware of my love for these Swedes who sing out the details of historical battles. Their latest album took a slightly different tack, recounting the heroic military deeds of individuals, but was still along the same vein. Seeing them in concert was one of those rare events in life that you are hoping will be awesome and are in no wise disappointed.

The doors opened at 6:15, so we figured getting there at 6 would be good. Marathon Music Works is a standing room only venue, so we wanted to get a good spot. The concert started at 7, but when we got there the line had already wrapped around the building. Apperently this is typical for fans of the genre - other events don't draw folks that early. Of course heavy metal fans remain a geeky, pasty lot. The people waiting in line were about as multi-ethnic as the Scandinavian countries the bands hailed from. There is something, I suppose, in the minds of Northern Europeans and those descended from them which naturally gravitates toward heavy metal. While the genre is long past its heyday in much of the world it continues to thrive there. Indeed, if not for Stockholm-based Spotify I and probably many of the other people there Monday night would probably never have heard of Sabaton.

I must confess, the headliner that evening was not Sabaton. It was actually a Finnish band called Night Wish. They are a heavy metal act with primarily female vocals. Similarly, the first opening act, Delain, had a primary female vocalist as well. Cara really enjoyed Delain, especially, the vocalist's outfit.

Judging by people's t-shirts, one would guess that most were there to see Night Wish. At least they had been to a previous Night Wish concert or taken the time to order a shirt online. I did overhear some folks taking about Sabaton though and saw a couple people with t-shirts. Not currently owning a black rock band t-shirt I opted to dress Ace Ventura style:

Typical Heavy Metal Concert Attire

There weren't many there who were old enough to get my joke, but it made it easy for Cara to find me. The people in front of us in line were in college. We did not tell the girl, who was a junior, that we also had two daughters who were juniors in college. Cara, as she often does, started telling a middle school story. You know, a story from when SHE was in middle school. I have heard these a lot over the years so I thought, oh jeez, the heavy metal fans are going to think we are super geeks now. When she had finished the other people started telling middle school stories as well. I was only saved when the line bifurcated and our tickets took us on a faster route than theirs.

Eventually I did get a souvenir t-shirt though:

More Typical?

Delain's set was enjoyable and the crowd responded some what, but the place went nuts when Sabaton came out. Absolutely nuts. Apparently I was not the only one there to see the support band. No mosh pit though. I guess that was a 90's thing? Audie Murphy, Gustavus Adolphus, D-Day and Sun-Tzu all were featured in their set. My only disappointment was that they didn't play 40 to 1, but being about the Blitzkrieg from the Polish perspective I think they tend to use that more in Eastern Europe. Enough people in the crowd knew the choruses to the songs that the vocalist could just hold out the mic and let us belt it out. Sabaton's stage presense was just as excellent as I suspected from their live albums. They engaged the audience more than either of the other acts that night - the vocalist compares comedically to Henry Rollins. This was a somewhat unexpected surprise. Cara even enjoyed it! We bounced and clapped and sang and banged our heads together. Well, I guess I was the only one of us singing and head banging, but we still had fun. Everything one could hope for in a concert.

Then there was a half an hour break while they set up for Night Wish. Cara was pumped up after Sabaton, but soon got sleepy. It was after 9 PM by this point. Night Wish was enjoyable, but nothing compared to Sabaton. Their set was much longer, and by the end I was tired too. It was my best Fuel Monday though.

It's Nightwish, sponsored by the level 2 boss from Contra.