In case anybody is curious I just wanted to state that last night’s Sabaton concert was nothing short of awesome. The two opening bands A Sound of Thunder and Dawn of Valor were good acts (I greatly enjoyed Dawn of Valor, hopefully we’ll be seeing much more from this band in the future), which was a pleasant surprise because I’m used to the first and sometimes second opening bands to be total shit. Sabaton was amazing, easily worth the $15 entry fee.
At the peak of the concert I would estimate 150 to 200 people were attending. That sounds extremely small but it’s actually not too bad consider this is Sabaton’s first headline tour and the concert took place in St. Paul on a very nice spring day. Minnesota isn’t know for its metal scene but for the handful of us that are huge into metal we’re loud and try to ensure the bands playing are encourage by our screaming, jumping, and moshing.
Sabaton has to be one of the few bands where world flags are brought in by the audience. I saw an American flag, a Soviet Union flag (usually when I see these I shake my head and realize the holder has no grasp on history but at a Sabaton concert it actually makes sense as several of their songs are about the Soviets pushing back the Nazis), and what I believe was a Polish flag. I also met a couple of awesome metal heads there who informed me that the last time Sabaton was in St. Paul they were opening for another band but half of the people cleared out after Sabaton left the stage. That amused me to say the least.
It was a great night and I can’t wait for Sabaton to come back to St. Paul. Seeing the new members in action also left me feeling good, my previous concern about the band not being as capable as they previously were was entirely alleviated.
On an entirely unrelated side note my beater Armitron automatic watch with its cheap Chinese movement actually held up to the shock of jumping around for two hours. I’m quite impressed.