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| Sabaton @ the Fox Theater (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
Sabaton brought the powerful riffs and non-stop energy of their “The Tour To End All Tours” to The Fox Wednesday night to a near-capacity Oakland audience of devoted fans more than eager to participate in the show.
Launching into a full-force opener of “Ghost Division,” Sabaton hit the stage with the energy and effort one would associate with a new band trying to catch their break at The Fox. Instead, the audience was witnessing a Swedish band launched two decades ago that headlines European arenas and has both their own three-day concert festival and even a sold-out annual Sabaton Cruise. Bassist Pär Sundström and drummer Hans Van Dahl laid down powerful rhythm behind guitarists Chris Rörland and Tommy Johansson, as the string players exhibited their second-to-none head banging, hair whipping prowess and followed up with “Stormtroopers.”
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| Sabaton crowd @ the Fox Theater (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
About 2/3 of the crowd raised their hands early on when asked if this was their first time seeing Sabaton live. But loud “Sabaton, Sabaton” chants swelled again and again 20 minutes before the band took the stage and every sing along, chant, jump or arm thrust seemed to be nailed by everyone on the packed general admission floor. Perhaps, the uninitiated had done their research via some of the band’s great YouTube concert videos
Lead vocalist Joakim Brodén took note of the Oakland crowd’s enthusiasm right from the start of the show, recognizing how thrilled he was to receive their reaction. At one point, he explained Sabaton had only booked one signing event on their entire US Tour and “you guys have shown why we picked the Bay Area to do it.” Mosh pits continually ebbed and flowed on the floor in another sign that the rock world is slowly returning to normal.
Brodén was in constant motion all night, spreading his energy back and forth to all sides of the crowd on every song to ensure the audience connection deepened throughout the show. His compelling charisma and active stage presence make it difficult to look away, so he frequently took brief leave of the stage to yield the spotlight to his bandmates. Drummer Van Dahl took one of these moments to invoke the classic “Are you ready to rock?” crowd energizer, but then concluded it by joking “Well, we’ll get back to that in a while, but first here’s Abba’s Dancing Queen.”
Midway through the set, the band acknowledged their origins with Broden receiving a Swedish flag from the audience and then performing “Gott Mit Uns” in their native language (all other songs and engagements with the audience were in English).
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| Sabaton @ the Fox Theater (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
Sabaton has found a calling and their passion behind World War 1 on both this year’s “The War to End All Wars” and 2019’s “The Great War” is brought to audiences from a place of appreciation for what was given and sacrificed and not a militaristic rally. Given the situation in Ukraine, a band wearing military clothing taking to a stage strung with barbed wire, army helmets on their mic stands and a bunker background featuring a tank-based drum riser might not come off well at this moment in history. But, Sabaton pulls it off because they combine their commitment to recognizing WW1 with a deep connection to the audience and a refreshing sense of humor and humility.
After ending their set with “Christmas Truce,” which saw Brodén take to a vintage piano, the band stormed back to the stage, kicking off the encore with a rousing Primo Victoria that saw a powerful intro solo from Johansson and the entire floor singing along and jumping at Brodén’s urging.
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| Sabaton @ the Fox Theater (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
After a crowd-favorite “Swedish Pagan”, the band paid tribute to the Bay Area’s metal history changing their usual partial cover song from Highway to Hell to Metallica’s Master of Puppets, with Brodén trading verses with the crowd. Following that welcomed snippet, Sabaton launched into their “To Hell and Back” closer and exited to a thunderous ovation and chanting from The Fox audience.
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