Sabaton and Eluveitie, Turbohalle, 19.03.13

Eluveitie

I had waited for years to see Eluveitie live and so it figures that they came to Bucharest without Anna… Don’t get me wrong, I had a lot of fun and they were really good and energetic and full of good vibes as always, but I’m a bit disappointed they didn’t even try to replace her. Chrigel did all of her parts and it was a bit monotonous without her, her vocals added a lot of colour to the band and they should’ve tried to have another girl sing her parts.

The setlist wasn’t brilliant either, but then again I already knew it was going to be mostly stuff from the last album, which is probably their weakest. I’m glad they at least played Inis Mona, which was SO AWESOME! Everyone was singing and jumping and headbanging, it was a lot of fun. The funniest part was that they guys I was with (you know, the ones that usually are obsessed with protecting me from the eeeviiiil metalheads) got bored before the encore and decided to have a drink in the back. After the usual „are you going to be ok, are you going to faint/break/cry?”, I was alone during a concert for the first time in ages and of course that was the exact moment Chrigel asked if we’re ready for a moshpit :)) Of course nothing happened, but it was funny. Anyway, I’m not counting this one and I’m anxiously waiting for a proper Eluveitie show!

Sabaton

Even though it was Eluveitie I really came to see and I wasn’t very familiar with Sabaton, this was one of the most awesome shows I’ve ever been to. They’re really full of energy and friendly and funny and the atmosphere was brilliant. Joakim showed us how he got goosebumps because of all the SA-BA-TON we wouldn’t stop chanting after each song, it was such a nice display of emotion, cuz he couldn’t have faked it (I mean you could really see the hair on his hands going up). He kept asking us to choose between songs and then play the song we screamed the loudest for, it was awesome to be able to choose your setlist like that. And at some point, he asked what else we want to hear and someone in the audience yelled Abba. That was all we needed and then everyone started asking for Abba and he was like “are you serious??? You want to listen to Abba at a metal concert???? You’re insane”. And yet they started playing Gimme Gimme :)) It’s small stuff like these that make you feel connected to the artist and make you feel loved as a fan, they’re really good at getting the audience hyped up and I love how they don’t take themselves seriously and joke all the time and talk to the audience without the standard “we love you, we’ll be back” stuff. Aaaaand they have Snowy Shaw touring with them, this alone is enough to make them cool in my book.

It was one of those shows were you sweat a lot, have beer poured on your head (yes, this actually happened and then the guy wouldn’t stop apologising), feel completely exhausted and despite of that, or maybe even because of that, magic happens. The energy these guys are able to bring to the crowd is intoxicating. They’re just one of those bands perfectly suited for live shows, since the boys are so fun loving and down to earth and the music is spirited and so easy to sing along to.