Live Review : Sabaton + BABYMETAL + Lordi @ First Direct Arena, Leeds on April 14th 2023

As Bon Scott did declare, "It’s a long way to the top if you want to rock 'n' roll". Sabaton’s meteoric journey to the top of the metal’s pyre has been a marathon as opposed to a sprint. When I first spied them in 2006 (on the very tour that Par nostalgically refers to towards the end of their set) they were an identikit Scandinavian mid-table power metal act, virtually indistinguishable from the other identikit Scandinavian mid-table power metal acts that prowled around half empty club shows and early afternoon sets at Bloodstock.

However, Par and Joakim had a master plan and they have deftly guided the good ship Sabaton into the upper reaches of metal’s hierarchy using three core principles. Number one, everyone loves a concept. The obsession with battles and warfare may at times come across as a little bit trite and convoluted but boy has it enabled them to stick out from the crowd. Number two, they twigged early on that when it comes to songwriting, simplicity is the key. Every Sabaton song is a masterclass in how to construct an arena-friendly anthem. And number three, they realised that integrity is key. Even as they tread the trappings of their vast arena show, there is a fundamental authenticity and humility to Sabaton. As I said it's been a long, and at times arduous, journey to reach their status as a Bonafide arena filler and all five of them seem genuinely touched by the fact they have made it.

 Joakim is at great pains to point out that this is opening night, and this means they are going to fuck up lots of times. However, the biggest victims of the first show gremlins are Lordi. What should have been the ultimate warmup party is instead a sludgy almost inaudible mess. But you don't trudge across the European tour circuit for as long as Lordi have without developing a level of resilience. 

They are consummate entertainers and even though the PA splutters and crackles like an on-the-blink AM radio, they carry on regardless. They have obviously studied Kiss’s big book of stage flare as this is a slick immaculately choreographed shock rock show full of glitz and gimmicks. Demon wings, axes, and a prize-winning tune (how many times do you actually get to hear live a song that has won Eurovision) manage to salvage what could have been quite a damp squib.

Babymetal are the true definition of an enigma. They certainly prove immensely popular, and the vast expanses of Leeds Arena are packed for their arrival. In fact, they elicit a reaction that is on par with what a headline act would expect. The backing band are slick and musically bordering on awesome. Opening number ‘BABYMETAL DEATH’ is a swirling cacophony of the prime facets of modern metal. Angular, probing, and beautifully balanced between harshness and technicality. Musically I get it, but the rest of it just feels utterly alien to me. The whole performance is like watching a tic-toc video with metal on in the background. 

I completely concede that metal needs to evolve and that Babymetal are indeed the next step in that evolution, but it just jars for me as I can't quite see how we have got here. This is essentially the power puff girls fronting Dragonforce and try as I might I find it impossible to gel or engage with. I feel like a stranger in my own home as I know this is metal and there are parts where it feels distinctly like metal, but then it completely throws me again by being something I just don't understand. 

Maybe it should have been my 11-year-old daughter reviewing them, as those in the audience who are considerably younger than me seemed to be in raptures, but the simple fact is for the first time ever as a metal fan I have discovered something that I can't easily trace back to the big bang of the opening riff of the first Sabbath album. To use the vernacular "it's not them then it's me”, as there is indeed something quite seismic going on with Babymetal, I just don't get what it is. 

Sabaton have entered their Imperial phase. They are at the point that few bands reach, where they can do no wrong. This evening they remind me of Maiden in 1988 or Metallica and Guns and Roses in 1992, in that they have moved beyond being simply a band and have become a world-conquering phenomenon. What Sabaton achieve this evening is nothing short of astonishing. They have distilled over 20 years of accumulated knowledge regarding stagecraft into 110 extraordinary minutes. This is the very pinnacle of everything they have sought to achieve. It is showmanship on a scale that very very few bands can accomplish, but it is tempered by that same charm and “twinkle in the eye” that made them stand out from the crowd in the first place. 

Yes, there are fuck ups (the opening intro is miscued meaning they just appear on stage without any pre-heralding and there are points where the transition from track-to-track feels stilted) but none of that actually matters as this is the moment they have worked their entire lives for. We get a live spectacle cramped full of set pieces and ludicrous props. You can tell that over lockdown they had spent hours producing more and more preposterous ideas of what they could do with their live show once it finally got off the ground. We get bazookas, smoke rings, a keyboard embedded in a biplane, a literally blazing piano, gas masks and snow, real god darn snow. It is one of those evenings where you can't take your eyes off the stage in case you miss something. 

What they have eloquently done is create a staging that frames rather than overshadows the music. For all the tricks and trinkets, this is still all about the songs. Even when they were scraping a living in clubs, Sabaton were writing songs built for arenas. Now they have finally arrived they have a whole arsenal of enormodrome filling material at their disposal and this evening they bring their prime cuts.  The set list is immaculately curated to please both the diehards that have been there since those club days and those later arrivals who probably only became acquainted with the band in the car on the way to the gig. Eminently accessible but also steadfastly tied back to the band’s roots.

Being able to produce a tour at this scale is obviously a massive deal for them all and each member is allowed the space and time to make their own personal connection with the crowd. There is emotion and passion in each and every one of their voices as they get to soliloquy their own unique testament. The tears in Par’s eyes as he recounts their only other visit to Leeds and the minuscule money they made from it is not stage-managed. It's an evocative demonstration of the real reason Sabaton have managed to successfully make the leap that most bands fail at. Because of their hard work and their consistent striving “to keep it real” they now belong to their fans. They have become a true band of the people. They have forged a unique bond between audience and act that has facilitated their transition to true headline status.

For all the moaning and gnashing of teeth about the lack of new blood reaching festival headlining proportions, Sabaton have done it with very little fanfare. Tonight, we witnessed a show that is not just deserving but I believe nailed on to sit pretty at the top of the bill at next year’s Download. The curvatured sign dominating the staging declares it to be “the tour to end all tours”. In reality I hope that it won’t be that finalistic, but it certainly will be a tour that we will be talking about for a very long time to come.

Check the “In The Flesh” page for more photos!
Sabaton, Lordi