Hitting cinemas in a couple of weeks is a one night only concert special as Sabaton throw metal at you through the big screen. Filmed at the Ziggo Dome in the Netherlands (which looks bloody awesome from the outside) with an audience of 16,000, the band recorded their recent Tour To End All Tours performance. We saw the show in Glasgow and it was, as ever from Sabaton, abso-bloody-lutely amazing. But can this be captured on film?
If you want to save yourself a couple of hundred words of reading: yes. Go book your ticket for October 11th (or the end of the month if you’re in North America), and dust off the battle jacket. Or watch / listen to our interview with Pär Sundström. For the rest, read on…
There is little preamble other than a brief word from each band member at the start. Once the music begins, that’s it. The gig takes over and there’s no fluff. I won’t go through each track in case anyone wants to enjoy the “being there” feel of things, but for those who are interested it’s over on setlist.fm.
The number of camera angles is staggering and you can see why it’s taken over a year to pull all the footage together, especially syncing it to the soundtrack perfectly. The only real camera “tricks” are some little slow-mo sequences here and there (Joakim tumbling his microphone, Hannes spinning his sticks, and so on) and they work well. All the audience interaction is there, and the band are up to their usual hi-jinks on stage, having fun during and between songs. Credit to the extras who pop up between songs, acting out some of the scenes as the narrator provides details. This is a big production, and one that was well worth documenting on video.
As well as great shots of the band, there are loads of the crowd which is always welcome. Even more importantly there’s tons of audience noise as well – both during and between songs. The number of “live” albums we review which may as well have been recorded in a studio is surprising. If I can’t hear the audience then it’s not a live recording! The other little bonus you get with the video footage are angles you simply wouldn’t get at the gig regardless of your seat. Mainly these are views out over the audience, and one or two just off/behind-stage, but a particular favourite is a Pär’s-eye view of the entire auditorium lit up by mobile phone torches.
If the film makes it to DVD (do we still have DVDs?), or if you can keep an eye on your watch in the cinema, wait until 3 minutes and 32 seconds in, just as the first chords of opener “Ghost Division” erupt. There are two ladies in the front row in shot. One has that “Here we go, yessss” look on her face. The other looks like she was here for the support act and has stayed behind to keep her friend company. For the entire show, I was in the mindset of the first.
This is a superb concert recording, the audio is absolutely spot on, and it’s almost as good as being at the gig. Almost. You can’t beat a genuine live performance, but this ain’t bad.
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[…] Grab tickets for the upcoming cinema extravaganza! 196 UK showings alone, at the time of writing, with hundreds more across Europe and Australia – and North America recently added. Wantt o know what we thought? Check out our review. […]