You
can hear Wisdom's influences peeping through right
from the get-go, a very Bruce Dickinson esque
sound to Gabor Nagy's vocals over a classic heavy
rock sound. Not surprising then that these five
long haired lovelies have opened up for metal
giants such as, Iron Maiden and Judas Priest in
their 6 year career.
The boys from Budapest go down quite well with
the crowd tonight, racing through a short set
of 6 songs including 'Wisdom', which promotes
the classic air punching from the semi full Wulfrun
hall, and finish up with 'Judas', a track released
from the album of the same name earlier this year.
Wisdom
has a great energy on stage as a band, along with
the best in sync head banging I have ever seen.
A good opener for tonight indeed!
Main support comes from eight piece Swiss folk
metal band Eluveitie who use a vast array of instruments,
including a Hurdy Gurdy, Bagpipes, Violin and
Tin Whistle against harsh vocals.
Opening with 'Helvetios', the sound is a new one
on me it's very impressive though, the whole thing
I mean, and it’s like a mini metal orchestra
with lots going on. The vocals do work very well
against the Celtic sound of the unusual instruments,
it’s both soothing and savage at the same
time and certainly something that puts Eluveitie
in a class of their own.
Most of the set tonight, which does seem to go
on a little bit with 9 or 10 tracks performed
is led by Chrigel Glanzmann with the exception
of 'A Rose For Epona', where we see Hurdy Gurdy
player Anna Murphy take the lead vocals, and the
sound is quite mesmerizing.
The
crowd really enjoy Eluveitie's performance tonight,
plenty of singing back to the band, and cheering.
Saboton enter the stage to a flood of lights and
huge applause, kicking off with 'The March to
War/ Ghost Division' you can tell we are well
and truly in for a great show. The current line-up
of five works so well together constantly smiling
and entertaining the crowd. By the time we get
to fifth track 'Carolous Rex' there are so many
fists in the air along with a fair few horns and
a lady holding onto the end of the barrier, nearly
head banging her way into the cold steel! Another
thing that works well tonight is the stage set
up, two huge ramps either side of the drum kit
that is constantly in use from the other band
members running up and down them, all in front
of massive back lights!
The
set continues with a very riffy, Rammstein sounding
'The Price of a Mile', followed up with '40:1'.
After a short two minute break for banter with
the crowd the ever flexible Joakim pretends to
break into a rendition of 'YMCA' before getting
back to rocking everyone's socks, pants, scarves,
and whatever other item of clothing is heading
towards the stage, off with 'The Cliffs Of Gallipoli'.
A little more in the way of keyboards used in
this track, against some brief melodic guitar
solos. 'Coat Of Arms' is chosen to be played next
by a hardcore fan on the front row that Joakim
recognises from prior Sabaton gigs.
The
room is full of happy metal heads as we march
into 'Aterro Dominatus', a full on power metal
track, and onto the first of three encore tracks
'Art of War'. The band take another quick breather
and grab some shots of the crowd in a quick photo
opportunity which is always cool, and for them
to thank fans for 'not giving them the finger'
during the few line-up changes over the years.
Sabaton finish tonight with 'Primo Victoria' and
'Metal Crue'.
I can honestly say that tonight has taken me back
a few years, to when audiences didn't care so
much about taking pictures or recording the entire
gig on their phones or cameras, but more about
throwing their horns and fists in the air and
giving the band their full attention, a refreshing
change!
Wisdom 3/5
Eluveitie 3.5/5
Sabaton 5/5
Review By Jude Onions
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