DVD REVIEW: The 20th Anniversary Show – Sabaton

Everyone’s favourite Swedish War Machine, SABATON, rumbled on into Wacken Open Air 2019 to celebrate twenty years of battles, bullets, aviators and snow camouflage. The band’s 20th anniversary performance coincided with the festival’s 30th anniversary and in true SABATON fashion they did it in grandiose style. With the two main stages bedecked in First World War scenery, tank drum risers and barbed wire, there could have been no better festival to play and launch their album The Great War. The show’s setlist spanned their entire twenty year career and alongside some very special guests, the band made sure that it was a night that no one could forget, bringing these soon to be heavy metal classics to a passionate German audience.

Opening with their ominous and foreboding synth intro, SABATON announce their presence by blasting into Ghost Division. Once again, the band demonstrated their phenomenal showmanship with their signature high energy, big impact style. Each member wearing a smile makes it clear that they’re enjoying themselves from the very first beat, which as a viewer is infectious. The sense of occasion hangs in the air, and it doesn’t take long for the band to start making it special. For Fields Of Verdun and Shiroyama the band brought out former guitarist Thorbjörn “Thobbe” Englund (who was replaced by Tommy Johansson in 2016). He was met by a loud and grateful welcome from the German fans as he reunited with his old bandmates again.

As the setlist thunders on, Joakim Brodén showcases his usual on stage humour. The fun loving frontman appeased the German audience, who eagerly shouted “Noch ein Bier”, by downing a beer before introducing The Red Baron. The band were accompanied by The Great War Choir, a choir which the band assembled to accompany them across the selected festivals of that tour. The twenty strong male voice choir gave an additional dose of emphatic awesomeness to the already titanic sounding SABATON songs, making your spine tingle and the hairs on your next stand on end.

Wacken is famous for its two main stages that sit side by side. When the show reaches the hour mark Pär Sundström makes his way to the second stage, there he delivers and impassioned speech about following your dreams. He also explained how much playing at Wacken with his friends meant to him before inviting former SABATON members Thorbjörn “Thobbe” Englund [guitars], Daniel Mullback [drums] and Daniel Mÿhr [keyboards] to join him on stage. For the next hour of their set the band waged a war on two fronts, with SABATON past and present joining forces to deliver a powerful, emotional and heroic performance. The joint stages saw both bands playing their hearts out, tearing through classics like; 40:1, The Last Stand, Panzerkampf and Night Witches. Despite being spread across two stages the chemistry was electric, from both stages the energy grew and grew, making the performance even more enjoyable as both drummers synced up with each other. Before starting Far From The Fame, current and former drummers Hannes Van Dahl and Daniel Mullback engaged in a drum battle whilst both sat on mighty tank drum risers to fanatic cheers from the audience. The final ace up the band’s sleeve was bringing out Grammy nominated cellist Tina Guo for two encore songs Swedish Pagans and To Hell And Back. Her electric cello added something extra to an already immensely special performance as the classical world collided with the metal world in a whirlwind of sparks and pyro.

Despite watching this performance two years down the line in 2021 on DVD, the atmosphere and energy is just as phenomenal as the live performance on the day. SABATON have gained a reputation for being one of the hardest working bands in metal and this show is a testament to that. They pulled no punches and made sure the show went out with a bang, with a special celebration for Tommy Johansson who downed a beer in honour of his first Wacken performance. It feels special to be able to relive such a special night in Germany, and it was nothing short of technical and musical brilliance.

Rating: 10/10

The 20th Anniversary Show is out now via Nuclear blast Records.

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