rage_2006_03

» Rage 2006 03 30

Reviewed by David
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City: Växjö, Sweden
Venue: Folkets Park
Date: 30 March 2006
Rage setlength: 60 minutes
Freedom Call setlength: 55 minutes
Sabaton setlength: 60 minutes

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Another great evening of classic heavy metal in Växjö Folkets Park! Not sold out this time either, about 300 visitors, but the atmosphere was as great as ever. We all hope for a continuation of these arrangements! (Next out is ex. Black Sabbath singer Tony Martin 13 April.) Unique for Växjö was that the tour with Rage and Freedom Call was spiced with Sweden's future metal hope, Sabaton.

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Sabaton

Sabaton just got back from their European tour with Edguy and Dragonforce. After have been playing sets between 15 to 30 minutes you could tell that they were inspired to fill up a whole hour this evening. It may seem a bit strange to give Sabaton equal playing time as the main acts, but this was how the arrangers wanted it. They counted on some extra people coming just for the unique gig with Sabaton (they did quite short sets with Edguy/Dragonforce and are not playing the rest of the evenings with Rage/Freedom Call) and probably they were right about this. I heard that there was a whole bus of Sabaton fans coming in, mainly to see their favourites.

What was perhaps even more strange was that Sabaton got the warmest crowd response through the whole evening. Not very usual for the first out of three bands, but these guys from Dalarna are for some reason very popular in Småland. Well deserved, by the way! Sabaton is a great live act and has evolved further technically and gained more self esteem since last summers gig at Sweden Rock Festival. We got to hear a new song, Nuclear Attack, from the forthcoming album. Let's say that they stick with a winning concept… A great start of the evening.

8 chalices of 10

SETLIST

1. Wolfpack
2. Into The Fire
3. Hellrider
4. Purple Heart
5. Endless Nights
6. Nuclear Attack
7. Primo Victoria
8. Stalingrad
9. Panzer Battalion
10. Metal Machine
11. Långa Bollar På Bengt

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Freedom Call

Freedom Call was no doubt the least attractive act of the evening for me personally. Not that I don't like their happy melodic metal, I love the records. But I've seen them many times before and I knew what to expect… Can somebody please tell Chris Bay that he cannot sing? He would be thrown out head first from any audition for "Idol". That is the cold truth. Freedom Call has the songs. Many of them almost bring nostalgic memories to me. They have an incredible drummer in Dan Zimmermann. Actually I can't think of any drummer hitting as furiously hard as he does. It should be Mike Terrana, perhaps. They also got a couple of new members who fit in the concept. But it all falls flat on the front man. I've never heard any professional singer sound as terrible. It is even worse now than a couple of years ago. Sorry Chris!

Freedom Call still haven't played their best song Pharao any of the times I've seen them. I've almost stopped hoping for that to happen now. This time we also lacked The Quest. Thankfully we were saved from the horrible cover of Dancing With Tears In My Eyes this time. The theme song Freedom Call sounded okay though, and Mother Earth was exceptionally heavier live than on record. But I lacked some of the extreme happiness we've seen in the past. The new members were a bit tense.

3 chalices of 10

SETLIST

1. Warriors
2. We Are One
3. Hero Nation
4. Hunting High And Low
5. Metal Invasion
6. Another Day
7. Mother Earth
8. Ocean
9. Land Of Light
10. Freedom Call
11. Hymn To The Brave

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Rage

Rage is just the perfect band. Three of the best musicians in the world gathered in one compact power trio. And the best of all, besides from the always present solo parts, they use their skills to make great traditional metal - not to show off with complicated overpretentious stuff. Everybody should love Rage, in the perfect world. But in this world people have to go up to work on Friday mornings and some of them actually leave during (or even before) Rage's set. Well, their loss! Rage deliver as tight as ever. Most impressive is the setlist. It is almost perfectly composed. Although it is a short set, we got a few real surprises in I'm Crucified and Baby, I'm Your Nightmare. They could have skipped Human Metal though and put in My Rage or something else from Black In Mind. But a band like Rage can almost close their eyes and point to a bunch of songs in the catalogue, it will be great anyway.

The sound was extremely high, on the limit of what was possible in this venue. It didn't sound all well, like the whole system was about to collapse any second. But not too bad either, thanks to the extreme skills of the band. It was fun to see though, that the best drummer in the world, Mike Terrana, was totally lost for a few seconds in the beginning of I'm Crucified, but as the professional he is, he found the right path quickly. When Peavy started to say, "Thank you, goodnight!", after nine songs I thought it was a joke. But apparently it wasn't. Next out was Higher Than The Sky, and that means the end of any Rage show. Probably Rage had to cut down their set to give room for Sabaton. Although I love Sabaton, if I had to chose I'd want the full Rage set. After all, they have released almost ten times as many records. A bit of an anticlimax, but to judge from the lame reactions from the crowd, it might have been right. It is strange that Sabaton and Freedom Call got greater response than Rage, but people simply got bad taste.

8 chalices of 10

SETLIST

1. Speak Of The Dead
2. No Fear
3. Down
4. (drum solo: Mike Terrana)
5. I'm Crucified/Straight To Hell
6. Enough Is Enough
7. Baby. I'm Your Nightmare
8. (guitar solo: Victor Smolski
9. War Of Worlds
10. Human Metal
11. Don't Fear The Winter
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12. Higher Than The Sky (+ Jawbreaker)