By Kelly Taylor
Grand Rapids hottest venue, 20 Monroe Live, played host to a trio of amazing heavy bands, CyHra, Kreator and Sabaton. We got to the show too late to check out CyHra, but the buzz in the crowd was “they rocked the place.”
Kreator hit the stage with a blast, a non-stop onslaught of sound. With an awesome light show and one killer song after another, Kreator whipped the crowd into a frenzy. They promised a hell of a show and they delivered.
Then Sabaton came on stage and blew everyone away. With tight tunes and killer riffs, they ramped up the energy level in the venue to a new high. Wave after wave of crowd surfers bombarded the stage, bringing a smile to my face. Even the normally stone-faced bouncers were grinning, so you know it was pretty cool. Lead singer, Joakim Broden truly seemed to be having a good time and looked like he was enjoying the concert as much as the audience.
I remember the first time I saw Sabaton, back in 2014 when they opened for Iced Earth at The Intersection. Most of the crowd had come to see Iced Earth, but when Sabaton hit the stage, they won over the crowd instantly. By the time their set was done, they had a legion of new diehard fans.
It was truly an unforgettable night. The next time Sabaton comes to Grand Rapids, be sure to go to the show for a dose of good old-fashioned heavy metal.
Be sure to checkout Sabaton’s twitter feed at twitter.com/sabaton for a live video broadcast of Monday’s concert at 20 Monroe Live.
More Sabaton is available online at sabaton.net and facebook.com/sabaton. You can purchase their new release The Last Stand at http://nblast.de/SabatonLastStandNB.
