Review: Trivium, Sabaton, Huntress, Irving Plaza, 10/11/16

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New York City’s Irving Plaza is no stranger to big ticket artists. Machine Head and the Ramones are only a few of the names whom have graced their stage. It was the venue of choice for the October 11^th segment of the Huntress, Sabaton, and Trivium tour for New York. I was privileged enough to attend, arriving at 6:40 just as the bulk of people started pooling around the stage. It was not very long before the projector screen in front of the stage went up and Huntress took their places. Jill Janus, their frontwoman, prominently made her way to the front and greeted the crowd with enthusiasm. Their first song of the night was “Sorrow” and a noticeable spike in energy could be felt from the crowd. Towards the latter part of their set Janus talked about how much she wanted to one-day play at Irving Plaza at the start of of her music career. She followed up with a story about how she worked with late Motorhead front man Lemmy Kilmister while writing the song “I Want To Fuck You To Death.” Experience has shown it is impossible to get a negative response from a crowd when Lemmy is involved.

Once Huntress wrapped up their set, it was time for Sabaton to take to the stage. Sabaton, has seen some very interesting developments as of late. First off, their Drummer Hannes Van Dahl is expecting his first child with Nightwish singer Floor Jansen. Secondly, it was the first American tour for their latest member, Guitarist Tommy ReinXeed. The energy level of the audience rose dramatically as Sabaton began their set with their set with the very popular song “Ghost Division.” It did not, however, take very long for them to start playing material from their new album The Last Stand. In particular the songs they included in their set were “Sparta”, “Blood of Bannockburn” and “The Lost Battalion.” Front man Joakim Brodén was full of charisma and life in his signature plate metal vest and sunglasses. He also shared with us a bit of humor as Brodén introduced ReinXeed for his first American tour, playing the beginning melody for Swedish Pagans. Brodén jokingly said how much he hated this song and that it would also be ReinXeed’s last American tour. Though the set was shorter than anything I would have wanted it was still a great time for any Sabaton fan.

Finally, it was Trivium’s turn to play. They began with one of their more popular songs “Strife.” As it is with almost any metal show, this was when you started to see full blown mosh pits surging through the crowd. Though the pits were alive, a large portion of the crowd was not. I found the energy lacking for Trivium throughout the entire set. A large portion of the crowd remained as stationary as some of the band members on the stage. Matt Heafy, lead singer and guitarist, kept himself mostly still for the entire night. Having Trivium following a band like Sabaton who was so active on stage, it was almost disappointing. I almost feel like you could have reversed the order of appearance and the night would have been better. Overall, the show as a whole were great. Sabaton and Huntress kept their crowd alive with a constant energy throughout the night. For Trivium, though, not so much.