SABATON Singer Joakim Brodén Recalls Night Richie Faulkner Was Rushed To Hospital
Joakim Brodén, the singer of Sabaton, talks with Jimmy Kay and Alan Dixon about the band’s upcoming new studio
album, “The War to End all Wars.” In addition, he remembers the Blaze Bayley meeting and the Judas Priest tour
that was cancelled due to Richie Faulkner’s aortic rupture.
Regarding the new album
Naturally, the same conflict was covered in our previous album, “The Great War.” We had two stories we really
wanted to include on that album, the “Christmas Truce” and the tale of the Harlem “Hellfighters,” but we lacked the
appropriate music and decided to do them at a later date.
In addition, we received a tonne of books and emails from friends and admirers telling us stories and asking if they
had heard about “The Great War” when it was first printed. And many times, we wondered how we missed this and
why we hadn’t heard about it. We can share some of the stories our friends and fans have told us because we won’t be
able to tour if we don’t release another record.
When Richie Faulkner collapsed due to a ruptured aorta during a late-September show, the band was asked what they witnessed while opening for Judas Priest.
I didn’t see their concert and was probably in the dressing room taking showers the entire time, so I had no idea that
Richie had fallen. A number of us were intoxicated when we returned to the tour bus, and some members of the
Judas Priest crew boarded it. Some of them added, “He had to go with paramedics, and you heard about Richie.” All
we knew was that he wasn’t feeling well, so we said, “Okay, he had to go with the paramedics.”
Thus, we continued to climb aboard the tour bus and blast Van Halen. The following morning in Kansas City, we
were informed that he was having 10.5 hours of surgery, and we felt like jerks.
It wasn’t until the following day that we learnt. Then, since we were already planning to visit Denver, Colorado, we
were able to perform one last show there. We wondered whether this would be the tour’s final performance. Within a
day, we reserved a space, and a large number of Sabaton fans showed up.
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