In an attempt to get back to their roots, grand-scale stars Hammerfall was conducting their Swedish Outbreak tour only at smaller venues, and with the support of smaller, local bands.
The local band here was Imminence, and they were underwhelming to say the least. The only hope now was that Hammerfall would blow us away, something the most recent gigs actually left little hope for...

The crowd was clearly pumped for this one off chance (I can’t believe the place wasn’t sold out) to see their power metal heroes really up close however, and they were doing the countdown together with the back-track used as an intro to Patient Zero, which was the first song of the evening.
Well, the band poured unto a stage stripped of all sorts of gimmicks and special features and even their gear and outfits seemed a bit toned down compared to what one might be used to from the templars of steel. They seemed happy though, and eager to play; maybe this would work out after all?
For the second song, Hammerfall went further back in the archives with Heeding The Call, which brought forth a loud "oh oh oh" chant from the crowd. Sadly though, it became apparent that neither sound nor lights were up to the task to fully deliver an appreciable show at this point... Something had to be done, and luckily, at least the sound got better throughout, without ever reaching any great heights of artistry though...

These were mere technical details however, as back on the stage Hammerfall were really letting themselves go in the performance!
Our dear musicians, and here especially Oscar Dronjak, had a lot of fun throughout with power-posing and other goodies; at one time Dronjak was over helping Pontus Norgren with some chords during Last Man Standing, at other times he was doing round-house kicks in the air, etc.
Joacim Cans was very talkative this evening, and even though some of it was clearly standard comments (like the vinyl/mp3 joke and Saxon speech for B.Y.H.), as well as some commercials for an upcoming special 2 hour show which was to be played in Dalarna, Sweden during the summer of 2012, there were also some stuff which was either reworked (the explanation regarding bassist Fredrik Larsson’s whereabouts during his time away from Hammerfall (apparently he was in Mexico working with a black metal band)) or new altogether. What was making his genuine liking of the Malmö crowd was not his speeches however, but rather the many times were the loud shouts of the audience made him loose track of what he was saying, leaving him standing silent and merely smiling.

And why not?
The large crowd was really into the show, competing with the speakers for who was the loudest, and also making KB a very hot place to be in the still slightly winter-chilly March evening weather.
After generally singing and clapping along to practically every song Hammerfall played, and shaking the ground while jumping along to Riders Of The Storm, the audience was finally put to the test by first an extra loud sing-along in Let The Hammer Fall (which for once was fairly well-measured in length), and then the master exam where we were supposed to take the first verse of finishing song Hearts On Fire all on our own. I’m glad to report that we did an excellent job!

So, contradictory to what I wrote in my report of the Hammerfall gig at the Rockharz festival from last year, it would seem that Hammerfall indeed does not need all of their scenery to make a spectacular concert after all.
This evening at least showed the band from their absolutely best side, and it was easy to tell that they were all having a genuine blast playing for us, more so than I what I have seen from them in a very long time. Who knows, maybe this is the way to go for the band, or maybe this was a one off thing which will ignite the flame and make them soar even higher in the future? In the end, only time will tell, and this will be a time to look forward to...

Setlist:

Patient Zero
Heeding The Call
Any Means Necessary
B.Y.H.
Blood Bound
Steel Meets Steel
Last Man Standing
Renegade
Riders Of The Storm
Solo (Oscar Dronjak)
Legacy Of Kings
Let The Hammer Fall
The Dragon Lies Bleeding
The Templar Flame
Glory To The Brave
One More Time
Hearts On Fire