It’s a good attest to how far Sabaton has come over the last few years, when they are put not only to headline a day at Metalcamp, but headline this day above genre brothers Sonata Arctica and Hammerfall, both seniors of the scene to Sabaton.
Still, it should come as little surprise to those who know them; their music is great, and their live-show is even more so.

The already mentioned Hammerfall, who had played just before Sabaton, were kind enough to share the stage setup with this infernal war-squad, so that they too had some more levels to run and play on, something they more than happy to take advantage of.
They were also fond of playing with fire, and already in the first song, Ghost Division, great sparklers showered the stage and air with glowing, well, sparkles. Real fires were later used as well, Cliffs Of Gallipoli saw some very tall flames erupt around the stage, as if we needed the extra heat; well, maybe it was just a chance for Joakim Brodén to warm for an impending visit to the banks of the Sočha. At least he invited us all to go swimming in the river after the show, and he at least kept up his part of the bargain.

“This is the most beautiful festival we’ve been to, and the guys have such aerobic asses!”
- Joakim Brodén (vocals)

As always with Sabaton, wartunes and humour went hand in hand, although Brodén was leaning a bit much on the gay-jokes this night, without much variation. At least he claimed that the only reason they were playing Cliffs Of Gallipoli was that they had been denied the right to play Y.M.C.A., which supposedly had been their original intention (yeah, right), and just before Primo Victoria he also commented that;

”And now for the gay part; you know there is always a gay part of Sabaton”.

Even so, the show was very enjoyable, and had lots of energy to it, so I can only concur with the Metalcamp management that putting Sabaton as the main act of the day was a great decision.

Setlist:

Ghost Division
Panzer Battalion
Coat Of Arms
Saboteurs
Cliffs Of Gallipoli
Attero Dominatus
The Price Of A Mile
Screaming Eagles
Uprising
The Art Of War
Primo Victoria
Metal Machine / Metal Crüe