Sabaton were still out and about on their Heroes tour, this time with two new support acts – Týr and Korpiklaani.
Now, most of the times when you attend a concert, you will want to see the main act, but couldn’t give two cents about the support, or the other way around, where you will wish the support was the actual headliner and that the billed headliner would fuck off, figuratively speaking.
On this tour though, Sabaton had not once, but twice now managed to create a billing where both Lunah Lauridsen and I were equally excited about the support as we were about the main act, and that’s quite a feat!
The last time we saw them, both Raubtier and D-A-D had been highly entertaining, and this time around it was Týr and Korpiklaani that had swept away our feet. Would Sabaton be able to overcome the pressure thus put upon them? Time would tell…

“Copenhagen, I’m going to do this in English, because I don’t understand a word of Danish, and last time we were here you cheated me. I wanted to learn how to say thank you, and you told me it was fisse!”
- Joakim Brodén (vocals/guitar)

The setup, which had been slightly hidden during the support bands gigs by large stage banners, was the same one we’ve seen on the rest of this tour, what with the large tank used as the drum-podium, and the various explosive crates placed around the edges of the stage, but that didn’t make it any less impressive – this is a winning concept, and it looks awesome!
Musically, The Final Countdown and The March To War called the audience into the hall and away from the bars, and then we were off with Ghost Division. No surprises there, but the same goes for this as above, don’t fix it if it ain’t broken!
As this was the first indoor show we saw on this tour, no pyrotechnics were used, but those proved irrelevant both in heating up the room and in making the show look impressive – both of these points were driven home without problem by the simple effort of the band and an enthusiastic audience which lifted the show to new heights! Already in Ghost Division the Danish panzer brigade took over for a single chorus, and our vocals only intensified as the gig went on. It didn’t matter if we were dealing with new, mid, or old songs, everyone knew every word, and no one missed a tone. Hell, we even hummed Swedish Pagans so loudly that Pär Sundström produced a pen and wrote it down on the setlist for the band to play, even though it wasn’t in the original plan!

“Copenhagen, you give me goose-bumps!”
- Brodén (vocals/guitar)

Apart from this addition, Sabaton had a lot of choices for us this night, regarding which songs we’d like to hear. First of all, everyone got to shout out a reply as to whether we wanted Gott Mit Uns in Swedish or English (Swedish it was), and after seeing a guy in a wheelchair kicking ass in the front-row and being amazed by it, Brodén gave him the option of whether they should play Uprising, White Death, or Screaming Eagles (Uprising was the result here). Everyone got to weigh in on the choice between Smoking Snakes and Soldier Of 3 Armies (here the latter was chosen), but one thing that wasn’t up for discussion was Nuclear Attack.
At some point, I can’t really remember when and neither could Brodén apparently, Sabaton has promised the Danish audience to play Nuclear Attack, and there was a guy in the audience this night with a sign simply saying “Nuclear Attack – You promised!”, but the promise wasn’t delivered upon as the band simply hadn’t remembered to freshen up on the song before they came round. Tsk, tsk… As an apology, the guy with the sign was given soul choice between the songs En Livstid I Krig and Karolinens Bön – a tough choice that no one, not even the band, envied him. Both are great songs, and either choice would leave a lot of people disappointed. In the end he went with En Livstid I Krig, a wise way to go.
Another thing that might have left at least a few people disappointed, disappointed by the fact that they didn’t think of it themselves, was a smaller sequel to the vest-swapping thing that went on last year at Wacken. This time there was a guy in the audience who was clad identically to Brodén, with the one exception that he wore a pair of red plastic sunglasses. Fighting his way to the front, he actually managed to swap these with Brodén however, and got to take a pair of Sabaton originals back home, while Brodén was stuck the cheap knock-off. In all fairness, he seemed to take it all in good sport, and proudly wore them for the remainder of the show.

As you may have noticed, there was a lot of interaction between band audience this evening, and that was a great way for Sabaton to go in order to get everyone feeling involved, but it wasn’t all they did. They also had the performance bit to look into while they were playing.
Knowing Sabaton though, they of course had this bit down to a finely tuned art-form by now. The string-bending section featuring Sundström, Thorbjörn ‘Thobbe’ Englund, and Christoffer ‘Chris’ Rörland were a lively bunch, playing around and teasing each other at every chance they got, spending the rest of the time posing and smiling. Again, Englund and Rörland took turns doing vocals for Gott Mit Uns, and to show that he’s as good as everyone else, Brodén donned a guitar for Resist And Bite, but when he did his guitar teacher for Malmsteen and Blackmore routine, Englund and Rörland put him in his place by showing what true technicality looked and sounded like.
One thing I didn’t really understand was why Brodén felt the need to leave the stage for each and every solo – in the past he has had the stamina to stick through the entire show, so maybe something was wrong with him? If there was, he sure didn’t let during the time he was on stage, I’ll tell you that much!

As you might have gathered, there really wasn’t much to complain about at this show – the worst thing I can think of saying is that the setlist may have been a bit safe, but since they’re all great songs I don’t know what should have gone in favour of something else without being missed instead. Again, nothing but love from here for playing all Carolus Rex songs in Swedish, I hope this trend is here to stay.
Týr and Korpiklaani may have put up a good competition by delivering their own great shows, but Sabaton proved that they were game to take them on, and delivered an equally awesome concert. In the end, the audience was the true winner here – three great gigs for the price of one, who can argue with that?

Setlist:

The Final Countdown (Europe song)
The March To War
Ghost Division
Carolus Rex
40:1
Gott Mit Uns
Soldier Of 3 Armies
The Art Of War
7734
En Livstid I Krig
Attero Dominatus
Resist And Bite
Uprising
Night Witches
Swedish Pagans
Primo Victoria
Metal Crüe
Masters Of The World