Sabaton @ Conventum Arena, Örebro, Sweden 19/3 -17
Then, and again, sing of 300 men! Two days has passed before it was time to yet again witness the Swedish warmachine live in concert. I was even more excited this time around, and I guess it has a bit to do with the fact that I was going to see Sofia for the first time in what feels like FOREVER. So around 13 in the afternoon I got in the car and headed off toward Örebro. Once arrived, we enjoyed a really nice dinner (Sofia’s a chef) before getting ready for the show catching up with each other – it sure as hell has been some time since we last saw each other.
A little bit before the doors opened we finally got in the car to go to the venue. She lives a little bit outside, and then we spent the next half an hour or 45 minutes cruising around Conventum trying to find a parkingspot. The fact that Twilight Force was our soundtrack at the time made it to quite the epic adventure. And gladly, we found a spot close to the venue and could then finally get in. Once inside, we didn’t have to wait too long until the first band started.
Twilight Force
They came onto the stage with their hymn of battle, starting off the set with “Battle of Arcane Might”, to a not so convinced audience before continuing with “To The Stars”. The quest continued with “Riders of the Dawn” before heading into “Flight of the Sapphire Dragon”, which FINALLY woke up the audience! Glad to see. The band delivered very well though, it’s one of those bands that are simply fun to see live.
“Gates of Glory” was the next song on the list before wrapping up with “The Power of Ancient Force” and then they left the stage.
Accept
Accept went on stage right on time as per usual, and unlike Norrköping it sure as hell was NOT an Accept crowd tonight. But, despite that, the band delivered really good, and this time around, I really found myself enjoying it quite a lot! Thank you guys!
Sabaton
And again… the unreal moment when you hear “In The Army” echoing through the speakers and the adrenaline is turned up to a 100. It seems to me that no matter how many times I see Sabaton, I’ll always get that fucking kick of adrenaline everytime I hear the intro being started. “The March To War”, Joakims announcement and they start off with “Ghost Division”. Arena exploding. So happy to see.
They followed up with “Sparta” which has very rapidly gone from being a “meh” song for me to be one of my favorite live songs. And I just love the performance with the extra Spartans. It adds so much, you know?
“Blood of Bannockburn” was next on the setlist, a song that has also come to grow on me quite extremely. It appears this song simply need a few listens, after all. “Tommy’s Choice” or “Swedish Pagans” was next – but this time the audience beat Jocke and Tommy to it, and “Swedish Pagans” was a fact. I wonder if this song will ever leave Sabaton’s set?
The bells appeared behind the band, and again my personal favorite appears – “The Last Stand”. Seriously, it is still a bit too early to say that this song is my absolute favorite of Sabaton, but it is a strong contestant to “The Art of War”. But the live version of it, so to put it, just fucking kills it.
After this…. it is time for “Carolus Rex”. All fun and games. The audience is on edge. They are so ready for it to come, and then… “All embrace me…. It’s my time to rule at last…” and the whole audience died out again. Exactly the same situation that happened on Sweden Rock five years ago. Gladly, Jocke realized his mistake and changed back to Swedish. I found it so fascinating how absolutely unforgiving the audience is whenever they start singing any of the Carolus songs in English. Loving it.
This followed by a two minute ban for Jocke where the rest of the members performed “Gott Mit Uns”. This song is such a riot live – not “Amen and Attack” kind of riot, but a riot nonetheless.
“Diary of an Unknown Soldier” starts echoing followed by the epicness that is “The Lost Battalion”. My love for this is just growing so big, I still have the feeling inside me from the first time I heard the combination of the two.
“Lejonet från Norden” was the next song on the list, followed by the beautiful acoutstic moment with “The Final Solution”. Like I said before, it’s a heavy song lyric wise and quite frankly, it gets even more intense peformed this way. I love this.
“Resist and Bite” is the next song on the list, quite the riot and followed by the bombregiment 588, which still holds, at least after seeing the show a second time, the position of being the best moment of the night. Seriously – THAT INTRO. Can we just take a little moment to absolutely appreciate this moment.
They later continued with “Winged Hussars” which is a PERFECT fucking ending – the perfect discharge of the last little bit of neckmuscles you still have, before letting them leave the stage for a moment as they start up a battlefield.
The new intro for “Primo Victoria” consist of a movie from the battle in question, as they start firing off and exploding pyrotechnics which resembles the same explosions you see on the movie screen, and some extra effects. It will never be like an actual warzone – seeing we are safe in the concertarena, but it still gives you idea of the sudden explosions and you never know (at least not the first time) when the explosions will go off.
They run on stage with “Primo Victoria”, and the Örebro audience was really giving it to them. “Shiroyama” was next song on the list, followed by my favorite MOVIE of the night, “En Livstid i Krig” (I still don’t favor this song a lot, I’m sorry) before wrapping the whole set up with “To Hell and Back”. What an absolute discharge.
This show was amazing. And there is something huge watching Pär wave the Swedish flag highly as “Masters of the World” echoes in the speakers – it’s such a difference seeing them as opposed to seeing them 11 years ago. I love this band so much, and I’m so proud to have gotten to be a part of their journey from a small little band to world domination.
After the show, we headed straight home, sat around and talked for a little while before it was time for me to head home to get ready for work. I’m so ready for next week.
// Sara
Sara Hammerzmith 
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