Sara Hammerzmith

Peoples! AS WE SPEAK Knotfest is happening in the California, and you can follow the show live on Knotfest.com (unless there are technical difficulties, which it has been on and off during the night). Of Mice and Men are currently on!

The only shows I managed to catch last night however was the ones of female-fronted Butcher Babies and Black Label Society. Both shows were fine, and I was might impressed by Butcher Babies, a band I never heard of before! Sadly, I missed out on the Knot because of the timezones, but I saw a video of “Custer” earlier today and I literally died. So fucking great. Therefore, I’m going to bed earlier tonight with the plan of getting up in time for the stream tomorrow, which starts at 5 am all you Europeans (that carries GMT + 1)

So far today, up until now I’ve been able to see Devil Driver and Whitechapel. Both bands did a good job, but I’m not sure if I’d call either of the bands my cup of tea. I had hoped to be able to see Avatar, but not only did the stream go offline for me, but they also streamed Killswitch Engage instead.

With all this being said, I’ll leave you here with “Custer” and me myself, I’m heading to bed. Good night people, and see you tomorrow!

// Sara

(The whole show of the Knot from yesterday is available on youtube as well!)

Woohoo!

Today my friends, another ticket has been purchased! This time, it was for SlipKnot’s show in Helsinki, as I already told you previously I’d try to get. So now, finally, 2 out of a few shows has been booked! And I’m so excited. I’m planning the trip, or, half-way, the trip of my life right now, and I don’t wanna say too much about it just yet, you’ll find out when you do I guess!

However, I had a bit of an incident this morning. The tickets were set to be released at 9, so naturally, I went up at 8.30 to make sure to put on my computer in time, get my creditcard ready and all of that, to make it smoothly. I wasn’t sure how quick they were going to sell out – as far as I was concerned, not as quick as Lady Gaga, but not like I could wait a few days.

Around 8.45 I actually went on the site to have a look at it, and when I typed in SlipKnot, I noticed the tickets were already on sale. 15 minutes prior to release. I was confused as fuck, and a little upset at first, until I realized.

Finland is one hour a head of Sweden. While it was 8.45 here, it was 9.45 there. The tickets had been on sale for at least 45 minutes.

HOW FUCKING STUPID AM I? Finland is probably one of the countries I’ve visited the most throughout the years, and it’s also my favorite country, have been all my life, and I could go on and on about Finland, YET I FORGET THE FUCKING TIMEZONE. How is it even possible. Sometimes, I truly live up to my haircolour.

Anyway. At first I freaked out a little, because I chose standing tickets, but they were sold out. And I was like no no no no no, and mind you, 45 minutes is a bit of a time, so I figured, if they are sold out, they are sold out. But I kept pushing the button a couple of times, and eventually I got a hand of standing tickets. Phew. Why was I even worried in the first place, I always get the tickets I want. ALWAYS.

But aside the little non-drama, I love how next year is starting to shape up. As of now, I have three confirmed gigs in February, and two in March, Steel Panther & Katy Perry, and I’ve planned to attend Sweden Rock and Skogsröjet. I like it.  I hope I can beat the record from 2011 that was around 50 gigs throughout the year. Can’t be impossible, right?

We’ll see.

// Sara

Alright! It’s been two years since Mother Monster last had her feet on Swedish grounds, at least when it comes to tours. But this time it was time for something, new, if you like: the Artpop Ball, also called artRAVE.

I’m in all honesty, as I said a few days ago, not too fond of “Artpop” compared to her earlier work, but it doesn’t change the fact that I, and Sofia for that matter, were beyond excited to see her again. But as usual, we came to the venue pretty late, during the last song of the first opener. We decided to first hit the merchstand, to pick up the ever so traditional tour-programme and hit the bathrooms before heading down to the standing area.

And I must say, when I entered the doors before going down the stairs, I was somewhat blown away. What a fucking setting she had! It literally felt like coming to some other kind of world, with the stage being literally ALL OVER THE PLACE! Like what the hell. I tried to capture it, but I don’t think I truly got it.

Despite the place looking crowded, we scored pretty good places, as usual. I don’t know what it is – we get there pretty much right before the shit starts, but always score decent places. Maybe it’s because we don’t have too high standards about spots for this, I don’t know. But we were pleased.We stood right in front of that dark singular platform you can see, next to the big white one.

After a minute or so, Lady Starlight entered the stage and started pumping up the rave. She gave us a pretty decent DJ-set, kind of setting the atmosphere for the night. I have never actually been to a rave-party, but this is somewhat what I’ve always pictured they’d be like, looking to the music, lightning and atmosphere.

Once Starlight had left the stage, the waiting started. And we waited. And waited. We sat down on the floor in the meantime, to make sure not to wear out our feet too much before the danceparty and I just love all the looks people gave us. If they only knew how often we actually go to concerts… haha.

A little bit after nine, the curtain finally fell and “Artpop” started with Lady Gaga coming out of the floor with her golden catsuit and wings. The arena practically exploded when she came out.

She followed up quickly with “G.U.Y” (which is one of the songs I DO like a lot on ArtPop) and later “Donatella”. Somewhere here she took off her wings and also the bathing suit, dressing down to the sea-shells and flowerpanties. I don’t remember exactly where. She continued on with “Venus” and “MANiCURE” before introducing “Just Dance”. While the intro was playing, she was down getting changed into a dress that brought us all the way back to the The Fame era. Me like.

In the white dress she fired of a medley containing “Just Dance”, “Pokerface” and “Telephone” before she disappears again leaving us to a pure “rave” moment (I don’t wanna call it rave, to make sure I don’t offend actual ravers). I must admit, I loved everything that was going on – the lightning, the odd dances, all the confetti spraying out ALL OVER THE PLACE, together with the music.

Before we knew it, she was back in a squid-like costume, and this could only mean one thing. Monster. The Fame Monster.

“Paparazzi”.

You guys might remember the giant fish-monster she had on stage for Monster Ball, called “The Fame Monster” and asked us to help photograph the monster to make it go away? Well, the fish isn’t there, but she has become one! It was fun nonetheless, haha.

After “Paparazzi”, they brought out this giant hand shaped like a monsters paw, that was actually a chair, in which Mother Monster took place when firing off one of her newer hits – “Do What U Want”. I don’t know how to describe this to you, but it gave me this… glamorous feeling, if you like? When she’s sitting up there in her monster paw that’s manicured and all. Loved it.

After “Do What U Want” she headed over to her piano and gave us a little speech about needing your friends and needing yourself before giving us a heartbreaking performance of “Dope”, followed up by “Yoü and I”.

For the next song, she pointed out a fan in the audience and invited her up on stage with her. It was a girl called Riia, and it always makes me so happy to see Gaga do this to her fans. With Riia next to her, she sang and performed and acoustic version of “Born This Way”.

A little later on the set, she sat down and looked at all the gifts and letters that had been thrown to her, and found a little frog and a letter from a fan, and managed to detect who had given her the letter. She talked a bit to her from stage, and went on to invite her to a meet&greet. Just fucking love it. What I do not like though, is when Gaga asked if she had any friends with her, A LOT of people around the girl started raising their hands and be like “We are her friends!” and the girl in question illustrated to Gaga that she only had 2 friends, and I tell you, it was more than two people who raised their hands… I guess some people are willing to do anything to meet their artists…

Anyway. After “Born This Way”, Gaga took Riia with her and left the stage for a costume change. When she came back, the started off yelling out the words “Edge of Glory” and then starting a new medley, beginning with “Judas” (oddly enough?!) and later followed by “Aura”, “Sexxx Dreams”, “Mary Jane Holland” and then moving onto “Alejandro”. I never really understood why she mashes it all up in medleys, but with that being said, it was still good.

She went back to the center of the stage and started giving a small speech about being yourself no matter what, doing yet another costume change, this one right before our eyes though and then hitting off with “Bad Romance”. And I can tell you one thing – while the crowd had been very active, there’s nothing like a “Bad Romance” dance party, that’s for sure.

After “Bad Romance”, she continued on with “Applause” and “Swine” before leaving the stage before encores. I’m always a bit surprised when people STILL leaves as soon as this happens – come on. Unless the lights have been switched on in the venue there’s more to come!

And of course it wasn’t. She came back out with gorgeously long blonde hair and a dress to die for before sitting down before her frozen piano, talking about love, equality, pride, and how we should always remember this day, when we were all united, we were all monsters before starting off the last song of the night.

See, if you see the setlist, it should really be “Marry The Night” who comes now, or possibly “The Edge Of Glory”. And while I love both of those two, I was still a little disappointed my favorite song off Artpop, “Gypsy” hadn’t been in the setlist. And then she started singing.

“Sometimes a story has no end….”

Wait.

What.

Wait. WAIT. WAIT. HOLD THE FUCKING PHONE.

SHE PLAYED “GYPSY”. SHE REALLY FUCKING DID.

Oh my god, I completely exploded on the inside. I usually have such bad luck with favorite songs, and hearing not just a favorite song, but specifically “Gypsy” made me cry, basically. I just stood there and absorbed everything that was Lady Gaga, everything that was Gypsy. Oh my god, I can’t even tell you enough how much I love this song and how much it means to me or anything, but the fact she chose to use it as her last song on the whole rave, makes me just… ahhh. Oh mylanta.

But yes. After “Gypsy”, she said good bye and left the stage for good for this time.

While I do think she performed extremely well, as an artist, the show itself wasn’t anything like it’s been in the past. The Monster Ball are my favorite show so far, both song-wise and performing-wise, and I’m not sure why it’s become like this, but then again – every artist and band needs to have a little bit of a “down-era” in order to get back even massiver, just look at Lordi.

Over all though – Thank you, Mother Monster. Thanks for the show, for the night, for the courage, for the music, for the songs and for everything you have ever done to me with your music and your speeches and just being you. Seeing Lady Gaga is for me not only seeing an artist. It’s so much more than that. And I can’t wait until she comes back-

Paws up, little monsters!

// Sara

SETLIST:
Artpop
G.U.Y
Donatella
Venus
MANiCURE
Just Dance / Pokerface / Telephone
Paparazzi
Do What U Want
Dope
Yoü And I
Born This Way
Judas / Aura / Sexxx Dreams / Mary Jane Holland
Alejandro
Bad Romance
Applause
Swine
—-
Gypsy

So yes! It was time for the first in three years for me to see HammerFall, last time was on their “Infected” tour, and now it’s time for a new album, a new era and perhaps a new HammerFall? No – not really, but they did indeed take a break for two years in order to get some new energy pumping in their veins. With a new album in their backpacks, the band, as well as us, headed down to Liseberg to have a releasegig for the newest, “(r)Evolution”.

We arrived at the stage about half an hour before the show began, and at first, it looked like the place was crowded, but the closer to the stage we got, the more we realized that it wasn’t as crowded as it looked, and we got fairly close to the stage, approx. the fifth row, if you like. It wasn’t too packed, gladly.

Pretty much right on time did the warriors enter the stage one by one starting with Anders and eventually they kicked the whole set off with “Heeding The Call”. Quite interesting, I’ve never seen them start with this before, so it was surprising! Surprising, in a good way. Right after this they hit it off with one of my personal favorite, “Any Means Necessary”.

While the band on stage had an amazing energy, the crowd did not. It’s quite sad to see, and this is one of the reasons I’m not a too big of a fan of these amusement park gigs. I don’t mean it in any offence to non-metalheads, but the feeling in the crowd is usually a lot better when it’s 110% fans there. But yes. The band – amazing energy.

“Renegade” was next on the list, and for the first time in a little while, the crowd seemed to come alive a bit. There is one thing I want to talk about a little bit thought. And that is Oscars new guitar. Can we just appreciate his, if I may say so, hammering guitar?

It’s literally in the shape of the HammerFall hammer, and it got a blue light in it, as you can see. I love it, I just flippin love it! I love how this band commits 100% to their image, even still after all this time.

“B.Y.H” was the next song on the list before cooling things down with “Bloodbound” off “Chapter V”. It’s fun – perhaps this is because I haven’t seen them in a long time, but you know, they always do like a slow start on the song, right? And in my mind I was just thinking “Ah, this must be ‘Glory to the Brave'” DESPITE Joacim saying they were going to play something off “Chapter V”. But damn. I love “Bloodbound”. And so did the crowd! Finally a bit of a reaction. The band? I still can’t complain about their performances.

They contiuned on with the Warlord cover “Children of the Damned” that they apparently haven’t played live in many, many years according to Joacim, moving on to “The Metal Age” until it was time for THAT.

You people who’ve seen HammerFall before knows exactly what I’m talking about. When Joacim asks us one simple question. What we are going to say, if he says Let The Hammer….

FALL!

Let the Hammer?

FALL!

HE SAID LET THE HAMMER?

FAAAALL!!!!!!!!!

And with that, I think Liseberg just delievered their loudest scream ever. Thank god. Finally alive. During “Let The Hammer Fall”, I noticed that Joacim’s voice got soarer and soarer, and afterwards he announced he’d need a five minute break to recover his voice. He and the band walked off stage.

This left a bit of an uncertainty amongst the fans. Are they gonna come back? Are they gonna have to cancel? We didn’t know. It was a bit of an anxious waiting, until the band returned on stage together with Jocke, ready to continue the show.

Apparently, Joacim is allergic to the sulfur that comes with the pyrotechnics, which is why his throat had thickened. So no more pyros, and just on with the show. Fair enough.

“Last Man Standing” was the first song to be performed after the break, and the crowd was all with them on this one. I’m not sure if people were intimidated before, or if they just know this song, but yes. Again, finally.

After all these songs, it was time to premiere something off “(r)Evolution”, and what song is better than the opener “Hector’s Hymn”?

I’m just gonna tell you guys.

This song, is beyond epic live. I loved this song a lot on the record, but I love it even more live. It just brings that epicness to the show that sure as hell is already there, but you know, just that little extra.  And oh oh oh! They had a Hector helmet AND a hammer lying on stage behind Fredrik and Ponuts that Joacim decided to swing a bit. Loved it. Jesus christ, I love Hector. They wrapped up the show with “HammerFall” before leaving the stage for the night.

As always, the returned for encores. The first encore to be played, which also had it’s live-debut, was the single “Bushido” (off “(r)Evolution”). It’s amazing live. I haven’t been a too big fan of it on the record, but it just NAILS it live.

I guess it should come as no big surprise that the last encore for the night was “Hearts on Fire”. And for the first, and only time during the whole night, did the entire crowd chant and sing together with the band. The song was executed in perfection and they ended the whole thing with some bombastic pyros (I guess it’s fine when it’s the last song and all, haha) before saying thank you and good bye for the night.

While I have nothing to complain about when it comes to the bands performance and energy, I still find the show a bit weak. I’m not sure if it’s the setlist or if it’s the not-so-energetic crowd, but I do think it’s a mix of both. I hope to catch HammerFall on a proper date on their tour instead of a “festivalgig”, and we’ll see then if there are any changes and differencies. But they get an A for effort, but a little lower in creativity with the setlist. And of course, A++++ for the Hector Helmet, hammer and Oscar’s new guitar. Damn, I love that guitar.

Setlist in whole: Heeding the Call / Any Means Necessary / Renegade / B.Y.H / Bloodbound / Children of the Damned / The Metal Age / Let The Hammer Fall / Last Man Standing / Hector’s Hymn / HammerFall / – / Bushido / Heart on Fire

// Sara

I want to say something.

I’m sitting here, DEAD tired since HammerFall’s show last night at Liseberg, and no worries, I WILL write about it I promise, but not right now. It’ll take me about an hour or two + going through the photos to write about it, and for now, I’m too tired to that.

I’ve slept an average of three-four hours a day this past week up ’til Friday, where we decided to sleep in a little bit, not a lot, but a little. At 11 or so we headed down for Gothenburg and Liseberg, and about four hours and loads of confusion later, we are there. We had a great time at the amusement park – a lot of gambling, some rollercoasters. We had even more fun at the gig, despite the crowd not being too good. And I wanna give a nice smack to the girls infront of us who thought it was so “cool that people actually dressed up for this”. Because it’s not like we dress like this daily. Haha, seriously.

After the show, we did some more gambling and more rollercoasters and also had dinner. I think the dinner was the first thing that pointed at how tired you were – not only did I manager to drop my phone right into tacoplate of mine, but we also kinda heard what we heard about foreheads and what not, haha.

Anyway, the tests of the tests came when we were gonna go home. We decided against having  a hotel, and instead drove home instantly. At first it was ok, even though it drove us MAD trying to get out of Gothenburg. Once we did, we were calm. But then tiredness hit in, and I’m not sure if I ever actually did nick a couple of times, but after 1/3 of the way we stopped at a pit stop to catch 30 minutes of sleep.

And then we continued. There wasn’t much traffic, and I barely even remember anything from driving home, which scares me in a way, but we got home, safe and sound. At 4 am or so in the morning. It was the drive from hell, and I know it ain’t even close to what some people sometimes go through.

We went to bed, and then got up around noon. Michelle went home, and I took another nap to try to catch up.

Now I’m sitting here. Tired as hell. Wanting to write about HammerFall, but I know I won’t be able to write properly with a brain like this. And I don’t have the time either.

Because I’m going back to work in about an hour.

How about that, you guys who say we don’t “deserve” this or are “so rich you can do whatever you want”.

I’d challenge you to travel and see the band under the same conditions we do sometime. And see if it really is as glorious as you think it is. Travelling for bands is the absolute best thing in the world, I wouldn’t be doing it if I didn’t love it as much as I did.

But don’t you dare come tell me it’s so easy. Because the way we do it, it ain’t.

I hate going all negative on here, but I’ve had it up to here with people who do this. And they say this everytime we go somewhere. And it’s pissing me off.

“We worked our fucking asses off to get here, this was no easy ride whatsoever” – Joey Jordison

// Sara

So! As I said, the day was finally here. For once in a very long time, we actually decided to queue fairly early. Well, fairly.We got there about half past two, which was only about three hours before the doors were about to be opened, but we were unsure on how much early we could have made it. We were actually first in line, so I guess everything worked out, huh?

While waiting we heard all the bands rehearse – we heard Sabaton rehears “Smoking Snakes” and “Ghost Division” and later on “Nightwitches”. As you know, I was really ruling for “Nightwitches” to be played, and just as Kasper said six years ago in our documentary, “if they have soundchecked it, they just have to play it!” So the expectations obviously grew higher.

As it got closer to the opening, more and more people started to join in the queue. We had the joy of meeting two new friends in line from Deje, nice meeting you boys! When waiting for the slightly delayed opening we enjoyed the tunes to Amaranthe, and I was getting real pumped. I have recently discovered that particular band, and I was unsure wether I’d be able to catch them live or not, or perhaps more, WHEN I’d be able to catch them live. Appears it happened sooner rather than later!

The doors FINALLY opened and we ran inside to secure spots in front of the stage. Immedeatley after this had been done, I rushed over to the merchstand to get myself one of these “Slaget om Karlstad” shirts. They made a few of these for every date on this Swedish tour, so it was EXTREMLY limited, so I figured I’d have to grab one quickly. If there is anything in this world that will eventually make me broke, it will be music merchandise.

Ran back in spot, and let Michelle free to go and check the merchstand as well before we finally stood up, adjusted our seats and started to wait for Amaranthe. While waiting we actually managed to spot a good friend of mine, Daniel and his friend who came in and joined us in the front. Also, we noticed the planes on the sides of the stage. This must mean they’ll play “Nightwitches”, right? Jesus christ, I really wanted that song.

Right on time, at 7 o clock did Amaranthe start their intro and enter the stage. And at the very moment they did, heaven decided to open its gates and unleashed a heavy rain. “And the rain will kill us all…”. Either way, they started off their show quite strongly with “Invincible”, despite Elise and Jake tripping over each other in the beginning. That was more cute than anything, if you ask me!

They followed up with one of my personal favorites “Leave Everything Behind” before continuing with “1.000.000 Lightyears” and later “Afterlife”. You see. This is a bit hilarious, and of course awesome. Before the show, while queueing, we sort of guessed and made wishes between each other on what songs they were gonna play. And so far in the set list, they managed to nail each and every one.

“Electroheart” was next song to be executed, and can I just stop here and say a few things about this band. I have not been into this band for a whole long time, as you guys know by now, but damn. These are a real good fucking band, and Elise, Jake and Henrik – Amazing front(wo)men all of them! It was a pleasure for the eye as well as the ears. Jesus almighty. “Electroheart” is for many reasons a personal favorite of mine (most certainly as it reminds me a bit about my own heartcondition) “Hunger” was the next song on the list, and it seemed like it was the audience favorite for tonight.

The very so beautiful “Amaranthine” was next on the list and it started off very so beautifully with Elize standing by herself on the stage starting off this song in complete acapella. And you know… Jesus Christ. Some songs, such as “Amaranthine”… you could take away all the instruments and do the whole thing acapella, and it would STILL be enchanting!

After “Amaranthine”, “Call Out My Name” was the song to go before wrapping it all up with my perhaps “all time” favorite, so to put it, “The Nexus”. Powerful ending. And also, I think the rain finally stopped at this point!

Well. What can I say that hasn’t already been said. They impressed me big time, and I’m REALLY glad we got these as openers for the gig. It sort of made the night, despite the rain and lack of activity from the audience (like, me and Michelle were literally the only ones to actually give a fuck for the first half of the show). But nonetheless, the band delivered! Thanks for an awesome first gig guys!

Setlist in whole: Invincible / Leave Everything Behind / 1.000.000 Lightyears /Afterlife /Electroheart / Hunger / Amaranthine / Call Out My Name / The Nexus.

For being a concert, I must say they kept their times pretty good. D-A-D was scheduled to start only 30 minutes after Amaranthe, and they truly did so. At this point I might add, the rain stopped, but DAMN was it cold. I was squeezed in between Michelle and a guy from France, and as soon one of them would move their arm or something like that I would almost get a brainfreeze. Needed them to cuddle up to me. We were all soaked after the rain, as Daniel and his friend can demonstrate…

Either way. Right on time at 8 o’clock did D-A-D enter the stage. This, on the other hand, is a band I have tried my hardest to like, but I’ve failed to really get into them, despite trying for years. So sadly, I won’t be able to give you a detailed setlist, or a too detailed description of the show.

However, what I will give them is that they sure as hell delivered a real good and interesting set. I was very intrigued by the drums – I’ve never seen a drumset stacked on top of itself like the one he had, and I sure as hell have NEVER seen anyone change his basses as many times as their bassplayers. Or more interesting basses. Someday, I’ll give you a full entry with a photobomb of the kids different basses, I promise, but for now I wanna keep it somewhat “short”.

And if that wasn’t the end, I saw that the bassplayer would go off stage for the last song. I remember how I turned to Michelle and literally said “oh dear. What is he up to now?” and before we knew it, he had run out on stage with a helmet with pyrotechnics on, banging it around like crazy. Once he was done he just knocked the hat off and continued as if nothing had happened.

Dear lord.

Yeah. If it’s one thing I’ll give to them, is the creds for being one entertaining band! Thanks for the show guys. The crowd seemed to be more into D-A-D, as some pressure actually started to come along now.

BUT NOW, my friends. The real wait began. And the pressure started to tighten up even more. Now, it was only minutes left before Sabaton would start. Or more, 30 of these. As we waited, the tankS were being rolled on stage and we had already acknowledged the planes that were seated on the sides, as mentioned. Something I found rather funny was some of the roadies that ran around setting up the stage being dressed as soldiers. We weren’t sure whether or not this was just a “prank” or if they were actually gonna have a role in the show. Whoever waits, sees, I guess.

And not a minute late, did the ever so familiar “The Final Countdown” start. And oh, the singalong in the crowd…. the entire crowd you know… “It’s THE FINAAAL COUNTDOOOOOOWNNNN!” For those of you who doesn’t know, Sabaton uses this song as their opener. Once the song was done, we heard the all so familiar “HALLÅ KARLSTAD – VI ÄR SABATON OCH DET HÄR ÄR GHOST DIVISION!” and by that, the show was on, with “Ghost Division” being the opener.

After seeing this band live multiple times for eight years, I must say I’m a little surprised they still use “Ghost Division” as their opener after six years, given that two (three) eras has passed (Coat of Arms, Carolus, Heroes) but you know – this song never fails to get me pumped. And the whole crowd was with me.

They immediately moved on to “To Hell and Back” afterwards and the first thing that struck me, already in “Ghost Division” actually – was the amount of pyros. Normally I’d have pretty ambivalent feelings towards this, BUT, since I was basically an ice-castle (the cold never bothered me anyway?) I didn’t mind all the pyros at all. And actually, for the first time in forever, the pyros are actually used in a powerfull way. Bands have a tendency to have pyros for the sake of pyros, making it look off. But for this, it worked perfectly. And I loved it.

And the whole crowd love it too. We were all jumping to this lovely piece. After this fiery piece (höhö) “Carolus Rex” was on the list. And as someone who loves Carolus more than any album they ever made, this was cozy, cozy time for me. This song though, this song NEVER fails me. EVER. Powerful, in your face. And very much at home. Very much at home.

Över Norden jag härskar, med det arv som jag gavs, gång på GÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅNG sjung Carolus sång. Krigets konst jag behärskar, låt mitt namn sprida skräck, gång på GÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅNG sjung Carolus sång! Än en gååååååång SJUNG CAROLUS SÅNG!”

From one Swedish song to the next, “Gott Mit Uns”. I’m gonna admit, when I first listened to this album, I never liked “Gott Mit Uns”. However, as time has passed and concerts have passed, this song has grown on me A LOT. And now it’s one of my favorites.

Gott mit uns, vår konung har talat HÖR VÅRT STRIDSROP GOTT MIT UNS!

After “Gott Mit Uns”, it was to my happy surprise time for my favorite song off “Heroes” – “Soldiers of 3 Armies”. Yes, I have seen the setlist before, so I DID know this song was coming, but it was a surprise for me from the beginning it was in. I’m usually not very lucky scoring my favesongs live.

So, talk all you want about the soldier of three armies, because right after this, “Karolinens Bön” (The Carolean Prayer) came on. And this is my favorite song off Carolus, my absolute fave. They did play this before, but it makes me happier and happier for everytime they play it. I tear up like crazy in this one, I’m not sure what it is, but this song makes me so emotional.

And this song didn’t get worse when Jocke first walks off stage, only to return clad in the Carolus coat he had during Rockstad Falun.

JESUS FUCKING CHRIST I’M LIKE LITERALLY DYING OVER HERE WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED.

MY FAVESONG. THE JACKET. IT’S CLOSE TO BE ROCKSTAD ALL OVER HERE. HGHGHGHGHHH!!

LIKE OH MY LORD. Oh. As if this song wasn’t already as epic as it was.

“Attero Dominatus” followed suite on this one and I swear to God the crowd turned into a big hop of headbanging people. It’s this song. Makes people go nuts. As you see, I haven’t written a whole lot about the crowd and their reception, but it’s Sabaton. I think most of you out there reading already know that whatever Sabaton do, the fans just go shitnuts (that includes me) and always give them 110% of everything they have.

Just a little thing: In the middle of Attero, I think it was Attero, this guy decides to streak right across the stage. I’m just literally dumbfounded here. Like. Wait. What happened? (it is possible this happened during Soldiers, I’m not 110% sure, but I think it was Attero, but yeah, don’t kill me if I turn out to be wrong)

After the song was done, Jocke asked to get a guitar and for a long time failed to get one. Once he DID get one, they first started off playing the first part of “Master of Puppets” by Metallica before starting off with “Resist and Bite”.

Next up was “The Art of War”. And ok people people people. I’ve mentioned to you very so often how much I LOVE this album and this particular song. I was BEYOND happy to see this song back in the setlist, and to get back to what I said about pyros.. this is another one of the songs where they had A LOT of pyros that filled all the function they were there for. Meaning – a pretty darn good and powerful performance. Damn I love this song.

After “The Art of War” it was time for “Swedish Pagans”. Out of all the bonustracks, aside “7734”, this is actually my favorite. So I’m really glad to see it on the list – of course it wouldn’t hurt to have “7734” sometime in the future, but screw that for now. They brought on a bunch of ladies who somewhat acted out a viking fight on stage, haha. Made me chuckle, I must admit!

After “Swedish…” they went off stage and later on returned with “Lejonet från Norden”. God. Can I just please LIVE in these Carolus songs? I feel so at home in a way with these songs. Hghghg. “Lejonet” was quickly followed by “En Livstid i Krig” which I sadly didn’t see too much off as things started to get messy where we stood -a lot of people + a wheelchair needed to get out, BUT I can tell you this – this, my friends. This was so far the audience favorite. I wonder if this song is just as popular in English though?

After “En Livstid” they left the stage again, but this time I did start suspect that MAYBE, just MAYBE could “Nightwitches” come now. And when they started the intro… it started slowly, almost teasingly, and I didn’t even dare HOPE for it to be “Nightwitches”. Me and Michelle were basically like “It has to be it, but I don’t dare wish for it, don’t wanna jinx it, but the lights are going the directions they did on Rockstad but… don’t wanna jinx it…”

But then the band came.

And what did the band say?

FROM THE DEPTHS OF HELL IN SILENCE, CAST THEIR SPELLS, EXPLOSIVE VIOLENT, RUSSIAN NIGHT TIME, FLIGHT PERFECTED

FLAWLESS VISION

UNDETECTED.

YES! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAS!  YESSSSSSSS! I can’t even being to explain how EXTREMELY HAPPY AND EXCITED AND LITERALLY DEAD AND ALIVE INSIDE I FELT BEACUSE I DIED WHEN THEY STARTED BUT THEN I REVIVED. THIS. This made the night complete. This

THIS fucking song, this ONE SONG, made the night absolutely perfect. And the crowd? Need I say anything?

By the way. I must talk a little about the grand stagesetting they have. They have these two minor tanks up on etages where people can stand on, and then this MAJOR BIG FUCKING MOTHERS OF ALL TANKS with in the middle with Hannes’ drums on them. Like whoa dude. This is a pretty epic stagesetting, don’t you think? I love when bands actually stick to an image they have – like, that Sabaton REALLY sticks with their military theme and just don’t leave it behind.

Anyway, after this explosive song, it was time for the usual… “you wanna sing with us?” “you wanna jump with us?”

Yes Sabaton. We always want to.

Or at least try to. By this time, people have started squeezing themselves in so hard that it became impossible to jump to “Primo Victoria”, which is sad. “Primo Victoria” is usually my ultimate test to see how well exercised I am. The longer I manage to jump, the better. And the goal is of course to jump the entire song (Which I HAVE managed to, before!)

They wrapped up the whole gig with “Metal Crüe”, but not before they had invited a cute little nine year old named Alexander on stage! This was his first metalgig EVER, and oy vey, what a memory he walks away with! He even got to play on Chris’ guitar! Oh, his day must have been made.

During the song, a lot of the crew and some from Amaranthe kinda stormed the stage doing shenanigans. We had one guy in his underwear + Carolus jacket playing guitar, one guy fooling around with Hannes drums and another guy dancing on the etage with the smaller tanks. Like. Ok. What the hell, haha. After this, they said thanks and good night and left the stage. And then they came back to do the ice bucket challenge. Pär was the “unlucky” fella to get the ice-water poured over him, but it’s nice to see them engage in things like this!

The band had delivered their all throughout the whole gig, and unlike Carolus show, Jockes voice was just fine throughout the show. I have literally nothing to complain about when it comes to this show, and especially thanks to “Nightwitches”, this turned out to be the most epic Sabaton gig I’ve seen so far. Thanks Sabaton, you are the best. You are the Masters of The World.

Setlist in whole: Ghost Division / To Hell and Back /Carolus Rex / Gott Mit Uns /Soldiers of 3 Armies / Karolinens Bön /Attero Dominatus / Resist and Bite / The Art of War /Swedish Pagans / Lejonet från Norden / En Livstid i Krig / Nightwitches / Primo Victoria / Metal Crüe

After the gig, we quickly headed over to Amaranthe’s merchstand to pick up a t-shirt before heading home. Met up with a friend O met at work, unexpectedly. But you know, I’m not one to complain! I love meeting up with people.  Once home, we sat down to eat and to have a cup of hot chocolate. That rain did sure kill us all, and as I’m writing this at 4:46 in the morning, I have already started to feel the consequenses of the rain during Amaranthe.

But damn, this concert was well worth it. WELL worth it.

Thanks Sabaton, Amatanthe and D-A-D for the amazing shows, and thanks to Robert (?) and Aron for keeping us company in the queue, thanks to the French guy for sharing the French flag with me and for awesome company, and most importantly, thanks to Michelle, Daniel and Daniels friend (whose name have vanished from my mind) for the company. Love you all!

// Sara