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Sabaton Cruise X – The Battle Ship: Part 4

Posted in Concerts, Music, Uncategorized with tags , , on December 15, 2019 by Sara Hammerzmith

And so they started rolling the intro, which again consisted of at first almost, ALMOST the entire soundtrack edition of the album before loudly presenting “In Flanders Fields”. I guess this just is the intro now.

The water started flowing on the screen and distant orchestrations started echoing as “Bismarck” opens up the entire show. Incredible opening, loving it already from the start! “Far From The Fame” came up next, and the energy was a fact!

Throwing us far back in time with the next song, as they continue on with “Attero Dominatus”. Most people who know me as a Sabaton fan knows that this song, or particularly album, holds a special place for me as it was my first. And not to mention, what a killer way to get it going, right?

“Winged Hussars”, my complete headbang jam was next on the list, not a major surprise, but still a pleasant moment. “Shiroyama” followed suit, and the danceparty was a fact, as per usual. What a shame our assigned Shiroyama wasn’t here, but maybe next time?

One of my absolute top favorites, “The Last Stand”, also known as my fucking jam, was next on the list, and there is no way to describe the complete and total euphoria that is created when this song has been sent off the rails.

Another one of my personal favorite and a pretty damn rare one came up next. “Smoking Snakes”. It shouldn’t be too much of a surprise, given they are set to play in Brazil after this cruise, but it was still an extremely, EXTREMELY pleasant surprise!

“Resist and Bite” followed suit before it was time for “The Price of a Mile” which has, since the summer and the entrance of The Great War made a nice re-entrance in the set, and I’m so happy it has.

“Screaming Eagles” was a well-needed temporise in the set, before it was time for…

…”Panzerkampf”, yet another extremely underrated song was next on the list. Why, oh why Sabaton, is this one not a fixed song in the setlist? You know extremely well that the fans love it. More than love it. Obsess it, they crave that mineral.

“White Death” came next, another one of my favorites which (for non-Finland people) is pretty uncommon – dare I assume that the “amount” of Finnish songs is due to the fact the just playing in Finland right before this boat? Yes, yes it is.

“The Red Baron” was next, and we for the first time, for me, are being introduced with this with the intro that I have since day one said they should use. The intro, and red lights, and FINALLY this is what they do. Can they read my mind, or am I just that good? Hard to tell. And this song is such a kick in the gut, ALWAYS.

Dance party in “82nd All The Way” followed, so quite a few dance parties on this set before it was time for another few workouts – one in “Primo Victoria” and one with “To Hell and Back”, two both jumping songs.

And with that, the show was over and Celine Dion’s hit single “My Heart Will Go On” as usual when ending on a cruise, echoes out. And as someone said, metalheads guilty pleasure sure is Celine Dion.

We actually remained in the venue, but waited out most of the people before retreating forward toward the stage, primarily to say hello to some friends at the front, but figured we’d stick around in this position since Civil War was due in a bit of time.

And with that, the lights went out and the band entered the stage.

Civil War

Intro rolled and they opened the show with “USS Monitor”, which isn’t exactly the biggest surprise to us who has been into the band for some time by now. It wasn’t the largest crowd that had made their way there, which is both sad and good in a way. Sad, that they aren’t attracting more of a crowd, good because this means, hopefully, that the people who were there were there for them, and not for their past.

Surprisingly, however, is the fact that the next song on the list is “Bay of Pigs”. I did not, in any way, see that one coming. So early in the set? I don’t complain, not at all. I love this song, and the mood it gets you in.

“Lucifer’s Court” followed suit, and I can’t describe the feeling of this song. It’s just something in it that just gives away, you know? “Saint Patrick’s Day” was next on the list, before “Gettysburg” and the time for the new single to be ripped off, “Dead Man’s Glory”. Nice one, for reals.

“I Will Rule The Universe” was next on the list – I think – I may not have the order completely correct I have to admit. It’s either this or “Gods and Generals” – one of them – before they wrapped up the set and left the stage for a short moment.

They returned back, and kicked off the encores with “Tombstone” which ALWAYS AND FOREVER will be my jam when it comes to this band. That. Is. One. Incredible. One.

They wrapped up the whole set with “Rome is Falling” and I had a bit of an encounter here, an incredibly humbling one. Daniel Mÿhr decided to go out in the crowd, for whatever reason, I guess to get the crowd going. He passed just by me and walked further in the crowd, and passing me again on the way out, and I motioned him to pass so I could continue clapping.

He stops. I stop. We stare at each other and in a suprised manner he just says “HI!” and looks at me and I awkwardly says hello and he hugs me and says he’s so happy to see me there, but that he has to go back to the stage. I tell him to just go go go! I never asked to interrupt his time. It’s very humbling, as the last memory of ever interacting with him personally dates 10 years back in time. I must have made an impression.

And with that, the show was over. We said good bye to some last friends before going outside, where we met up Joris. Who thought it was an excellent idea for him and Ivan to carry me back to the cabin like the queen I am. It was an extremely surprised Misa who opened the door that Joris had knocked on with the help of my foot. And with that, we retreated to the cabin, talked about what had happened and eventually drifted off to sleep…

To be Continued…

 

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Sabaton Cruise X – The Battle Ship: Part 3

Posted in Travels, Uncategorized with tags on December 13, 2019 by Sara Hammerzmith

So we were.. Or more like I was, woken up early in the morning by the ship starting to dock. I’m an incredibly sensitive sleeper, and how on earth I survive festivals I honestly do not know, perhaps I’m just so worn out from an entire day?

So, a little before ship boards I wake Misa up, I jump in the shower, wake the boys up and we all start getting ready to disembark.

A little later than originally planned (due to me forgetting my passport, among other things) we finally get off the boat and set foot in Tallinn. Toivo joined his friends on whatever journey they went on, whereas the three of us – Me, Ivan and Misa sought out a nice café to have some sweet breakfast.

And oh boy was it sweet! Being used to Swedish customs, we ordered a double sandwich each (Misa and I) and a coffe each as well. But the sandwiches were huge! Had we known, we would have taken a single one. And it was so pretty as well!

After this, we started out walk towards the Old Town, as we figured our time in Tallinn was rather limited and we wanted to make the most out of the little time we had. On our way there we first passed by Lush as Misa loves it A LOT, and I had to debate if I wanted to get the bag or not. After this, we reached the Old Town where we walked around for a while, checking out various tourists shops before we ended up on a medieval torture museum which was really interesting!

Sadly, I had to cut my visit rather short as I had to visit the restroom (Which they did not provide there) but found my way easily. After this, we met up again in another tourist shop where we got some gadgets before continuing our walk through the scenic area.

Took a walk around the Christmasmarket before making our way back to port, stopping by at Lush to indeed get the bag. I always get a little anxious when it comes to boats. I don’t like being there just before boarding call, because they sure won’t wait. We stopped by a supermarket to buy some goodies and then took a well needed rest in our cabin.

We talked for hours and hours, swung by the merchandise to pick up some patches and posters, played some more magic and then started getting ready for tonights show. Today Sabaton was on first, which created a bit of a stressmoment.

Gladly, we found some decent spots, and the wait for the band began…

To be Continued…

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Sabaton Cruise X – The Battle Ship: Part 2

Posted in Concerts, Music, Uncategorized with tags , , on December 11, 2019 by Sara Hammerzmith

Once the soundtrack edition reached “Fields of Verdun” it did a gigantic leap from there onto “In Flanders Fields” which serves our intro for the night. Grand, yes it is.

And, as per usual, “Ghost Division” is the opening song. I’ll be damned with this song, I’m telling you. I’ll be damned. But great energy, right? Even for us, I’ll admit. The excitement hit the roof!

“Great War” was the grand next song on the list, and if this isn’t the perfect continuing, then I don’t know what is. The stagelights turned green, and I’ll admit I was at first a wee bit surprised at it’s arrival this early in the set, but “Attack of the Dead Men” was next on the list and the hilarity ensues.

At some point through the number of times I’ve seen Sabaton, I just kind of stopped paying 110% attention to the show, and more focused on having fun. In any sort of way possible. The set continued on with “Saboteurs”, a song I want to say I haven’t heard in quite some time which sadly is a lie, yet I’d still say it’s a rare one!

While the joke is starting to get a bit old, it seems to continuously entertain the crowd. Telling the crowd they are about to play “Swedish Pagans”, but instead start playing a different song, in this case, “40:1”. Which is a much, much better option to the aforementioned song. They followed the vein of Polish pagans by performing “Uprising” next. Seriously, I can not ever get enough of this song.

“Carolus Rex” was the next song on the list, and as you can imagine – the cruise might be international, but you can still sense it. The seriousness, and the buildup from the primary Swedish crowd… It’s amazing. “Talvisota”, another rarity (unless you are from like Finland) showed its face, much to everyone’s pleasure!

The red lights went on, the sirens out and it was time for Misa’s assigned song “Nightwitches”. Assigned songs? That’s another story. But it was the complete rage of our group! Lights out once again as the story of the unknown soldier echoes out and “The Lost Battalion” was next.

There was time for yet another “Swedish Pagans” joke, but this time they ended up performing “Seven Pillars of Widsom” instead, which is a first for all of us in the group. They originally deubted this song at the last show of the NA tour, in Silver Springs to be more exact, so despite that and possibly the Helsinki show, this is a rather new addition!

The very so familiar spoken words from an album released long ago started, and it made me so incredibly happy. “The Art of War” remains my top favorite Sabaton song ever, and everytime they decide to pop it out – it’s one of those come and go songs – my heart skips another beat and I’m in a state of total euphoria.

Which didn’t last all too long since my not so much favorite song “Fields of Verdun” followed suit, but gladly, it was just a little grounding moment as my personal assigned Sabaton song came on next. The candle, “Dominum Maris Baltici” echoing meant only one thing.

“Lejonet Från Norden”. Ah, what a pick me up this song is. Right after this, it’s time for a major singalong in “En Livstid i Krig” before they FINALLY cave in, or we all cave in and they wrap up the entire set with “Swedish Pagans”. I guess it was simply time for it, what do you say?

And with that said, the show was over. Yet another great performance, even though the setlist to my personal liking was a bit basic with a few nice surprises – but I’ve just stopped expecting too much.

Once the area had calmed and cooled down, we headed back to our cabin, got a change of clothes, grabbed our Magic Decks and found ourselves in the Starlight Palace with a drink, and playing a few rounds of Magic before retreating for sleep. Tomorrow, Tallinn!

// Sara

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Sabaton Cruise X – The Battle Ship: Part 1

Posted in Concerts, Music, Uncategorized with tags , , on December 7, 2019 by Sara Hammerzmith

And finally, the time was yet again upon us! To board a ship here upon our own lands, celebrating another cruise with Sabaton. As so has it, this was the 10th anniversary of the cruise, and for the occasion they’d upgraded to a bigger ship (apparently) and changed the route. Instead of the like, 14 hour trip it was now a three-day cruise stopping in Tallinn over the day. Yay! Why not I mean?

So, Ivan and I came into Stockholm the day before, and Misa had been around since forever, or something along those lines. Toivo had made a stopover at Dreamhack for some shows, so you could say we were a bit scattered. Around lunchtime the first three mentioned of us met up for Lunch, getting out excitement about the cruise ready. They’d said they’d post the schedule at 13, and frantic as I am, I was sitting and kept hitting refresh like a maniac until the schedule was posted. The bands announced was Bharuk Khazad, Eleine, Manimal, Sabaton, Civil War and Thobbe Englund. Decent schedule, with some bands I like, some I don’t but overall rather good! And still a bit of a “Sabaton Family” cruise, but I guess I just can’t expect anything else.

Toivo was set to arrive around 15.30, so we got ourselves to port about 16.00. checked in and sadly I saw I wasn’t about to continue my tradition. My first Sabaton Cruise I was awarded the cabin 8807, and my second 8809. Needless to say, the pressure on what cabin to receive was high.

But all in all, the cabin we got was, again, good. I seem to, at any cruise I ever went, got really lucky with my cabins, having them rather central and close to stairs or elevators. Yay me, right?

Unexpectedly, when sheepisly looking for programs, we ran into an old friend of Misa! What are the odds for that? Great nonetheless!

After some time, the boarding started and much to our delight, the baggage checking had been removed! How amazing isn’t that? Makes it all alot faster! We made our way onto the boat, and onto our cabin and for the first time really sat down to relax for like 10 minutes before starting.. Whatever we were doing. Misa and I were doing our make up, Ivan did his own thing and Toivo went on and about.

Since Sabaton wasn’t the first band playing tonight, we weren’t as stressed about getting ready as previous years. This days particular schedule started with Bharuk Khazad, followed by Eleine and Manimal before Sabaton. And Eleine was the first band for us today.

At some point, we heard some knocking on the door. Ivan went to open, tightly followed by Misa. And a certain tranquility of shock set in, as them both just stared at whoever was at the door, and the person at the door doing the same. I leaned in a bit, and noticed it was Roy that we’d met on Grapsop earlier this year. We invited him into the cabin for a little chat before it was time for him to hit his own cabin, and for us to get to Starlight Palace for the first show of the evening.

Eleine

Eleine is a band I think I have seen once or perhaps at most twice before, and I was really excited to get to see them again, and this time a little closer up than a hill far, far away.

They played for around 45 minutes, and they put on yet another energetic set, with beautiful views in Madeleines dancing and her enchanting vocals, another supreme performance from the band, and a great start for the cruise for us!

After the show, a lot of people left the venue, and while initially we had thought too, we instead scouted for a great location which would give us minimum pressure, a great view, and enough space to goof around, so Ivan and I stayed to hold down the fort while Misa went to take a little rest during Manimal.

Manimal

I think, legit, it’s been… 12 years? Since I last saw this band live. At least that I have a concious memory of seeing them. Sadly this is a band I never really fell for, but it did not make their shows any less enjoyable! Thank you, Manimal!

Misa had already arrived back during their set, and as they wrapped up, the Soundtrack version of their album started playing and the excitement was high.

TO BE CONTINUED…

 

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Sabaton Cruise part 2

Posted in Concerts, Music, Uncategorized with tags , on December 19, 2017 by Sara Hammerzmith

So after that long night I, first at most, woke up at 7 when we laid dock in Turku, and then back to sleep. Was a little hard to sleep seeing the sun was high up and we had a window without any curtains to close it, but then again – why complain when you got the creme de la creme? At 10 or so we both gave up on trying to sleep – Sofia was up since long to check out the tax free and like zombies, we got out of bed and made it to the breakfast area.

After this, headed back to the cabin to pack up as much as possible and get ready for the day. As I mentioned, the other band was Brothers of Metal, and as I made my way down to the venue there were barely any people there, so I claimed myself a spot at the front while Szilvi and Sofia headed off to Sabaton’s signing session.

Sebastian came by again, and he joined me at the front and after some very long wait, Brothers of Metal finally got on stage.

Brothers of Metal

So they got on stage, and they opened up with “The Death of God of Light” and well… the audience wasn’t exactly packed, but it was a good deal of people still. I don’t remember the exact setlist as of now sadly – but pretty much every song from the album was played along with “Swedish Pagans”.

With that said, the band put on a really good show so I was very very pleased with seeing them. I do wish they evolved more show wise, but I think that is something that will come with time rather than anything, don’t you think? We were at a time a little… like, they kept saying it would be the last song and they kept doing another song, and that went on for a while, haha!

After the show was done, Sofia went off to see a friend and Szilvi and I walked around the tax free and then wrapping up the last of the packing and, well, saying good bye to the boat in a way, if that makes sense?

We got ready to get off the boat, and another looong wait occured before we could finally disembark. Once off the boat, we got a taxi back to the city and sat down at a McDonalds for one last dinner / night snack / whatever. My bus was leaving at 22.35, Szilvi’s plane early in the morning and Sofia had a hotelnight.

Szilvi walked me to the busstop where we had a heartfelt good bye for now, and hopefully I’ll see not just her but also Sofia soon again. Got on my bus and made my way home.

The Sabaton cruise, was good. I was a little disappointed, but mostly because of my own expectations – I thought it would be a little more bands, and we also hyped Beast in Black for being the second band so it was all our own fault in a way I guess. But aside that, it was a real pleasant stay.

// Sara

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Sabaton Cruise, part one

Posted in Concerts, Music, Uncategorized with tags , , on December 18, 2017 by Sara Hammerzmith

And so the day come! Finally time to board the beautiful ship and get going. But before that, we treated ourselves a nice and relaxing lunch at Espresso House before locking up our bags at the city station and then taking an hour or two to walk the city.

We had lunch someplace before taking a taxi out to the terminal where we met up with my friends Toivo, Jesse and Susanna. I met T and S while on Battle Beast tour, and Jesse we were standing next to on Sabaton Open Air. Not only was it nice to meet up with them, but we noticed we for some scary reason managed to have all the cabins next to each other – ours were wall in wall with Jesse’s, and Toivo and Susanna’s was across the hall from him.

After some waiting, we finally got to board… well sort of. One part of it. Then we had to wait even more. And THEN get to board. And then we had to wait at the door for our cabins. A lot of waiting, to be honest.

But finally, at last, we got to the cabin and it was the most beautiful. Well, sort of anyway, it was real cozy and real sweet. First thing we did was put on some music – while boarding we had discovered the other band playing was Brothers of Metal, so I cranked up “Prophecy of Ragnarök” while we got ourselves ready for the evening. The evening was serving us two shows by Sabaton, and some pause entertainment by Bombshell Belles.

After getting ready, we decided to roam the boat rather than get good spots for the shows and found quite some nice spots on the ship. I’ve never been on a cruise like this, so it was real nice in all honesty. I really enjoyed the view.

Time was closing in on the show, so we headed down to the arena bar and got… well okayish spots. We decided to be more in the “back” but this venue was very small and well, not made for metalshows, but still. We met up with Sebastian, a guy I had met on Sabaton Open Air who is a friend of Sjorven, so he joined us for the show. It got tightened up and the wait for the show to start felt like forever… until it finally started.

Sabaton

So, after “In The Army Now”, the “Primo Victoria” film started rolling, and they opened the show up with “Primo Victoria”. Well, I shouldn’t complain right? I mean, it’s not “Ghost Division” right? It was quickly followed by “Sparta”, which is well a little early for my personal taste but I don’t mind! It was a good vibe in the audience, despite all the drunkies.

A song I’ve missed a lot in the past, “Cliffs of Galipolli”, which was soooo long overdue, like, it isn’t even funny how overdue this is! But finally, finally it was back! It was a real good vibe in the crowd, but what else is to be expected from a Sabaton show after all?

Another long, not as long, but still long lost friend was found in “Attero Dominatus” which was the next on the list, tightly followed by “Saboteurs”, another song we haven’t heard in some time, if even at all.

The churchbells appeared, and my personal favorite from the last album – the title track “The Last Stand” was the next song on the list to appear, and you know, emotions explodes, adrenaline pumping – there is nothing quite like this.

“Far From The Fame” was next on the list – followed by “White Death” which I thought was really fun – I’m not sure if I heard it much before. “Carolus Rex” was ripped off before they wrapped up with my personal favorite all times “The Art of War”.

And by that, the first set of the evening was all set and done. As soon as they left the stage, people started to disappear which was so nice, as we decided to claim a table with chairs for ourselves for the next set – it got a bit intense with the great vibe, but we wanted a bit more calmer setting. Yes, I am indeed getting old.

Szilvi went out to get some air, but Sebastian, Susanna and me remained behind, watching the spot and just hanging out, later joined by her returning. Sofia had managed to get to the front row through the moshpit, so we didn’t really see much of her until after the show – and in the mean time we were entertained by The Bombshell Belles, 50’s kind of singing group, think The Lounge Kittens, real good.

And after some time, Sabaton finally entered the stage again with “The Final Solution”.

“Lejonet Från Norden” followed this beautiful song, only to throw us into “Panzerkampf”, which is also a song I have missed. I saw Sabaton a lot during the festival seasons, but it doesn’t change much in my opinion, I still miss the songs.

“Blood of Bannockburn” was next, then followed by “En Livstid i Krig.”

So, something that is really annoying is the constant chanting of “Swedish Pagans”. We heard the damn chant so much from before even boarding and up until now. And before every song, Sabaton said they’d play it but started another song, just like they did now when the “Winged Hussars” arrived instead. Which was amazing, I love this song so much.

“Nightwitches” and it’s amazing intro was followed by this, and at this point no joke, my neck was pretty dead. What was I supposed to do you know.

“Shiroyama” followed suit, and then, finally for all the chanters, “Swedish Pagans” was finally set off before they wrapped up the entire set with “To Hell and Back”.

After this, we hung around some more in the venue before getting back to the room for some freshen up and then spending the night at the bar, playing a baloon game and drinking til 6am in the morning when we finally made our way back to our cabin to “sleep” some… Good night, that is for sure!

// Sara

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