The Legendary Orchestra which was created by Sabaton‘s Pär Sundström can’t really be called support band. They play Sabaton songs in new arrangements. The three soloists Mia Asano (violin), Patty Gurdy (hurdy-gurdy), and Noa Gruman (vocals and conductor) did a fantastic job interacting with the crowd. Not everyone in the crowd seemed particularly interested, which dampened the mood a bit, but I think this was a really cool way to start the gig. 

One advantage of The Legendary Orchestra as support act is that we got to hear some older song that haven’t been on Sabaton‘s own setlist in a while, for example ‘Sparta‘ as well as ‘Hearts of Iron‘ which hadn’t been performed lived before by Sabaton at all.

But of course The Legendary Orchestra also played legendary hits. The opener ‘Ghost Division’ in a completely new, at the beginning slower, arrangement caused some raised eyebrows in the crowed, but the longer the show runs the more the fans warm up to this version of their beloved songs. And by the time that ‘Swedish Pagans‘ rolls around most fans have forgotten their earlier scepticism and sing along happily.

At 20:00 when Sabaton‘s show is supposed to start the swedes are nowhere to be seen, just one guy with a far too large hat, French accent and a subtilty arrogance in his body language enters the stage. It’s Napoleon Bonaparte who very full of himself keeps on teasing the crowd. His provocation gets interrupted by Dschingis Khan and Julius Caesar. The three of them discuss who is the greatest Emperor of all times, while cleverly mentioning the names of the other characters of the ‘Legends’ album. While theatrical intro is quite fun to watch it’s also getting a little long. Luckily after approximately 15 minutes the Commander of the Knights Templar enters with a torchlight procession through the photo pit (unfortunately there was no second stage in Stuttgart) and commands the fighting Emperor’s to stop their dispute and reminds them that we’re here today to hear some metal from the possibly most famous Power Metal Band of our time, Sabaton. As it turns out Sabaton had already entered the stage sneakily, disguised as Templar Guards.

Another thing that is quite different on this tour is the stage. This time around Sabaton left their Panzer at home and instead brought along a full on castle. A set up that looks rather cool and also fits the songs, especially the ones form their new ‘Legends‘ album, pretty well. One thing that hasn’t changed at all though is the amount of fire that keeps getting blasted every few moments. There’s certainly no dull moment. If it’s not fire, it’s sparks, if it’s not sparks, it’s canon fire… There is always something going on.

To better fit the theme of their songs Sabaton have several outfit chances and along side that actors help setting the mood. For ‘Carolus Rex‘ for example, they wear their Swedish uniforms while the whole stage is shinning in blue and yellow.

In the middle section of the show they take a little breather, at least music wise, with two of their calmer songs: ‘Christmas Truce‘ and ‘Soldier of Heaven‘. During ‘Christmas Truce‘ the legendary choir and Noa Gruman return to the stage and stay there till the end of the show, which gives the songs even more depth. Thousands of phone flash lights illuminate the Schleyer-Halle during ‘Soldier of Heaven‘ which gives it a even more spectacular atmosphere. 

Another highlight for many was probably the next song ‘The Attack of the Dead Men‘, where Sabaton walked right trough the crowd and the fans had a chance to get up close with the band. The show ends with a couple more faster paced tracks, including ‘The Art of War‘ which has returned to the set list after several years.
The final surprise of the show was the return of ‘Masters of the World’ which they hadn’t played live since 2007, which was a fun way to end the evening.

All in all a very fun evening and the only thing that really disturbed my enjoyment were the many, many times that the crowd screamed “noch ein Bier” which each time resulted in Joakim drinking another beer. I was not unhappy that the last few times I saw Sabaton there wasn’t much of this.
Aside from this though I thoroughly enjoyed the show.