SABATON are renowned for their live performances, and it was no surprise that the Munich leg of their recent Heroes Tour was completely sold out. Seeing these mighty Swedish Power Metal titans on tour with their seventh full-length album "Heroes" promised to be one of the highlights of the year, and I for one couldn't miss the opportunity to catch such a phenomenal show. And what a night it turned out to be!

Opening up the night's festivities was none other than BATTLE BEAST, a Finnish Heavy Metal outfit. Having just released their very well received third full-length album "Unholy Savior", two thirds of the setlist stemmed from this album, much to the crowd's apparent approval. One thing that must be said for the band is that front-woman Noora has an incredibly powerful voice, and this combined with their infectious melodies even had the security guards in front of the stage nodding their heads in time to the music. Despite having the opening slot BATTLE BEAST undeniably set fire to Munich, doing an excellent job of warming up the crowd for the oncoming Swedish invasion.
 

Setlist:
1. Far Far Away
2. Black Ninja
3. Touch in the Night
4. Madness
5. Iron Hand
6. Out of Control

Following on from this was DELAIN, the well-known Dutch Symphonic Metal band. Captivating the audience with her soulful voice, front-woman Charlotte soon had everyone completely enthralled, putting on a spellbinding performance. With the release of "The Human Contradiction" early last year, DELAIN increased their already large fan base, and just how catchy this album was could be seen by the sheer number of fans singing along word for word. Many were also blown away by DELAIN's new tour member, the young but talented guitarist Merel, who enlivened everything with her energetic performance. The level of coordination between the band members was also impressive, with each person seeming in perfect sync with the rest of the band. However, all too soon this performance too was at an end, sending an excited murmur through the crowd as everyone eagerly awaited SABATON's appearance.
 

Setlist
1. Mother Machine
2. Get the Devil Out of Me
3. Army of Dolls
4. Go Away
5. Pristine
6. Sleepwalkers Dream
7. Electricity
8. Not Enough
9. We Are the Others

BATTLE BEAST and DELAIN both put on very good shows, although neither got shouts for an encore. However, this was not through any fault in their performance, rather that the entire crowd was so eagerly anticipating SABATON's appearance that they could not wait another song. And finally two stage-hands, entirely bedecked in soldier's uniforms, complete with helmet and ammo vests, performed the last minute stage preparations. Unveiling battle bunkers and ammo crates on either side of the stage, the undeniable coup de grace was the massive drum rise in the centre of the stage, looking for all intents and purposes like a full-sized tank parked on the stage. No matter how what you do in life, you can never be as cool as the drummer of SABATON, unleashing a machinegun-like salvo perched on his throne atop a battle tank.
 

Even as the intro track played, before SABATON had even set foot on the stage, the first of many crowdsurfers already started on their perilous way forward, much to everyone's amusement. And finally was the moment everyone had been waiting for, with SABATON emerging out of the mist shrouded darkness, and hurling straight into "Ghost Division". Following this, the crowd launched into frantic chants of "Noch ein Bier!" (German for "one more beer!"), much to the consternation of SABATON, leading to frontman Joakim jokingly chiding the crowd, saying "You know, usually between songs, the crowd goes 'Sabaton, Sabaton', but you crazy Bavarians shout for one more beer. You guys are the reason why I've had to replace my real six-pack with this fake one". Finally conceding to the crowd's vociferous calls, he had a beer brought to him onstage, only to send it back in disgust when a Beck's alcohol free beer was brought. As he waited for a proper beer to be fetched, SABATON launched into their popular bastardised version of "Gott Mit Uns", making the song all about drinking, so that the chorus ran "Noch ein Bier! As we all drink united, all together noch ein Bier", much to the raucous pleasure of the audience. This applause became positively thunderous when huge carts containing cup upon cup of beer were rolled out and distributed among the first few rows of the audience.
 

Another humorous interlude between songs happened when Joakim showed off his skills on the guitar, playing some Michael Jackson and METALLICA, in turn fuelling a guitar battle between the guitarists. This culminated in Joakim wanting to carry on playing the guitar, at which point a stage hand came in and used garden shears to cut straight through all the strings on Joakim's guitar. It is such fun showmanship between songs that sets SABATON apart: not only is their music well written and catchy, put the performance aspect of their show is also carefully thought out and excellently executed. And yet despite this planned out display, SABATON remain flexible enough to improvise when needed to. For example, when the entire audience started singing the melody to "Swedish Pagans", SABATON chivalrously responded by playing the song despite the track not originally being on the lineup.

All in all, it was a fantastic performance that saw SABATON putting their all into the show, despite the rapidly rising temperatures as hundreds upon hundreds of fans jumped in time with the music, and undoubtedly a night that will remain in many a fan's memories for a long while to come.

Setlist:
1. Ghost Division
2. To Hell and Back
3. Carolus Rex
4. Soldier of 3 Armies
5. Gott Mit Uns
6. Art of War
7. 7734
8. Resist and Bite
9. 40:1
10. Swedish Pagans
11. Livstid I Krieg
12. Far From the Fame
13. White Death
14. Night Witches
15. Primo Victoria
16. Metal Crue

My thanks go to Peter Seidel for allowing me to use his photos. For more epic photos of the gig, check out http://metalspotter.de/!