With Sabaton’s “The Legendary Tour” taking them to some of the biggest arenas they’ve ever played on these shores, there was one question that needed answering heading into the first night of the UK leg in London – how many tanks would they manage to squeeze onto the O2 Arena stage? The answer, surprisingly, was none, as the Swedish power metal giants have instead brought with them a castle that takes up the entire stage – a theme in keeping with some of the historical warmongers that inspired eleventh studio album, ‘Legends’.
Accompanying them on this tour are The Legendary Orchestra, a collective of musicians put together by Sabaton bassist Pär Sundström as a new way to bring the band’s songs to life through classical arrangements. On paper, it makes sense given the orchestral elements across their discography; in practice, it’s a spellbindingly impressive performance that’s not metal in sound, but most certainly is in spirit. Their hour long set flies by in what feels like no time at all due to the engrossing beauty of their renditions of Sabaton anthems. As they close on fan favourite, ‘Swedish Pagans’ to a rapturous reception, it’s clear that the left-field choice of warm-up act has gone down swimmingly.
As cauldrons light up the smaller B-stage in the middle of the arena, what can only be described as a historical fever dream gets underway. An actor portraying Napoleon Bonaparte – one of said legends covered on Sabaton’s new album – climbs the steps to address the crowd, boasting of his greatness and firing quips towards the audience. He is joined by Genghis Khan and Julius Caesar, with the trio debating which of them is the greatest in what is part theatrical epic, part Monty Python skit and a little bit panto, though it outstays its 20-minute duration.
Their bickering is brought to an end by Jacques de Molay and his Knights Templar, with the latter removing their helmets and revealing themselves to be the members of Sabaton, who kick their set off with an emphatic rendition of new album opener ‘Templars’ and the rousing ‘The Last Stand’. A bridge descends from the ceiling to connect the two stages, with vocalist Joakim Brodén pacing up and down it during the opening numbers.
As the band take their places on the castle stage, streams of pyro follow the return of Genghis Khan on the B-Stage for, unsurprisingly, ‘Hordes of Khan’. He is the first of the legendary figures to reappear for their respective songs from the new album, as Napoleon directs his troops to set off cannons in a sea of smoke during ‘I, Emperor’ and Caesar introduces the thunderous ‘Crossing the Rubicon’.
Accompanying the huge new stage show are costume changes and props galore. The band don the coats of the Swedish Royal Guard for the imposing ‘Carolus Rex’, while Joakim plunges the arena into darkness and silence with a detonator during ‘Stormtroopers’, as the music kicks back in with aplomb accompanied by streaks of bright flares. ‘A Tiger Among Dragons’ sees Brodén takes over duties on guitar from Chris Rörland and Thobbe Englund, with the pair flanking him playing traditional Chinese Drums.
Phone torches light up the arena for ‘Christmas Truce’, as members of The Legendary Orchestra’s choir file onto the castle’s ramparts to add extra gravitas to the ballad. It’s the emotional start to a run of songs from their pair of First World War albums, with the band taking the show into the crowd during ‘The Attack of the Dead Men’, as a gas mask-wearing Joakim clears a path for them through the audience from the B-stage to the main stage with a gas sprayer.
The final run is a reminder of sheer firepower of hits in the Swedes’ arsenal, with ‘Night Witches’, ‘Primo Victoria’, ‘The Art of War’ and ‘To Hell and Back’ getting the arena’s packed-out floor off their feet and belting the lyrics back at the band with gusto as the stage continues to be engulfed in flames. A surprising closer in debut album track ‘Masters of the World’ brings the nights to a triumphant end, as confetti falls and the quintet take in the applause from the bridge.
Earlier in the night, Pär reflected on how far they had come since their first London show at the Purple Turtle eighteen years ago. They were told back then that “bands like you” don’t play at venues like the O2, but tonight’s show couldn’t have proven those doubters more wrong. Sabaton’s bombastic combination of power metal and the history of warfare has brought them and their army of fans to the biggest of stages – on which they look completely at home. The spectacle of their performance puts them on a par with the likes of Parkway Drive in being one of metal’s must-see live acts the next time they grace our shores; it truly was the stuff of legend.
BRAD STRATTON