In support of their Legends album, Sabaton brought their Legendary Tour round Europe, and as a highly special support, Pär Sundström envisioned and masterminded The Legendary Orchestra, a brand new orchestra playing symphonic reimaginations of Sabaton songs.
Yes, we’re talking a full blown orchestra with strings, wind, and percussionists, a choir, and three soloists with Noa Gruman (Scardust) on vocals, Patty Gurdy on hurdy-gurdy and a bit of flute, and Mia Asano on electric violin.
I have to say, the name was fitting indeed, for what they delivered was nothing short of legendary! We both agreed that this could easily have been a main act event, and we would’ve been just as excited. What a performance!

“What a fucking welcome on a Tuesday, Copenhagen!”
- Joakim Brodén (vocals)

The Legendary Orchestra wasn’t the main act however, not this night. Nope, that was Sabaton, and that could easily be seen and felt in the crowd as the band was about to go on.
Well, I say go on, but first we had a bonus warm-up act on stage two, a keep built up at the light- and sound tech’s area in the middle of the floor. This warm-up came in the guise of historic dignitary Napoléon Bonaparte, who had us chanting “fuck the English!” and complained about ABBA and more specifically of course their famous song Waterloo. As we thought he was about to wrap up, he was joined by another historic dignitary, Genghis Kahn. They made small talk and dissed each other, until the point where they were joined by another historic dignitary, Gajus Julius Caesar. Caesar spoke of the greatness of Rome and put both the other men down, until they ganged up on him and stabbed him in the back. I didn’t remember the famous quote as “Et vos, Napoléon et Genghis”, but there you go. As this deed was done, the two remaining men quickly turned on each other and were about to go all stabbedy stab show, when they were joined by another historic dignitary, Jaques de Molay, the final grand master of the Knights Templar. He was joined on the increasingly populated stage by four templars in full armour, shields, helmets, and all, and quickly put an end to the fighting by holding a long, impassioned speech.

If you think I spent an inordinately long time with this opening, it’s nothing compared to what happened on the night! Nearly 20 minutes of just talking, talking, and talking. Don’t get me wrong, they were informative and to some degree quite funny (especially Napoléon), but still, that was a long freaking time to spend on an intro!
Finally, de Molay finished up his speech, and it was time for him and the other historic figures to leave. Left on stage were the four templar guards, and they now removed their helmets - and lo and behold, it was the band hiding in this elaborate disguise! They fittingly kicked off the actual set with Templars, and a long bridge was lowered down from the ceiling, finally connecting the second stage with the main stage, where Hannes Van Dahl was already set up and awaiting his band mates on his free floating drumkit, hanging some way up in the air, suspended from chains from the ceiling.
You have to give the band this, it was an extraordinarily cool and, dare I say, legendary production they put on for us. A huge castle with ramparts, towers et al. A smaller keep, and a bridge with torches and banners connecting them. Several costume changes, so many costume changes, of course with matching instruments. Cannons, pyro, explosions, fire breathing dragons. I mean, what didn’t they offer their audience to give them a night to remember?

“In the early days, the promoters didn’t believe in Sabaton. ‘Power metal doesn’t belong in Denmark’, they said. Looks like power metal belongs in the Royal Arena!”
- Pär Sundström (bass)

Of course, this is all bonus paraphernalia, window dressing to elevate what’s really important, which is the music and the performance. Here, the band didn’t disappoint either.
despite this being a highly planned out show, what with all the special effects, and repeat visits from the historical figures from the beginning as well as a couple or so of extras, the band still managed a free and above all else playful delivery, where they didn’t mind spending a little extra time to play pranks on each other and the crowd. Especially Chris Rörland ended up the butt of some jokes, like the time Brodén threatened him with one of the cannons, or the time he playfully pretended to throw his guitar into the crowd after dispensing with all his plectres, and Sundström commented “next time throw yourself in instead”. This was all in good jest of course, and Rörland gave as good as he got, taking aim and pretending to shoot Brodén with his guitar in response to the cannon, and giving a little eff you dance to Sundström’s comment.
Van Dahl got to shine in a nice little drum solo, in which he was joined at the end by Rörland and Thorbjörn ‘Thobbe’ Englund on additional tanggu drums.
Through it all, the band was smiling, moved, and clearly having a great old time. I could easily imagine that this was a perfect playground they’d created for themselves, and of course the response from the large crowd only helped to build it further.

“I’ve got fucking goosebumps! There aren’t many places on Earth that can bring a party like this on a Tuesday!”
- Brodén (vocals)

The set consisted of no less than 19 songs, well spread out over the band’s long career. There were new tracks, live staples, and old tracks pulled out of the closet, coming in side by side. The weakest point for us is probably that Sabaton’s chosen songs didn’t show much diversity in the band. They’re pretty much all good mid to just above tempo heavy riff rockers - not a bad thing, but it would have been nice to see them swing further across the entire board.
It was a welcome addition to join forces with the choir of The Legendary Orchestra from Christmas Truce and forward for the rest of the show, as it lent an extra oomph and depth to the vocals, but still, some larger swings in tempo would have been appreciated. In contrast, The Legendary Orchestra had both A Lifetime Of War and The Final Solution, both in beautiful, powerful ballad interpretations, a perfect counterbalance to the harder stuff.
This is a minor gripe however, just letting us know that there is still room for improvement.

“Danmark, ni är fan bäst! Tusen tack!”
- Brodén (vocals)

Having said that, I must admit that this Sabaton show exceeded my every expectation, and I had a great old time. The highlight was the Swedish language version of Carolus Rex, a song that hits as hard regardless of how often I hear it. Changing “Stockholm” to “Danmark” in the first verse obviously gave bonus points with the local crowd.
I know we’re creeping up fast to the end of this tour, but if you have any chance to attend one of the final shows, I’ll really recommend you do it. This is one tour that truly lives up to its name - legendary!

The Legendary Orchestra setlist:

Ghost Division
Bismarck
Maid Of Steel
Hearts Of Iron
The Final Solution
Sarajevo
Angels Calling
The Unkillable Soldier
Resist And Bite
A Lifetime Of War
Sparta
Winged Hussars
Swedish Pagans


Sabaton setlist:

Templars
The Last Stand
Hordes Of Khan
I, Emperor
Crossing The Rubicon
Carolus Rex
The Red Baron
Stormtroopers
Solo (Van Dahl)
A Tiger Among Dragons
Christmas Truce
Soldier Of Heaven
The Attack Of The Dead Men
Night Witches
Primo Victoria
Steel Commanders
The Art Of War
To Hell And Back
Masters Of The World