Bullet, Sabaton and Hammerfall.
Thursday 26th of march the 3 swedish bands Bullet, Sabaton and Hammerfall visited Store Vega in Copenhagen. Both support bands have won prices at the Swedish Metal Awards in the recent years, so there was quite a large number of swedish fans present on this night. I think maybe 35-40% of the audience had taken the trip over the bridge. Another reason for this could be that the threesome only plays Gothenburg and Stockholm in Sweden this time, so if you live in southern Sweden it's just simply a lot easier to catch them in Copenhagen.
First up was Bullet who I unfortunately missed most of.. Bullet is Swedish Metals newest hope on the scene and play a very similar style to AC/DC. Both voice and music is very much down that alley and maybe that's part of the reason for their popularity right now, as AC/DC themselves are having a successful comeback tour with sold out stadium concerts all over the world.
Next band on stage was Sabaton who delivered a very heavy kind of power metal. Personally not a style for me, but I noticed how especially the Swedish part of the crowd were rocking along. As the guy next to me commented: When they wear their beard longer than their hair, it's most likely not the right band for a sleaze dude like myself...
Now the time had come for the main event Hammerfall to enter the stage. A band that I had been looking forward to see for quite a while. Hammerfall have experienced a lot of changes in their line up over the years and it's actually just lead singer Joacim Cans that have stayed with the band since their first release back in 1996.
Hammerfall is known for a wicked stage show, and this time was no exception. Laser lighting, fire and smoke was all part of the set up and even a small waterfall had found it's way on stage.
You'd never guess that 2 of the members (Pontus Norgren Lead Guitar og Frederik Larsson Bass) were new in the band, as they made hardly any mistakes at all. Especially the guitar work between the 2 guitar players was perfect. Hammerfall played for nearly 2 full hours and there was plenty of room for both an instrumental song from their newest release "No sacrifice - No victory" that was rounded off by a long drum solo from Anders Johansson and several more songs from the same release. They ended the show by playing 3 extra songs while fire was shooting up behind them and the mix between laser lights and water wrote VIL NI HA MERA (do you want more)... An effect that delighted the swedish part of the crowd yet again. All the songs played at the show are listed further down on this site..
All in all a great concert with Hammerfall who seem to have found the perfect members for the band. Especially the new guitarist (Ex Poodles and Zan Clan) really impressed me, since he's been in the band for less than a year. Earlier in the day I got to do an interview with Pontus and Frederik from the band. This will be up under "interviews" very soon. And finally a big thank you goes out to Nuclear Blast for the opportunity to come behind the scenes of Swedens biggest power metal band.
