Legendary Swedish metallers Sabaton returned to Amsterdam for a sold out show surrounding the release of their 2019 album ‘The Great War’. Together wit Apocalyptica and Amaranthe, the band headed out on tour through the continent on ‘The Great Tour’.
The honour of warming up the crowd went to a metal band from the same country: Amaranthe. Amaranthe is notable for having three vocalists on stage. Female and male vocals and a vocalist to take care of the streaming. While the band’s music has metal elements, it’s hard to pin these guys down in a category or genre and that is exactly what Amaranthe are all about. Tear down the walls and enjoy music without having to worry about what genre they fall under. Their show showcased the many different influences and elements the band have to offer. Poppier songs like ‘That Song’ and ‘Drop Dead Cynical’, all the way to way heavier tunes such as ‘GG6’. With three vocalists, Amaranthe had plenty of opportunity to invest some time in proper audience participation and that’s exactly what they did. All-in-all, Amaranthe are an incredibly talented band who gave one hell of a show and you can check out a glimpse of what the show looked like visually via the photos in the gallery below.
Amaranthe:
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Next up on ‘The Great Tour’ are the well-known and highly respected Apocalyptica. The band are known as THE symphonic metal band in the scene and have worked together with some of the biggest artists/singers in rock and metal. Their discography includes guest features of Till Lindemann (Rammstein), Corey Taylor (Slipknot, Stone Sour), Adam Gontier (Ex- Three Days Grace) and tour mates Sabaton. The band plays metal without the use of guitars, or vocals for that matter, but did invite Amaranthe vocalist Elize Ryd on stage to perform two songs with them, changing it up a bit cleverly enough halfway through the set. Elize Ryd got the opportunity to show a whole different side of her during the performance of the Rammstein cover ‘Seemann’, as their rendition of the song required vocal ranges that Amaranthe don’t much explore. Ryd did an impeccable job and left the audience enchanted listening to this outstanding live collaboration. Apocalyptica’s focus laid with giving an incredible show with the usage of quality music and a backdrop only, which makes sense, given three members of the band are holding string instruments and the last member is behind a drumset. Their set consisted of their own work, as well as covers from your favourite metalbands, including Rammstein and Metallica. Their show, undeniably a metal show – without any guitars on stage sure brought a whole new meaning to the definition of metal to us. Check out some photos or their exceptional show in the gallery below.
Apocalyptica:
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At last it was time for Sabaton to take the stage. After the Apocalyptica show, the stage was rebuild and now resembled a warzone. Trenches were built on stage, there are more fire cannons than you can count and the drumkit was built upon something that resembled an actual tank. Besides their exceptional music, Sabaton brought along the entire arsenal prop and special-effect wise. Pyro, fireworks, a bazooka to shoot the aforementioned tank to bits and so much more, Sabaton truly all out for their ‘Great Tour’. The screen behind the band was used to show the proper imagery at each song, but also aided in storytelling through the show to tie the show together. A few songs in, the singer put on an exterminator outfit including the gas mask and the appropriate tool for the song ‘The Attack of the Dead Men’.
Halfway through the set, Sabaton were joined by Apocalyptica for a couple songs, including the song they released together: ‘Angels Calling’. Apocalyptica stayed on stage with Sabaton for a couple more songs, including ‘The Price of a Mile’ & ‘The Lion From the North’.
We have seen hundreds of shows over the course of the last couple of years, but we can honestly say that the Sabaton show was something else. These guys from Sweden check off all the boxes: showmanship, quality live music, charisma, stage presence, impeccable show quality and more special effects than we could handle. Not to mention that Sabaton were very kind to the photographers and allowed them to photograph the majority of the show. You can check out a lot of these photos right in the gallery below.
Sabaton:
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