Day 1 (August 15)

This was the first official day of the festival and even though only one stage was ready, the other one was still being prepared, some great bands played that day: 

• Manimal 
• War of Thrones 
• Serenity 
• Borknagar 
• Ensiferum 
• Apocalyptica 
• Northtale 

Some highlights of this day were the shows of Manimal, Ensiferum and Apocalyptica. The French guys from Manimal gave an amazing start to the festival, warmed up the crowd and you saw them having a blast on that stage. Ensiferum, also did their very best. Made the crowd jump and sing along to almost all their songs, they just have a way of getting the crowd to interact with them.

Apocalyptica gave a surprisingly amazing show. The reason I use the word ‘surprisingly’ is that this was their ‘Metallica‘ show. The crowd went wild over the classics and seeing the guys give their all, almost made me hope that they will join Sabaton on stage for when they come to Belgium to play the song ‘Angels Calling’ together. Below you can find the setlist of their show at Falun: 

• ‘Enter Sandman’  
• ‘Master of Puppets’  
• ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’  
• ‘Fight Fire With Fire’  
• ‘Fields of Verdun’  
• ‘Nothing Else Matters’  
• ‘One ‘ 
• ‘Battery’  
• ‘Seek & Destroy ‘ 
• ‘Peikko’ 

The last band of that day was Northtale, this is the band that was founded together with the previous singer of Twilight Force: Christian Eriksonn. Though they gave an overall decent show, I wasn’t convinced by their capability. The songs sounded basic, instrumental wasn’t blowing me away, however every ones opinion is their own so judge yourself. 

Nothing else to do but to get drunk, by the alcohol we bought ourselves in Belgium, which was A LOT cheaper and prepare for day three. 

Day 2 (August 16)

The second day of the festival! 2 stages are available and it will be a promising day. I started the day of with an interview with my favorite pirates from Lagerstein. It was a great interview and a lot of fun. You can find it here: https://www.grimmgent.com/interview-lagerstein-we-are-the-underdogs-from-down-under-sabaton-open-air-2019/  

The bands today playing the Heroes and Primo Victoria stage: 

• Liv Sin 
• Riot V 
• Crystal Viper 
• Arkona 
• Brothers of Metal 
• Alestorm 
• Bloodbound 
• U.D.O. 
• Lagerstein 

The day kicked of with Liv Sin. A powerful voice to get you in the mood for the day! But today was just a big party with all these bands. I think there was almost nobody at the festival who does not like Brothers of Metal. They grow so fast in this area and sure are promising. After this party the duck was launched and Alestorm gave us a great show and it was just one serious partying. The day continues with Bloodbound they get the crowd going and everyone banged their head in the name of metal. 

Sadly enough the sky burst open when U.D.O. started to play. Shelter was found in the VIP section and U.D.O. played on and to my surprise still a lot of people were out there enjoying this masterpiece. The day was almost coming to an end but not before the pirates of Lagerstein came on. A lot of people already left the festival due to the rain, but we partied on in mud and rain. The guys really know how to make the crowd wild. Too bad they are not to well known yet in Europe, but they sure are making their way in the European Scene. The after party continued on the camping with Lagerstein invading as many camps they could. Short 30 minutes of chaos and continue to crash the next camp.  

Day 3 (August 17)

The final day of the festival. Today I am all rested and first in line to make my way to the Heroes stage. Sabaton will perform their set here tonight.  After, a little run to the front stage my time had come to wait. The bands that played today are: 

• Frozen Crown 
• Attick Demons 
• Utmarken 
• Vision of Atlantis 
• Candlemass 
• Gloryhammer 
• Nerved 
• Sabaton 
• Elvenking 

The first band that I really noticed was Attick Demons a heavy metal band inspired by Iron Maiden. And that you could really tell by the voice. It was surprisingly good! Vision of Atlantis was less but I had friends who really enjoyed this. Next up was Gloryhammer where Angus was swinging the hammer on stage in super tight tights.  

At last Sabaton will play in an hour. I get ready with taking off my sweater and rain jacket since it finally cleared up. That was until 15 minutes before they started playing. Suddenly the sky burst open and rain is falling. Cold, shaking, flag in hand ready for this battle. When suddenly ‘Ghost Division’ started blasting! The heroes arrived. It was a very good set with a lot of new songs from their album The Great War with my personal favorite ‘The Attack of the Dead Men’ included. For this song green smoke covered the stage just like the poison clouds in World War 1. 

The night ended with as closing band Elvenking and that is how this festival came to an end.  

It surely was not the cheapest on food, drink and merch. But the bands did not disappoint. If you are a fan of Sabaton this is definitely something you have to do once in your life. If you are not a fan I think there are better festivals around for you to enjoy. Stay Metal \m/