Nightwish and Sabaton were absolutely stellar last night!
Sabaton was ridiculously amazing and so full of energy. Joakim could barely form words for half of the set because he was humbled by the intense audience response. I daresay that, although there were more Nightwish fans in the building, Sabaton had the crowd participating at a much higher level. Unfortunately, they dropped two songs from the set that I really, really wanted to see (Soldier of 3 Armies and Uprising) and replaced them with The Art of War (which is still cool, but I've seen it three times now).
http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/sabaton/2015/in-the-venue-salt-lake-city-ut-4bc8ef12.html
Regardless of setlist disappointment, any Sabaton show is a brilliant Sabaton show and this was no exception. By the general feeling of the crowd and the band's response, I think a U.S. headlining tour is not far away.
Nightwish killed it, even if the audience was suffering from a bit of Sabaton fatigue. Floor sounded incredible, Marco was completely on point, and everyone seemed to be having a really great time. Emppu in particular got a rise out of messing with the entire band and Tuomas looked more happy and upbeat than I've ever seen him. He even shared a nice moment with Floor after Storytime where they gave each other a big smile, a thumbs up, and a high five.
They premiered Alpenglow and it sounded fantastic. Floor remarked that it is one of her favorite songs on the new album and she couldn't wait to start playing it at gigs. They also played Bless The Child for the first time this tour, eliminating the rotation of Nemo/Dark Chest/Ever Dream and I Want My Tears Back.
http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/nightwish/2015/in-the-venue-salt-lake-city-ut-43c8ef17.html
I also got in an Emppu guitar pick!
Oh, and just a friendly warning: Delain is really, truly terrible. Their singer sounds like a goat imitating Britney Spears and the music could not get any more simplistic and pop-oriented. I've never seen a symphonic metal band that is so poor at writing vocal melodies.