As I told a bunch of people, I went into the theater expecting to not enjoy their set. I hadn't heard one song from them, but expected cheesy, Hammerfall-like power metal. I walked in and saw the singer's outfit and laughed and told Yardley, "They're fucking Hammerfall wanna-be's."
By the end of the second song I was sold. They put on a great show! They were obviously having a ton of fun, and the singer is a great frontman, even if some of his moves are repetitive or cliche. Which frontman's are not? They were tight, and did what they do awesomely well.
Honestly, before they weekend, I expected to like them least of any of the bands this weekend. After seeing them play, they were, by FAR the best performance of the weekend - and that's saying a LOT because every performance I saw this weekend was really, really strong!
Kudos to Sabaton, and I hope to see them back in the future!