In Flames is one of my absolute favorite bands and I have seen them play live numerous times. Still, I had yet to see them live in their current line-up (i.e. without Jesper Strömblad who left the band in 2010) so my expectations were really high.

While we were waiting for the band to go on stage the crowd was cheering and in good spirit – you could tell expectations were high! The crowd went berserk as the band appeared on stage and a few moments later, the first verse of Embody The Invicible pierced my ear drums (but in a good way – hehe).

The show was on! People didn’t seem to take notice of the fact that it was actually a weeknight – myself included…

Like always, In Flames made it across the edge of the stage to the audience and the communication between the band and the crowd was great!

As usual with this band, their sound is like a wall in front of your face (no different from their albums) plus a busy light show that might be hazardous to the epileptic. But I really missed the pyrotechnics! There were no flames (“IN FLAMES”- duh!) or any other kind of fireworks. It would’ve put the dot over the “I”, had they included some sparks and flames in the show.

The band played the songs to perfection except Ropes which seemed to start off a bit bumpy, but that was quickly recovered from though.

I was happy to hear Bullet Ride from the Clayman album. This was the second song and I’m amazed by the band’s ability to play every one of their songs with such presence and energy – no matter if the song is twelve years old (or even older…).

During Trigger the crowd got the chance to prove their vocal talents and have no doubt; they were lit and screamed their lunges out.

The colored spotlights were flying around the room and it made me appreciate the fact that my view wasn’t obscured by a sea of cell phones in the air… I was actually surprised by that!

By the time we came to The Quiet Place the roof went off of the building. The crowd went crazy and I could feel the floor shaking (I was placed to the left of the sound engineer)! By the end of the song the crowd started screaming “IN FLAMES, IN FLAMES, IN FLAMES” and after a flawless presentation of Clayman lead singer Anders Fridén made a joke by saying the gestures from the audience sounded like “Enslaved” (not In Flames) and that they must have misunderstood something – “Ni har missat något”.

During Only For The Weak everyone was jumping around and you’d have to be careful not to slip in the beer on the floor. I have so many favorite In Flames songs and this is one of them. Somehow the band is able to make this song sound as authentic live, as on the album – amazing! And yes I know I may be slightly biased.

“I’M SELLING HEAVENLY SKETCHES / A WORLD OUT OF MY MIND
READY TO EXPLODE IN PURITY / TO FILL THE HOLES INSIDE”
(“My Sweet Shadow”, In Flames)

The last song on the set list was My Sweet Shadow from the Soundtrack To Your Escape album which was released in 2004. The song was well performed and ended with a prolonged synth arpeggio (like it usually does when it’s the last song on the setlist).

I was really happy with the show and I think In Flames proved – once again – the fact that they are playing the Major League in their genre.

Line-up:

Vocals: Anders Fridén
Guitars: Björn Gelotte
Guitars: Niclas Engelin
Bass: Peter Iwers
Drums: Daniel Svensson

Setlist:

Embody The Invisible
Bullet Ride
Trigger
Crawl Through Knives
The Quiet Place
Where The Dead Ships Dwell
Egonomic
Clayman
Liberation
Cloud Connected
Drifter
System
Fear Is The Weakness
Ropes
Only For The Weak
Deliver Us
The Mirror's Truth
Take This Life
My Sweet Shadow