In Flames

Vega, Copenhagen - 2022

Text: Tobias Nilsson Photo: Lunah Lauridsen

In Flames came rolling into town one late December evening, and they brought three other Swedish bands with them. Orbit Culture, Imminence, and At The Gates, in that order, all did what they could to warm the crowd up, but there was no mistaking it - In Flames was the main attraction of the night, and the fans weren’t shy to let them know it.

“This might be the best Saturday we’ve had in Copenhagen! I’ve seen the setlist, and it is sweet!”
- Anders Fridén (vocals)


In Flames’ show opened up with a nice acoustic tune coming out of the speakers, and there was a loud roar of appreciation when the musicians entered the stage and the song changed to heavy distortion - still, it was nothing compared to when Anders Fridén entered a little after the others! I don’t think it hurt that he was wearing a Warpigs shirt this evening, showing his support for local beer and meat.

While the crowd was enjoying the start of the show, where the band gave us The Great Deceiver (second single from their upcoming Foregone album), it was also nothing compared to the trip down memory lane that the band had in store for us next; starting with Pinball Map, In Flames gave us a veritable hit cavalcade for the next several tracks, and the crowd absolutely lost it! A large moshpit broke out in the middle of the floor, people were singing and shouting along. The pressure and heat rose quickly. This was to be a wild night.
In Flames rounded their classics section off with Only For The Weak, and you know that brought the crowd to a peak. There was so much jumping, I could feel the floor sway under my feet.

“Look, if you want me to speak Swedish, go see us in Gothenburg tomorrow. For now, shut the fuck up!”
- Fridén (vocals)


That we were through the classics, didn’t mean a lessened participation from the crowd. Now that everyone was all warmed up and good to go, they weren’t about to let the momentum go again. Leeches, first song up, saw an increasing amount of crowdsurfers, and Fridén’s talking between songs riled up even more response, and even though there were several Swedish fans present, he wasn’t about to let the domestic crowd down. He even went as far as teasing the Swedes, by saying that the Danes present ought to whip his countrymen into shape, in regards to partying and drinking. This was, not surprisingly, met with loud approval of the present Danes.
While singing along to In Flames’ own tracks was at a high rate, I don’t think anyone expected the response that came to one particular, however small, detail. While Fridén was introducing the band members, the band made some background noise with the Iron Man riff, and even though they only played a couple of bars of it, the crowd ran with it, and continued singing the riff to such a degree, that Fridén and the rest fell silent for a while, waiting for it to die out.

There’s been lots of talk about crowd participation so far, and while it was a joy to behold, we mustn’t forget about the band. We hadn’t seen In Flames since back in 2017, and a lot of changes have occurred within their ranks since then. Niels Nielsen, who had just started touring with them on keyboards back then was still around, but Fridén and Björn Gelotte were the only ones left of the old guard. Next to them, we now had Chris Broderick (ex-Megadeth) on guitar, Bryce Paul Newman (IVES) on bass, and Andrew Tanner Wayne (NightFiends) on drums. Broderick was the only one I recognised out of this crowd, but they were all rocking it out on stage, giving it their all - a nice contrast to At The Gates before them, where only Tomas Lindberg had been working the crowd.

I have to say, this In Flames concert took me completely by surprise. I have, admittedly, not been overly enthusiastic about the band the last many years or shows, but this night they really kicked asses all around. They were on from the start to the finishing line, present, had fun, rocked out, everything you could hope for. Wayne even took the opportunity provided by the lengthy cheers after Cloud Connected, to walk out on stage, to throw a drumstick to a young girl standing with her parents on the balcony, absolutely making her day. That’s the kind of attention we like to see, but so rarely do.

Setlist:

The Great Deceiver
Pinball Map
Cloud Connected
Behind Space
Graveland
The Hive
Colony
Only For The Weak
Leeches
Foregone Pt. 1
Wallflower
State Of Slow Decay
Alias
The Mirror’s Truth
I Am Above
Take This Life

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