Location: Ljubljana / Gospodarsko razstavišče / Slovenia
Date: Friday, 03/27/2009
A few months back, the Slovenian metal crowd learned that on March 27th one of the biggest European metal bands of recent years – Sweden’s In Flames – was coming to play. The organizer first put the show in Maribor’s Štuk, then moved it to central Slovenia, specifically to Ljubljana’s Gospodarsko razstavišče. After their visit to Cvetličarna three years ago (remember, that was the tour with Sepultura) and last year’s headlining slot at Metalcamp, this was already the third chance lately to see the Swedes on our turf.
SUPERBUTT
After lots of guessing about who would show up as the support act, if anyone at all, since the organizer gave out no official info, we got to meet a Hungarian metal band with the interesting name Superbutt. A drummer in an AC/DC shirt, a guitarist in a Pantera one, and a bassist who, in both looks and moves, was the spitting image of Tim Commerford from Rage Aginst the Machine, they promised a live mash-up of different genres. In a 45-minute set they presented their work so far, and also plugged a new album, which the vocalist mentioned quite a few times between songs. Throughout, hard guitar riffs from two guitars and an angry vocal, which never turned into a pure growl, alternated with a quieter part where the guitars dropped out and the rhythm section came to the fore with especially pronounced bass lines. A sort of mix of industrial death metal, heavy metal and, at moments, hardcore, with constantly changing tempos. The vocals shifted a lot too, with the mighty bruiser on stage showing quite a few shades of his voice, from clean singing all the way to rasping screams. Judging by the response they did a solid job, since quite a few headbangers were already at it, and in the end Superbutt got their reward in the form of applause.
IN FLAMES
After a good half-hour break In Flames finally marched onto the stage, and the outdoor area where the smokers had taken shelter emptied out in an instant. Niklas Engelin appeared on stage as lead guitarist, since Jesper Strömblad, the usual lead guitarist and the only member who has been around since the band’s founding, is still in treatment for alcoholism. That was also the reason the show lost a bit of its magic before it even started. Stand-in lead guitarist Engelin was a regular member of the lineup for a while some ten years ago, but never recorded an album with them, playing only a handful of gigs.
The A Sense of Purpose tour has been going on for quite a while now. A year has passed since the release of the album of the same name, and in that time the Swedes have covered nearly every continent, and they’re now roaming around Europe for the third time on this tour.
In Flames are a band I can’t possibly imagine surprising anyone with their setlist. At the start of this decade they wrote a few songs that became the backbone of their shows and will most likely stay that way for as long as the band exists. For years now I haven’t noticed them playing anything from their early period besides Behind Space. For the first two records that’s still somewhat understandable, since apart from the aforementioned Strömblad there’s no one left from that era, but they could shamelessly play some Jester Race classic – back then current vocalist Fridén and guitarist Gelotte were already around (though at the time Gelotte was earning his living behind the drums). Naturally, it was no different at this Ljubljana show. As is proper in support of a new album, five new songs joined that backbone of tracks like Trigger, The Queit Place and the closer My Sweet Shadow, and the rest of the setlist also mostly covered the last decade. A lot of ink has of course been spilled over this – the two eras of the In Flames story, that is – and plenty of words have been said. Many old fans turned their backs on the band, because around the turn of the millennium they left their old course and became a machine for making music to the people’s taste, a taste that brings them fame and money. Because of that they became Sweden’s number one metal export and one of the most sought-after bands on the cosmopolitan metal scene, while also being nearly public enemy number one for some true-metal purists.
In the huge space and the not exactly gig-friendly ambience of Gospodarsko razstavišče, some people were expecting a real spectacle, but they got precious little. Let me start with the venue itself. In Slovenia, which is hardly a concert oasis, “Gospodarc” is too big a space for a band like In Flames, which was more than obvious on the spot, since apart from the first few meters up front you could stroll around the venue without the slightest problem. But then again, the Slovenian capital has no alternative mid-sized venue anyway, so I believe the organizer had no other choice. The sound could probably have been handled a lot better too. It was downright catastrophic, and the biggest fans got shortchanged most of all, since the sound was supposedly worst right under the stage. Muddy guitars and a quiet, totally unintelligible vocal belong more on second-rate stages than at a show like this. The crew or the venue, who’s to blame? Who knows, but the right answer is probably a mix of both. What’s certain, though, is that the band itself isn’t to blame for the bad sound, since they got through the set quite solidly. No In Flames show can pass without the guitarists and vocalist constantly switching positions and a joke or two from Anders Fridén. This time, very much in his style, he picked on someone in the front row, accusing them of throwing some man’s underpants on stage. If the band deserves any blame, it’s probably only for the short set. For a not exactly cheap ticket, people expected more than just an hour and twenty-five minutes of sawing away, and there was no encore to speak of. There was nothing in the way of special effects either, except maybe the constant glare of spotlights from the top of the stage into the crowd, which by the end of the show was real torture for the eyes. All in all, the show wasn’t some kind of feast, but we’re talking about a band that tours a lot, so they’ll surely be around to catch live again. Let me close with the fact that I still heard from some people that they had a great time and that it was truly >”bombastic”.
author: Urban Bolta
photos: Mia Milharčič
Setlist:
1. Pinball Map
2. Leeches
3. Delight And Angers
4. Episode 666
5. Drifter
6. Colony
7. The Hive
8. Cloud Connected
9. Alias
10. Move Through Me
11. Only For The Weak
12. Disconnected
13. Come Clarity
14. The Quiet Place
15. The Mirror’s Truth
16. Trigger
17. Take This Life
18. My Sweet Shadow
