In Flames -- Washington, D.C. -- October 5th, 2009

[tenchimyo]

Went to See In Flames last night at 930 Club. 2nd time I've seen them, first for BTBAM and 3 Inches of Blood. The Faceless were on this tour but I didn't see them as I got there a little bit before 3 Inches of Blood came on. I forgot my fing earplugs

3 Inches of Blood was HELLA loud. For their soundcheck I heard part of "Doctor Doctor" and I think some Thin Lizzy song. They looked the part, esp with Cam (the singer)'s denim vest with a shitload of metal patches on it. However from the balcony you could clearly see his bald spot. Time to shave it off, buddy. They sounded OK, a little muddy. That a lot of their songs sound rather samey didn't help. And I am a somewhat fan of them. I wanted to hear 'Deadly Sinners.'

Next Between the Buried an Me (BTBAM- a horrible name) was on next. I am only slightly familiar with them and expected them to have some nice parts mixed with a lot of discordant pieces. I was right. There must be something I am missing because they would play a sweet intro (keyboard, guitar solo) that had me interested, and then they go into some noisy breakdown and some rather bad screaming (not like good Arch Enemy screaming) that was rather all over the place. As a result I only was interested in about 1/5 of their total set if even that. The rest was just noise. I must give props for their energy and musicianship. I think they could play a lot of things, but they really need to work on writing good music first. Diff'rent strokes for diff'rent folks I guess. A lot of the crowd seemed into them.

In between BTBAM and In Flames, the music they played was better than BTBAM's whole fing set. Start out with Helloween's 'Future World' (!!!) (I musta been the only there who knew that song) and you have me sold. Finish with Journey's (WTF not very metal per se, depending on who you ask) 'Don't Stop Believing' and I was sitting pretty for a moment.

Cloud Connected's Intro started up and the place went wild! I almost broke my neck on Pinball map and had to slow down. They sounded great and there was a lot of energy from the crowd. Def worth the wait, despite them not playing some older songs. Their new stuff I like as well, so that was fine. What was interesting was the in between song banter/commentary from the singer (Anders). He was a little annoying at first, but he redeemed himself several times over

* Some dude was wearing some neon green sunglasses, and he asked to see them because he wanted to "look like a bigger dork than he does already". He put em on and did some ridiculous poses. "Why you wear these to a metal show?" He asked the guy
* Told the new guitarist to Strike a "Scorpions" pose (worked well with his flying V. Also mentioned the Scorpions again later on
* Shouted at some girl on the balcony to stop taking pictures of her friend and take them of him instead
* Actually got some kid up on stage to sing most of Square Nothing (!?). At first the kid was nervous and couldn't do it, but then he got into it. He did a decent job
* A few songs later, he pointed at a front row girl witha camera and told her for a better picture, for her to get on stage and film the performance. She got up on the stage and Anders told her to make sure to upload it to YouTube. She screamed at the crowd at once point and Anders said "Here's an Arch Enemy person here"
* Some guy was calling out to play some song from Jester Race (an old album). Anders said that he'd need to come to Europe to hear that.
* And My favourite: He called some dude out who was yelling at him to "Play some Heavy shit". He was like "Ok man, you come down here and play some heavy shit" and motioned to the stage, waiting for him to do something. The guy was not sure what to do it seemed and kind of backed off, but not after some rather choice words the crowd shouted at him and some similar sentiments Anders told him. He didn't have to even recognize that guy, but the way he did it, I dunno seemed rather satisfying to see someone put in their place.

I left part way through Take This Life to make sure I was on the metro in time (I figure I coulda stayed til the last song, but oh well) so I figure they ended with the same song as the rest of the tour. Also at one point when the drummer was fixing something on his kit, the one guitarist started playing a bit of Don't Stop Believing and Anders said he couldn't sing it. LOLZ



SetLists
3 Inches Of Blood
1.Battles and Brotherhood
2.Call Of The Hammer
3.Trial Of Champions
4.Wykydtron
5.Silent Killer
6.Swordmaster
7.Night Marauders
8.The Goatriders Horde

Between The Buried And Me
1.All Bodies
2.Selkies:The Endless Obession
3.Obfuscation
4.Foam Born A:The Backtrack
5.Foam Born B:The Decade Of Statues
6.White Walls

In Between PA Music (IMO better than BTBAM's whole set)
1. Helloween- Future World
2.KISS- Detroit Rock City
3.Bon Jovi- Bad Medicine (not very metal but a good song)
4.Metallica- Sad But True (ppl were singing along to this)
5. Journey- Don't Stop Believing (ppl were singing to this too)

In Flames
1.Cloud Connected
2.Embody The Invisible
3.Pinball Map
4.Delights And Angers
5.Disconnected
6.Square Nothing (Anders picked some kid from the crowd and he sang it from where it speeds up)
7.The Hive
8.Drifter
9.Clayman
10.Come Clarity
11.Leeches
12.Alias
13.The Mirror's Truth
14.The Quiet Place
15.Take This Life
16.My Sweet Shadow

[DrTrobridge]

Great report!

I'd be going nuts if I heard The Hive live. Just nuts.

[Chaosinborn]

Originally Posted by tenchimyo

* Actually got some kid up on stage to sing most of Square Nothing (!?). At first the kid was nervous and couldn't do it, but then he got into it. He did a decent job

Thanks.

I blanked out during that part because i was nervous.

You didnt happen to get any vids/pics of the show while i was up there. My friend only managed to get a couple and of those alot were messed up due to the light show.

-Mario

[Fires Of Sedition]

Originally Posted by tenchimyo

Told the new guitarist to Strike a "Scorpions" pose (worked well with his flying V. Also mentioned the Scorpions again later on

New? Are you talking about Björn Gelotte? If so, he shaved his head, he's not new.

Or is Niklas Engelin still filling in for Jesper Strömblad while he's in rehab?

[tenchimyo]

Originally Posted by Chaosinborn

Thanks.
I blanked out during that part because i was nervous.

-Mario

OH snap, that was you? S'a lot to take in to be on the stage with the fing band you PAID to see!!!

Nah I didn't have a camera or the like.

I'm bad with a lot of lyrics so I was thinking I woulda been booed off the stage if it were me.

[tenchimyo]

Originally Posted by Fires Of Sedition

New? Are you talking about Björn Gelotte? If so, he shaved his head, he's not new.

Or is Niklas Engelin still filling in for Jesper Strömblad while he's in rehab?

I've been a bit behind on news, so I didn't know who exactly who the chap was (he was new to me?). But according to wiki and some minor googling it was that Niklas fellow you mention.

Picture of him here

[Chaosinborn]

Yea, i was crapping myself.

I could not remeber those couple of lines. And my legs were shaking so much from just the nerves and excitement. The guy that escorted me off stage also got me a bunch of Bjorns picks so i got a small souvenier.