In Flames / Opeth

Back in November I was scrolling through Facebook post and I noticed my favorite metal band is on tour in the United States (they are from Gothenburg Sweden). So I looked up the schedule to see when they would be in my area and sure enough they were coming to Tempe. However Natalie wouldn't let me go alone. The concert in Tempe was on a Wednesday night and we have no one to babysit the kids so I decided to see when they would be in California. Turns out they were playing a day earlier in Hollywood.

Now just before all this my work schedule changed to Sunday-Wednesday with Sunday working from home. So getting to a concert on a Tuesday night 400 miles away wouldn't normally be happening without some time off but my boss allowed me to work Tuesday and Wednesday from home. So Monday night we drove out to California.

Tuesday we met up with an old friend of mine, Paul, had dinner, then headed out to the Palladium. Judging by the picture of the Palladium I saw online I thought it was a crappy hole in the wall concert hall. Turns out it was probably the best place I've been for a concert and it was a whole lot bigger than it looks from outside (capacity of 4,000) people. The only thing I didn't like about the Palladium, besides that it's in Hollywood, was that they overcharged for crappy drinks. 9 bucks for a rum n coke made with cheap Bacardi that tasted like gasoline.

The opening band was a band from Oregon called Red Fang. They were alright for an opening band. They were a bunch of middle aged guys and the singer reminded me of Dudley from Wild Hogs. After that would be In Flames and Opeth (another Swedish band, from Stockholm). I had never heard Opeth before and they weren't anything like what I was expecting.

I've watched In Flames videos before and I wasn't too impressed. However all my friends say that In Flames is amazing live, Anders actually does sing good, and don't judge them off the videos. So I was expecting them to be alright live but they turned out to be amazing. Everything I had heard was true. Anders nailed ever key, everything was balanced to perfection, and it was a good hour + of aggressive riffs and head banging. I do wish they would have played longer and there is definitely a song I wish they would have not played since it has the most annoying whining depressing sound.

I have to say Anders, the lead singer was pretty funny when making fun of people in the crowd. He'd tell people it's ok to take pictures but why you going to waste your time taking a crappy phone video when you got In Flames in 3D right in front of you. Then he started making fun of people for drinking Butt Viser (Budwiser with a Swedish accent). Turns out Anders owns a couple breweries so he's not a big fan of piss beer.

The lineup (might be missing a few here):
In Plain View - Great opener. One of my favorites of the night.
Everything's Gone - Favorite song of the night
Trigger - One of the greats.
Cloud Connected - Good song but trendy.
Delight And Angers
Paralyzed - One of my favorites from the new album
Through Oblivion - This song is horrendous. I don't know what Ander's was thinking when he wrote it.
Only For The Weak - An In Flame's classic
The Chosen Pessimist - Natalie's favorite. Nearly ten minutes long I think it was one of the best songs of the night.
Where The Dead Ships Dwell - Great song but a better would be the song that shares the album title
The Rusted Nail
The Quiet Place
The Mirror's Truth - Song is alright, don't know why they chose it when they have better ones.
Deliver Us - Good song but should have been replaced with album title or Fear Is The Weakness
Take This Life - Another good one but they have better.

If I was there manager songs they would have added to the lineup.
Minus
System
Fear Is The Weakness
When The World Explodes
The Jester Script Transfigured
Sounds Of A Playground Fading
Dead Alone

So yeah I was disappointed they didn't do a couple more songs I like, or that they chose a couple that I didn't think were all that great but overall they were still super awesome. This ranks up there on the top of my favorite concerts. Of course nothing will ever beat Rammstein but In Flames is right up there with Static-X.

After In Flames was Opeth. Like I already said I didn't know what to expect from Opeth. I had never heard them and they were listed as Progressive Death Metal. So as they got on stage I put in my ear plugs expecting a bunch of noise. I removed them about a minute into their set. Opeth was amazing, so much I've already bought up half their collection. Yes there were parts where they were definitely Death Metal with howls and screams that would make some people have an accident in their pants but the music was so diverse a single song could cover four genres from Freeform Jazz, Bluegrass, Classical, Metal, etc.. The shortest song they played was 6 minutes long and a lot of them were 10-12 minutes. A seven song set was an hour and twenty minutes long.

The Opeth line up:
Eternal Rains Will Come
Cusp Of Eternity
Drapery Falls
The Moor
Windowpane
The Lotus Eater
Deliverance


This was the first concert I have been to where I didn't leave with my hearing half gone. I like to think it's because the bands were balanced so well and not that hearing is getting so bad that the they aren't sensitive to the noise.