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Reviewed by Niklas
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Tour name: Unholy Alliance Tour Chapter II
Headliner: Slayer
Special guests: In Flames, Children Of Bodom, Lamb Of God, Thine Eyes Bleed
City: Stockholm, Sweden
Venue: Hovet
Date: 16 November 2006
In Flames set length: 50 minutes

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All pictures are © Michael Finnermark.
Please contact him and ask for permission before using any of the pictures.

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In Flames

I have almost lost count on how many times I've seen In Flames perform live, but I can at least name the occasions when I've seen them from the stands on one hand. However, on these concerts the Gothenburg-quintet was merely warming up for Judas Priest respectively Iron Maiden. According to the Unholy Alliance-poster, Slayer is the headliner of the evening, but when comparing the shows there is little doubt which band most of the audience came to see. From my position up on the stands I got a thorough lesson by Anders Fridén & Co on how to tame a crowd, something they should be able to do in their sleep by now.

The start of the concert with the tracks Pinball Map, Leeches, Cloud Connected and most of all Trigger is nothing short of outstanding; simply the cream of the crop of Swedish metal of later years. The band's stage presence is great as always, even with Niklas Engelin (from the band Engel) standing in for the regular guitarist Jesper Strömblad. The guys' humour is also intact; they use the theme from the David Hasselhoff-show Knight Rider before going on stage, and Anders constantly jokes around with the audience. Something I miss though is all the pyrotechnics and confetti that normally come with In Flames-concerts. Call me childish, but an In Flames-show without pyrotechnics feels like New Year's Eve without firecrackers.

In Flames obviously try to be as generous as they can towards their loyal fans who constantly go out and see them, and therefore occasionally brings obscure songs or old gems out of their bulky song-catalogue. Tonight's new additions are Resin (from Colony) and Egonomic (from Reroute To Remain), but none of them manage to convince. Resin never really takes off, and while its fun to hear Egonomic, it's not one of the most prominent tracks on Reroute To Remain and it becomes quite obvious why this song is not usually included in their live-shows.

Only For The Weak, great as always, wakes the audience up and then Anders asks everyone to take out their lighters or cellular phones, because it's time for a ballad. Anders wrote the lyrics to Come Clarity to his little daughter, and since I got to hang out backstage before the show and see Anders together with his family, it becomes apparent that she means everything to him. That's why Come Clarity sounds more charged than ever before, and all the lighters in the arena make Hovet look like a huge star constellation. After that In Flames switches gears and thrusts towards the finish line with The Quiet Place, Take This Life and My Sweet Shadow - songs that really should speak for themselves by now. In Flames continues to never disappoint me, and even if the sound could have been better and some of the visual stuff was missed, it was a terrific performance.

8 chalices of 10


SET LIST:

Pinball Map
Leeches
Cloud Connected
Trigger
Graveland
Resin
Egonomic
Only For The Weak
Come Clarity
The Quiet Place
Take This Life
My Sweet Shadow

Related links:
www.inflames.com