9/21/2009 - The Regency - San Francisco, CA
[Originally written ~9/22/2009; finishing & posting now as part of my catchup blitz]
I'd marked this show in my calendar months ago (as soon as the tour was announced), but as the date approached i started to reconsider going. I've seen In Flames in concert plenty of times already (including twice last year), and i was feeling tired & lazy about driving up to the city on a Monday night, getting home late, etc (especially because i was still on the tail end of recovering from the flu (or it might have been food poisoning).
So Monday morning found me on the fence. Even though i'd seen them before, they always put on a great show and i knew it would be a good time if i dragged myself up there. So i pinged a friend who had expressed interest to see if still wanted to go. He was feeling the same as i was - wanted to see the band, but mentally unprepared for a metal show. Eventually we managed to scrape together enough motivation between the two of us and agreed to go. But we decided to buy tickets at the door to avoid the service fees (which would have been over 50% of face value in this case - bollocks).
Actually, it wasn't just about the money. I usually eat the cost and pre-buy tickets for most of my shows just because i don't want to risk going all the way there just to get turned away. (Most of my bands aren't mainstream enough to sell out tickets early on, but they do usually sell out at the door). But this time, it somehow felt right to take that chance. We didn't even plan to get there early (waiting in line sucks). We'd just casually head up to the city; if tickets were sold out, then it wasn't meant to be; we'd just hang out at one of the nearby bars for a while and head home.
We actually ended up running even later than planned, and i was mentally ready to kick back with with a couple of beers as we approached the venue. But no worries, there were plenty of tickets left (as you may have already guessed, given that this post is not titled "A Few Beers At Some Bar On Van Ness). We forked over the $26 and headed inside.
We missed the opening act - a band called The Faceless. I'll probably check out their myspace at some point, but for this night i didn't mind missing the first of the four scheduled bands. I think four bands on a single bill is too many; i prefer three (if they get a good main support act) or even two (with a longer set from the headliner). Anyway.
So first up for us was 3 Inches of Blood from Vancouver, BC. I really like their stuff; not terribily complicated music, but a nice high-energy mix of fantasy-themed thrash with dual vocals (one in a Judas Priest wailing style, the other filling in banshee screams a la Cradle of Filth). Unfortunately, their dedicated screecher had to leave the band because of throat problems (no comments from the peanut gallery, please), so their guitarist, Justin, took over. Nice guy, i actually met him once (when they played at Slim's last year).
3 Inches played a decent set, although i didn't quite feel it, compared to the afformentioned Slim's show. Maybe the levels weren't quite right, or maybe i was standing too far away from the sweet spot (in terms of audience, i mean).
Next up was Between The Buried And Me from North Carolina. I'd seen them play before, and i remember liking them, but i hadn't felt compelled to pick up any of their albums. This time around was a different story; they just *nailed* their set. They're a progressive death metal band; they play long songs with complex structures and actual movements and interludes. Killer stuff; one song in particular really gripped me. I had no idea what it was, but i knew that i'd be tracking it down and buying whatever album it's on. (It turned out to be "Selkies: The Endless Obsession" from their 2005 album Alaska. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19UZd_DKs2Q )
And finally, In Flames. What can i say about these guys that i haven't said before? There's a reason they're one of my favorite bands to see live. They rock hard, and they always play a quality show. I think their performances definitely exceed their studio material; in fact, back when i was just starting to become familiar with their music, i found myself liking a lot of their songs *better* after experiencing them live.
My friend observed that they're one of those bands of a certain caliber, meaning that they're all solid musicians with enough experience to really know what they're doing. They play their instruments well, and they play well *together*; they're comfortable up on stage, and you can tell that they love what they're doing. Their performances are so tight; i'd put them up there with Testament and Iron Maiden when it comes to metal performance.
They usually play a comprehensive set, facing the same challenge as other bands who have been going strong for so many years. You want to include the new singles as well as old favorites, and draw on your stronger material in between to represent most of your albums (without playing the exact same set every tour). This time around they actually skipped "Trigger" and "Episode 666" (which they've played at every other show i've attended). But they did play three songs from Clayman - "Pinball Map" (one of my favorites), and "Square Nothing" (one of Melissa's early favorites), and the title track. And of course they rocked "Leeches" and "Take This Life" from Come Clarity, and closed out the night with their always amazing performance of "My Sweet Shadow".
I've always known Anders (their frontman) for his warm & charismatic stage presence, and he was in fine form once again. I love his little interludes and hilarious comments between songs. At one point he accepted a demo cd from some guy ("Is this your band? Cool, i'll check this out tonight.") and then got a fan up on the balcony to toss him a beer. Later on he asked if anyone had a camera, and picked out a guy upfront who was shooting video. After calling him a "youtube kid", Anders borrowed the guy's camera and filmed the band and audience *himself* during their performance of the sing-along favorite "Come Clarity". So awesome! He even said "This is approved by In Flames, by the way."
I love that so many bands are totally not uptight about cameras at their shows. I mean there's no way to stop people from taking pictures at shows, or even recording audio and video. So why not embrace it? It's free publicity, and it's not like anyone can make money from the amatuer video clips (nor would the availability of said clips on youtube cut into dvd sales). And bootlegs have been around for so long; it's nice to see so many bands supporting (for example) archive.org .
...
So overall, an excellent evening; i'm really glad we decided to go to the show after all. Oh yeah, i almost forgot to mention - there's a random dude i've seen at most of the shows i've attended out here. He's this little guy (shorter than 5-foot), older than me (in his 40s, i'd guess), and he's *always* right up in the action, holding his ground in the crush zones and edges of the mosh pits.
I was wondering if i'd see him at this show, and of course i spotted him during 3 Inches of Blood's set, right where i knew he'd be. After In Flames i saw him standing upfront talking to some kid, so i went over to say hello. I tapped him on the shoulder and said "Hi! I've seen you at EVERY metal show in the bay area..."; with a smile he told me that the other guy was just telling him the same thing. We shook hands & introduced ourselves; turns out his name is Dave. I look forward to seeing him at the next show.
Another highlight - actually a highlight trifecta which started earlier in the day. But first, some background: Over the years, i've slowly joined the camp of "Don't go to a concert wearing the shirt of the band you're going to see." I used to feel differently, but i now agree that everyone knows you're a fan of the band, so it's preferable to instead wear the shirt of a related act, or some obsure band in the same genre. Be clever if you can. Festival shirts are also a good choice; i wear my shirt from Sounds Of The Underground 2005 to a lot of concerts, and almost always get comments from random people who see the incredible lineup of bands on my back.
On Monday i wore my Dark Tranquillity tour shirt from last year. DT and In Flames have quite a bit of history; both are from Gothenburg, Sweden, and are two of the pioneers of the melodic death metal genre (At The Gates is the third). Furthermore, Anders was the original vocalist for Dark Tranquillity, and Mikael Stanne (DT's frontman) worked with In Flames as a session vocalist before Anders joined (so they each recorded the vocals for the respective band's debut albums, and then effectively traded places). *And*, Niklas Sundin (DT's guitarist) helped Anders translate his lyrics for several of In Flames' albums, until Anders grew strong enough with English.
So. I was out on the quad at work and some random dude tapped me on the shoulder and said "Hey, nice shirt." Boost #1. At the concert, after 3 Inches finished up and people started streaming out, one guy stopped, looked at me, pointed at my shirt, and announced "YES!" Boost #2. And finally, boost #3 - while we were waiting for Between The Buried And Me to start, another guy came up and asked "Holy crap, don't tell me i missed them!" I mentioned that the shirt was from when they came around on their last tour (2008), and that they're in the studio right now working on their next album.
It's the little things in life, y'know?
So yes, definitely an enjoyable show - and consequential. I was thinking that this would probably be my last In Flames concert for a while (since i've seen them 5 times already), but i've now reversed that and decided that they're one of the bands i'll *always* try to catch whenever they come around. Even better, In Flames are now a white-tag candidate for me. And i've added Between The Buried And Me to my tier1 list; i'll be picking up a few of their cds soon and i'll definitely keep an eye out for next time they hit the road.
Rock \m/
...
In Flames' setlist
1. Cloud Connected
2. Embody The Invisible
3. Delight And Angers
4. Disconnected
5. Square Nothing
6. The Hive
7. Clayman
8. Come Clarity
9. Leeches
10. Alias
11. The Mirror's Truth
12. The Quiet Place
13. Take This Life
14. My Sweet Shadow
...
Video clips:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8pfk7Aotz8#t=3m25s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjudLItnJjw
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