Carling Academy: Liverpool: 28:03:2006

So once again I find myself racing with the devil at breakneck speed down the M53 to make a 7pm appointment with the fastest rising rock band in the world right now, In Flames. The band have left scorch marks on roads all across Europe and America for quite a few years, but they are embarking on their first ever headline UK tour. They have done the odd London date and supported Motorhead in 2005, but they have never done a regional tour, that is about to change!

It’s clear as we arrive at the venue looking at the queue of amassed ‘Metal Hordes’ this is a grown-up affair. There were lots of Pantera, Slayer, and Metallica shirts in the crowd, the most contemporary it got was Rammstein. So this was a ‘Metal’ crowd, an over-18 one at that, who are here to be impressed; here to worship at the alter of rock, two-fisted ’till the very end; one hand to rock is never enough; tonight is two- handed devil horn metal, fuck yeah!

So I get to the Scouse House just in time for my phone to ring and it’s Nuclear Blast’s (In Flames record label) Dan the man telling me the band is ‘Ready To Go.’ We sit on the tour bus, have a chat for 30 mins, then it’s off into the venue for the photo shoot. Just as all this finishes we pick up our passes on the door, head up Everest to the biggest room in the venue, open the door and are met by a barrage of sound as tonight’s opening act had already started. I have no idea who they are (found out later that they were called Domag)… I watch a few songs, the singer has a foreign accent and quite frankly they are just not cutting the mustard, so I don’t really care who they are, or where they are from. I just want them to get going back there - fast!

So then we have the usual fanny around and all-change waiting period, then the lights dim, some tribal style music begins and bang! ’Dark Wood’ Segways into ‘Refuse/Resist’ and Sepultura are live and naked before my eyes. Derek is one big mutha; he has a towering presence to match his voice; he commands the stage like a man born to do this. He says “hello, we are here to fuck things up,” and the band then proceed for the next hour to do exactly that, via ‘Slave New World,’ ‘Troops Of Doom’ and a shed-load of new material. They throw back the years and play ‘Beneath The Remains’ and ‘Arise’ from the early days of the band, shit they even encore! Yes, they are the support and they encore! But when you have a song as good as ‘Roots Bloody Roots’ then you are forgiven. It’s a shame that the band carry the Max badge with them wherever they go, because Derek has a strong vocal delivery that suits the band and he carries it well - they should drop the whole Max era songs, hell you can see Soulfly for that… They should concentrate on creating a legacy of their own, and judging from the newer songs they have the technology, in fact they were quite a revelation. I saw the original line-up here in the city in 1993, the whole band partied ‘till dawn at my club (The Krazyhouse) so when Max left, I wrote them off. I now have to admit this was an injustice, they are an uncompromising Metal act, and they still have much to offer.

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Once again, we wait for a long time while the changeover takes place - boy these guys have some gear! And then as if by magic In Flames hit the stage running. They open with ‘Pinball Map,’ then straight into ‘Leeches,’ followed by the only song they play every show, ‘System,’ and they are burning hot. What isn’t so impressive, yet is awesomely impressive is the light show; banks of ladder lighting front the band to the extent that it took me three songs to make sure it really was In Flames. First song was blue, second red, then the third green. The lighting combined with parr cans and robo scans was impressive, but when the same lighting effect was then carried on for every single song, it became tedious; like watching the first three songs on a DVD, pressing rewind and watching them again; and for a hour and a half… Don’t get me wrong, the opening salvo was impressive and some songs that were just bathed in red lighting that made the whole band look demonic. But I came to see the band play, not some lights with a soundtrack, I have Jean Michelle Jarre for that… I like to see a band at some point, there were times when it was either too bright, or just plain pitch black… I had two photographers at this show, neither was happy with the outcome!

The lighting made it all sound the same, compounding this was the added fact that the sound guy seemed to think this was an theatre show, not a 1,000 capacity hall. It was way to loud, in fact to the point of making people feel unwell, and had I not had ear protection I certainly would have left after 20 minutes as the damage potential was too high. The crowd seemed to become more and more subdued, and after the rousing set by Sepultura, the vibe should have gone up a level or at least stayed the same, but it certainly should not have dropped. The band played with exceptional dexterity and confidence, hell, they have come on leaps and bounds in the last 18 months, they deliver a stunning live performance, and tonight they did just that. Outstanding tracks like ‘Take This Life’ and ‘Cloud Connected’ were simply awesome. They played 22 songs in all which is fantastic value for anyone’s money, but the combination of incessant lighting and over-powered sound made for impossible viewing, and uncomfortable listening. And this was a shame because this is one band whose albums just keep getting better and better and their growth as a live act is undeniable. For me it was a case of Band 9/10, Songs 9/10, lighting, and sound sweet FA/10…

Jj-2006…