Here we go, here we go, here we go nooooooooooooooooow! A cookie after every paragraph you suffer through, God will deliver it, pinky promise. Unless he doesn't exist, in which case I'm sorry. Not really though.
The day started on a really bad note. I was very very furious and that's all I'm gonna say now, I don't ever want to remind myself of it. On the train, I was sure it would be a good show, but I started questioning if the lame pre- and post-show stuff would worth it. I mean, I read so many bad stuff about IF, especially here, like Anders being a terrible singer, Through Oblivion and The Chosen pessimist being awful, and the initial negative reactions to the setlist in Poland. I knew they would switch up 2 songs compared to that show, but I knew seeing the same setlist was a very likely possibility as well.
It was my second serious live event ever, the first one being a NIN show in 09, which was amazing, though I got murdered during the fourth song or so. I honored getting out of there alive - god bless himself for creating women - with being much more cautious during this show, and not wasting all of my energy during the first two songs, haha.
It was not easy to find the place. I live in a town with ~30000 people and the show was in Budapest, the capital city, with circa 1.7 million peeps. Yeah, every time I go there it's like visiting another world, just amazing. And scary. I went alone, and after finding the place and waiting behind a fence for 10 minutes, people started clapping. In Flames came out, greeted us and sat down to a table to sign autographs for us. Oh sheeeeeeeet, what will I do now? Initially, on the train, I was like fuck it, it's no biggie, but seeing them 20 meters away from you... it was strange! I had the opportunity to talk with Anders Fridén, oh the possibilities I can ask or say! But we all know it never ends on an epic note where you drink beer together, though I'm sure there have been exceptions during the years.
People were signing all kinds if things: tickets, cds bought right next to them ,guitars, pictures, t-shirts. I was going to be cheap and make them sign my ticket, but it would felt weird and a ticket is so easily lost or damaged or whatever so I bought a cd of SC (PEER PRESSURE, the girl was so cute ^^). So there I fucking am, standing next to Anders motherfucking Fridén. I did not want to overdo it, tons of people were waiting so I knew I can't just talk about Ultimate Metal forum and other important things in life. I said hi, shook hands, and decided to tell them I really like their new album.
It's funny, I've been defending SC from some mindless bashes (like the stream of 2/10s , lol), but never actually said how much I like or do not like it. I reviewed it on another board and I gave it an 8/10, but WTWE is so fucking bad I had to consider a 7.5, but hearing the songs live it's definitely an 8/10, though it might be cheating, haha! But why did I tell them I like it? Easy, I just wanted to kiss their ass for being sellouts!
Just kidding, it is a known fact that people are expressing negative feelings much more willingly than positive stuff, and I'm not different. If something boggles my mind I can talk/write for hours about it, venting my frustration but if I like something? Nothing, really. I also create some original content myself and I know that feeling when you read people bashing you and when you read people praising you. It's funny, because writing stuff is just my hobby, but whenever I read that someone truly enjoyed what I did, I get so emotional and the only thing that comes to my mind is that it was worth it. That warm feeling is truly marvelous, and can outdo most of the negative comments. As I said, it's just my hobby, but I'd also like if people are entertained by what I'm doing, and it's really important to know that there is at least one damned person on the world who likes it. It gives me boost to keep going. If you don't half-ass something but put in a really hard work, you are very vulnerable.
So yeah, how ironic that would've been if I stay silent then come home and defend SC here on the boards from the hounds, haha. It was also pretty much the only genuine thing I could think of, I did not want to force anything out on my mouth. So yeah, I told it to all of them, and holy fucking shit they were humbled. I always considered the "giving is getting" mentality bs, but when I received their responses I felt like I was the one who just got complemented. I can't even phrase it in my native language so I won't even try it in English. It was so strange to see such famous people show their mortal sides, showing real emotions like that.
I also said to Anders that I hope they will play Siren Charms that night. Well, his reaction made it obvious they won't but WHO CARES I JUST SPOKE TO ANDERS FRIDÉN, SUCK A DICK!
And fuck Daniel man! I wanted to say something but he was faster: "How are you doing today?". All right, in hindsight there are a million and one responses I could've come up, like saying I'm a bit scared because I watched his spider videos. How hilarious would that have been, right? But it's fucking real life, when my legs are rooted to the ground from the shock, so I just said fine thanks and asked him how does he like the scenery. THE FUCKING SCENERY, JESUS CHRIST I'M AUTISTIC.
- Hey, dad, is it true that you spoke to Daniel from In Flames?
- Sure honey.
- Woooow, and how did it go?
- Well he asked how I was doing, and I said fine. Pretty amazing, right?
- You suck, I hope I was adopted!
- Hey, hold your horses! I also asked how did he liked the scenery. Of the town he was visiting for the third time. Now that's something, eh?
- *starts crying*
I'm aware that you can know someone for years and one day you might be told that he just slaughtered his entire family (real life example, hah, though luckily not mine) so you can't say things like "he's a good guy" with 100% certainty, but my impression of the IF folks were veeeeeeeeery good. And you think I'm a fanboy which is LOL, IF was always just a band I liked, nothing more nothing less. But they were a pleasure to meet with, seemed like really cool guys and they signed for everyone who were in line, dedicating for one hour long. I love that they love doing what they love! So much love!
So here we go, we are in the club now. And yes, we, because some guys asked me if I want to hang with them, so kudos to them, great folks! First band was (yeah, fuck tenses, I'm tired as hell so it's gonna be past present and future all over the place, sorry, it's worse than being drunk) While She Sleeps. I checked out some of their stuff and it's somewhat similar to very old IF, like LS or TJR. Nice instrumentals with a vocal part trying to ruin it all, you might like it so check it out! Sadly, they had a short set, because they were goofing around before the show, and their drummer injured (I'd bet 1 cent that he was drunk when it happened!), so he played guitars and their guitar technician played drums. It's amazing if you ask me, but the show was nothing special.
However, it's worth mentioning that there was one guy at the front who actually knew their songs and lyrics. It was funny, the front-man kept giving him the mic, while he undressed until he got shirtless. I'm not sure if it pleased the girls, but nice try! He asked if we wanted to see THE MIGHTY In Flames... haha, way to go!
Then came Wowenwar. It was more melodic, I liked it initially but after their songs started to sound the same I was like fuck it, I need to piss and a last shot of something before IF. So, there I was, waiting for the mighty ones, as WSS announced them. Black canvas in front of the stage, oooh, spooky. And nothing happens. We start to chant In Flames. We get some response from instruments but that's all. Some random guitar or drum voice, that's all. I asked a Slovakian girl behind me what song would she hope to see tonight. She said Touch Of Red, but they probably won't play it. Yeah. And still waiting. And still. Fuck them, really. But then electronics started to surround the place. HERE. WE. GOOOOOOOOOOOOO
1. In Plain View: Even before the first show, I expected them to open with either IPV or Paralyzed, so no surprises here. We liked it really much and it definitely moved us, that's pretty much all a first song have to do; fire you up for the night. If you are just moving around and sing, then the first song failed, at least if we are talking about a heavier band like IF.
2. Everything's Gone: It's just an OK song for me, so I did not want to expend all my energy on it, so I tried to be more passive. Can't say much about EG, it's like the album version. Heavy and easy to sing along. So far 2/2 if you ask me in terms of new songs, I think both of them can stand their grounds in a live setting.
3. Fear Is The Weakness: HELL YEAH! In Plains View started me up really nice but EG was so-so, not my favorite track. But for this song, I think everyone was on the same page, and it is where the show really started for me. The crowd finishing the verses was nuts, it's what I expected from an IF show! I mean, the energy, not the crowd singing part, haha!
4. Trigger: high. mother. fucking. light. of the show. It's funny, because if you show me the setlist beforehand and ask me which will be the 4 or 5 best songs of the night, the only one I would've gotten right is OFTW. Take This Life and Deliver Us were (SPOILER ALERT) what you expected them to be, atomic bomb to the crowd, but Trigger showed it is not necessarily what you enjoy the most. Listening to Trigger live totally gave back the emotions from the album material. It had EVERYTHING. The same song made you rock the living hell out of your body, than put up your hands and sing while becoming one with the song. Gay alert? Maybe, sorry, but it was fucking great and far beyond my expectations.
5. Resin: Oh boy! So, I knew it will be the "ancient song for this tour" material they will play but I only listened to it twice the day before that, I wanted to experience it as someone who have heard it before, but would be kinda lost if someone put the mic in front of me, telling me to sing it. Especially after the debate here whether they should play more older songs or not. It's a good song but I could not get into it. This meant I had time to look around and I saw the same with others as well. It's IF and we had just witnessed Trigger so we were pumped up, it was more than enough to keep us going, but that's all, it was a huge break. Or should I say would have been? Anders pretty much singed his part, most of us could not sing with him (respect if some guys knew resin lyrics out of the blue), and the song itself was not fast enough to at least jump around. But then Anders came with the fucking hey heys and we went apeshit. We were like some blind men in a maze and Anders held our hands and guided us through. Again, if you keep bashing him, at least give credit where it's due. Making this song another highlight of the show from being just an OK one is actually a big deal. Man, it's fucking crazy if someone asks me what was the show like I have to talk about this song!
Still, I really don't think more of these would work. Sure, we are talking about ONE song, and two is also more than one, but I'm talking about four or five. Just no way, and as I said before, not because the crowd would net enjoy it, they'd just like some newer stuff more. That's my opinion, but at the end of the day, it's IF who decides what to play, and you, who decides to buy the ticket or not. I would've bought it if they played 5 older songs and I would've bought it if they had not played any old ones at all.
6. Where The Dead Ship Dwells: Wasn't my favorite song, I considered it being on the dark side of SOAPF, but this version definitely made me appreciate it more. Still not among my favorites though.
7. With Eyes Wide Open: NICE. Objectively speaking it might not be a killer song live, and it might very well disappear for an independent (mean: not promotional) tour leg or a newer album's promotional tour, but it's one of my favorite songs from the new album so I enjoyed it thoroughly! It was a blast singing the chorus with everyone else; a sad chorus.
8. Paralyzed: Winner of the "best live song from the new album"? Yeeeeeeeeeeeeee-- maybe. Don't worry, it's epic and Paralyzed will stay most probably forever in the setlists (jk, rip my sweet shadow and pinball map), but there's another good contestant for this award. Anyway, Anders said before the album release that this song will kick ass live. We listened to it, and most of us agreed that it will kick ass live. Guess what, it kicked ass live. Not much to say
9. Through Oblivion: I'm sorry, but for me, TO wins the contest where Paralyzed only comes in as second. The whole song starts out just like the album version, I was ready for my 3 and a half minutes rest than Daniel was like "fuck you" and made such an enjoyable and hectic drum play. Once again, the crowd loved it. Biggest surprise of the night.
10. Ropes: It was not just the new songs which clashed that night, the race to be the best performance of the night was still raging on, and Ropes was like "hey, Trigger what? It's Ropes motherfuckers!". Even though I give you guys a lot of shit (because you tend to be full of shit), I'm grateful for you to make me struggle through SOAPF once again, to find Ropes (and FITW), somehow I missed that one and I'm not sure if I could've gone through the album one more time by myself.
Where was I? Oh yeah, it was awesome, and I do enjoyed his singing here, I thik he should make more songs like this. His cleans are not really singed and his "growls" are kinda light, but both of them are pretty safe to do, while maintaining his characteristic voice. Loved it, really energetic.
11. Delight And Angers: A song that might've been replaced if they wanted to force out at least 4 pre 2000 song (yes, pre 2000, a lot of Clayman songs would be great live, so nothing against that), and most of us would've been greatly disappointed. Nice song, as expected.
12. Cloud Connected: I did not get the memo that this song is the mosh pit one. Luckily the intro was lengthened enough so I could hide behind the strong guys, avoiding the grinder
It really grew on me, I'm fine with it being an all-time staple, I'd enjoy it for the 100th time as well, even if it's not even on my top 5 list. There's just something strange in that song that makes me really like it.
13. Only For The Weak: Fuck my life, it's just like in those youtube videos. THIS. SONG. IS. ONLY. FOR THE. WEAAAAAAAK. Then synth starts and you can claim back your body 4 minutes later. I'm immensely thankful they decided to make it a staple for this leg once again, I think every IF-lover wants to hear it live at least once in their life.
14. The Chosen Pessimist: 8 minutes yawn-fest my asss! First of all, the timing is just 10/10. Both CC and OFTW pretty much killed everyone, there was no fresh air left in the place after that, so the intro to the song was most welcomed. And the song itself? After Through Oblivion, it was definitely the second most surprising live turn-out to a song. No one was bored, and it's pretty much on Anders and Anders alone to carry this song. If he gets into the mood and sings with pure emotions, it sucks you in. If he'd be like "thank god, finally I can rest. What will I eat after the show? Oh, I should probably sing now!", than people would take a toilet break. Thank God it was the former! It was beautiful, and the breakdown... man, Anders fucked up a LOT before that, but the ending was just spot on. I'm not questioning you if you found it boring earlier, you were there, not me. Maybe it came after the wrong song, maybe Anders half-assed it, or maybe it was because I saw sometimes they opened with it. Yes, it would most definetly suck as an opener, but it was beautiful that night. Also, it and WEWO were the only "ballady" songs, since TO was reworked into a pretty hectic live song.
15. Monsters In The Ballroom: ROFL. So bad.
Soooooooooo bad. I like two things in the studio version: the drum effects and the verse before the last chorus. Guess what, the drum effects were either not there or terribly mixed and the verse before the last chorus was inaudible. People were really struggling to get into it. Trust me, by the time of Knotfest they will not play this one live. But hey, I can say that I'm one of the few who ever saw this live so yeah, good for me? I dunno, but it was boring, unoriginal and simply terrible live.
16. Rusted Nail: Funny how when I first saw the MV for RN I was disappointed. I was reading comments how IF sold out yada yada so I was pumped up clicking the youtube link, thinking "hah, those fuckers, they are always crying while IF keep releasing cool stuff", but I had to be disappointed. It made me stop caring about SC, though I thought that eventually comes a day when IF does something I don't like. I mean, it's bound to happen if you keep switching things up from record to record. Who the fuck would have thought I'd be glad to hear it live, hell, I even miss it! Again, they did a good job putting it into a live environment, I was pleasantly surprised. This song (with TO and Paralyzed) are here to fucking stay, so consider buying tickets to the upcoming shows accordingly. IF will have a damn hard time to make a setlist for next year, because I'm fairly convinced that both SC and Filtered Truth (though it is the song they might won't ever play live... just a gut feeling, it has such a strange production) would sound amazing live, so good job deciding which songs will remain from SC after all is said and done.
17. The Mirror's Truth: Hahaha! I love live shows. You know why? Tons of reasons, but one of them is how it makes me fall in love with songs I initially disliked. Not all of them, sure, but this one was really fun live. So yeah, sorry 3 days ago me, you stand corrected, this is a nice live song. Could be rotated, no questions there, but it's a nice mix of heaviness and melody. No, please... don't crawl into my mp4.. no, please! .. fuck!
18. Deliver Us: aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
19. Take This Life: yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
20. My Sweet Shadow: WHERE WAS IT? T______________________________________T
21. Dawn Of A New Day: In a parallel universe, they played this to me and I cried. Or maybe I was a ladybug in that universe, not sure. Maybe in this universe Anders is a great singer as well. ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES.
22. Bottled: Ok, I stop.
This performance was nothing to be ashamed of. No one will ever be satisfied with a setlist. No one. Ever. I won't even take a side; I personally understand where they are coming from to abandon older songs, but it's not even the only question in the air. Where the fucking hell is STYE? Why no rotations? Why so many songs from SOAPF? WHERE IS STYE? Dunno, questions of life, but the show was great nonetheless. If I were to make a new setlist with down to earth wishes, my dream setlist would probably been this:
In Plain View
The Quiet Place (in dreamland: Like You Better Dead)
Fear Is The Weakness
Trigger/System
Colony/Artifacts Of The Black Rain (in dreamland: Worlds Within The Margin)
Swim/Crawl Through Knives/
Leeches
With Eyes Wide Open/
Siren Charms
Paralyzed
Through Oblivion
Ropes
Delight And Angers/Alias
Cloud Connected/
Jotun/Move Through Me (in dreamland: Condemned/Minus)
Only For The Weak
The Chosen Pessimist/Come Clarity (in dreamland: Dawn Of A New Day/Everlost pt. 2)
Vacuum/Stand Ablaze(sped up version)
Rusted Nail/
Transparent (in dreamland: The Chase)
The Mirror's Truth/
Dial 595-Escape (in dreamland: Borders And Shading/Suburban Me)
Deliver Us/All For Me/Black And White
Take This Life
My Sweet Shadow (in dreamland: Free Fall)
It would be -
1 song from Whoracle
1 song from Colony
1 song from Clayman
2 songs from R2R
3 songs from STYE
3 songs from CC
2 songs from ASOP
3 songs from SOAPF
4 songs from SC
Plus rotations, eazy, hire me pls! Though I actually failed, because at least 5 songs are needed from the new record, so imagine that I picked RN instead of Transparent, but I like that song too much not to highlight it
They definitely won a fan, they were awesome and I liked their attitude. Anders being the guy who could easily be your neighbor, the band members singing during some of the songs (without mic of course. sometimes Anders shoved the mic to Björn's mouth and god help us all from a band where he is the singer, haha) and it was so fun to see THEM having fun on the stage as well.
I don't know about you, but I don't care how Anders dresses up, if he wears glasses or not, if he moves his hands in strange way while singing. Man, do the things he feels comfortable with. If it's a baseball hat, then it's a baseball hat. If I got hung up things like this I either want them to be the best band on the world according to my standards, or I'm just calling him out for the sake of calling him out.
To get back on the topic of old songs live, Anders is definitely a proud man. He gives energy to the crowd and feeds on the energy they give him back. It must really suck to watch your fans being just in an "ok" state during songs. In an other thread there was a video from 2008 I think where Anders said "whenever we play an old song you just stand there like zombies". Six. Years. Ago. Why would he play songs like that instead of the ones which make everyone move? They can be called out for saying it's because they are hard to play, but it's really not that hard to see what is their real problem. Also, you who refuse to go IF shows now, would you go if Colony, AOTBR and two more older song would be stable? I can answer this for you: no. You'd still have to listen to at least 6 songs from SC you hate, you'd still have to listen to Anders' cleans, not to mention you might be let down by the way he could/would perform those older songs. Yeah, you watch a vid from 20xx or 199x and think "wow, amazing", then the dude comes out in 2014/2015 and he just sounds worse. He did growls at this show, but he did not go overboard with them, that is for sure. Hell, watch the video for OFTW from Budapest, he sings clean most of the time, even though it's far from the hardest songs growl-wise. So yeah, I'm fairly convinced that in another universe people are asking Anders to stop trying to play so many old songs, because he is ridiculing himself in their eyes.
Aaaanyway, I already said there are many things the current setlist could be criticized for, but if you actually go to a show, your concerns will disappear. Talking to those who still consider themselves IF fans/IF lovers, obviously Uneasy Conscience, would beat a guy up with a Jester Figure tattoo, rip out the heart of a virgin girl, show the finger for Anders and go home, but that's another story.
And trust me, they are well-aware of the age of their fanbase. There were veeeeeeeeeeery few 30 year olds, and there was one woman who was like 40 or 45. Man, she was like my age when TJR came out and she still came (to the show, you sick bastards!).
Most of you seem to enjoy WEWO, which they are playing, and even though you don't like TO or RN, they are (especially TO) really different live, very much enjoyable. IPV is what you'd expect it to be, Paralyzed is huuuuuuuuge, while EG is so-so and MITBR is utter shit. I'd say it's a pretty good ratio, so if I were you, I'd definetly check them out at least once this tour. Unless you deliberately want to wait a year so you can get a more polished setlist.
