It's been already two years since In Flames last visit in Holland, during which they have released a new album. So it really was time to visit Holland again. They didn't came alone because they brought a special guest and three supports with them. The special guest was Trivium and the three supports were Insense, Rise To Remain and Ghost. These bands had to warm up the crowd before In Flames would enter the stage.

The first band we got to see was the Norwegian band Insense. When they started playing there were only around 300 people in the venue, for a few reasons for this: the first reason was that they started playing at 18:25 which is quite early for a Wednesday. Second reason was that most people had never heard of this band and the third reason was that the singer just fucked up the music with his "singing". The band played quite well, but the singer didn't convince at all.

Next up was the British metalcore of Rise To Remain, which I saw two times earlier this year. This time wasn't much different: they played very tight, could convince people who like metalcore and got a little movement in the venue. Although it didn't fit the line-up because of the headliners, it was a very good show full of energy. The only thing that could still be improved are the clean vocals that are sometimes are out of the singer's reach.

They were followed up by Ghost, another band that didn't fit in the line-up. This genre is one that you either hate or love and most people today hated it. There were many people laughing, a slowmotion moshpit and between the songs people were singing "Sinterklaas" songs, a quite complicated Dutch tradition that is a sort of cousin of Santa Claus. Their show was great and the band was playing very good, but the high clean vocals ruined for most people.

Then it was finally time for the special guest Trivium, which has gotten quite some bad reviews in the past because of their live performance. Today they played very well and the crowd exploded while they played some old and some new songs. Some of the older songs were also great hits, such as A Gunshot To The Head Of Trepedation, Dying In Your Arms and Pull Harder On The Strings Of Your Martyr. It was too bad that they had to leave already after just 9 songs. The crowd really wanted more for the first time during this evening, but they also couldn't wait for the headliner, In Flames.

Last, but certainly not least, the headliner of the evening In Flames. They released a new record in June this year and this was the reason to do a big tour. Of course they played a lot from the new album, which is good but not their best. They played 20 songs today and about 11 were from the latest album. This isn't a bad thing, because they want to promote their album, but now hits as Leeches, Clayman and Pinball Map weren't played. Luckily other great songs like Come Clarity, Take This Life, The Mirror's Truth and Cloud Connected were still played. The last time I saw them, the singer had dreads and no beard, this time he had shaved his hair and had a pretty big beard. His appearance had changed, but his singing has not and that was a very good thing. The sound wasn't that good today because you almost couldn't hear the singer, but when you could hear him it was great! They played a very good set with a lot of funny interaction with the crowd. After 100(!) minutes it was time to leave again and they left a venue full of tired, but happy people.

This was an evening with some down points but it also had some pretty good sides. I came here for three bands and they all were very good today! I wasn't familiar with Insense and Ghost and they couldn't convince me either. People got a very good evening for their money because there were a lot of stage minutes. The first three bands played for half an hour each, then Trivium played 50 minutes and In Flames played 100 minutes. If you get any chance to see this tour, do it!