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March 6th 2010, The Wiltern, Los Angeles CA: I wasn't sure quite what to expect when I arrived at the Wiltern for Saturday night's Killswitch Engage headliner show. Of the three bands in the evening's lineup - Killswitch, The Devil Wears Prada and Dark Tranquillity - two seemed to be appropriately matched for the same bill. Killswitch and The Devil Wears Prada both have similar fanbases and comparable musical styles, as they are both prominent bands in the metalcore scene. On the other hand, Dark Tranquillity seemed entirely misplaced. I really wanted to see DT get the praise they deserved in a live show, but with this particular bill, I wasn't holding my breath.

Dark Tranquillity was the first band to perform, which didn't settle well with me. A 30 minute set for a band as influential as Dark Tranquillity is pretty disappointing. Regardless, I was really excited to see these guys live. They ended up producing, by far, the best 30 minutes of music of the night. Talent just oozes from this band, and somehow their superb performance seemed effortless. Dark Tranquillity's lyrical creativity is one of the most unique aspects of their music, which is why it was awesome to see singer Mikael Stanne growling his words with every ounce of his ability and passion. The sound of Martin Brandstrom on keyboards was just as beautiful live as it is on the records. Surprisingly enough, the crowd reacted fairly well to DT and it was definitely a great start to the evening. Highlights of the set were the new tracks from We Are the Void: "Dream Oblivion" and "The Point of Ignition."

Next up was The Devil Wears Prada. Unfortunately for them, the most captivating part of their set was the giant visual of a haunted house that served as their backdrop onstage. The crowd toward the front seemed entertained nonetheless, but I tried to figure out what the draw for this band really was. Musically, their performance came across as a jumble of repetitive breakdowns and muddy vocals. I noted that there were a lot of other people in the crowd who seemed disinterested in The Devil Wears Prada's performance, so I was not the only one with this impression.

At tonight's show, Killswitch Engage was appropriately re-titled "Philswitch Engage" to reflect the temporary lineup change. Howard Jones pulled out of the tour several weeks ago, and All That Remains' Phil Labonte has been filling in for him on vocals. Excluding the vocals, Killswitch's performance was extremely tight overall. "My Curse" and "The End of Heartache" sounded particularly good tonight, and there was certainly no shortage of stage antics from guitarist and backup vocalist Adam Dutkiewicz. While I can't be too hard on Phil (he was unable to really prepare for this tour on account of KSE needing him to replace Jones on such short notice), the band with this lineup needs a little more fine-tuning in order to sound up to speed. Aside from the expected glitches stemming from the reality of the band's situation, KSE put on an impressive show.

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